As a retired Professor, I truly appreciate how clear and articulate you are. Your presentations on woodworking are among the best I’ve seen on RU-vid, and this one on backsaws is no exception. Par excellence!
Not all milled-slot backs are installed with epoxy. I made two saws with parts from Mike Wenzloff, and I followed his instructions by using medium-strength "blue" threadlocker (Loctite 242). Although he said to me that the backs won't ever come off, you can dissolve blue with acetone, and I suspect that I'd be able to get the back off that way. (I haven't had a reason to try, but perhaps I could sometime if I had the time and parts lying around.)
It’s nice to have a collection of lovely tools but I’m not sure you NEED more than a dovetail saw and a tenon saw because either of them will do a decent cross cut. My Pax dovetail saw is a 13TPI rip and it cuts beautifully with almost no set at all.
How much do you two know about frame saws for joinery? I'm a belgian woodworker and they're the kind I find easily on the used market around here. Sadly here the "hand tool revival" that's been going on in the anglo saxon world has not happened, so information is scarce for our own woodworking tradition
Frame saws are great to have. They are fast and accurate and very cheap, especially if you make the frame yourself. I'm a hand tool woodworker in near Durbuy in Belgium and I wrote a little article on frame saws in my blog, l'Atelier du Pic Vert.
“The Saw Till: That way madness lies” 🪚😂 The world of saws can get wilder than that of joinery/specialty planes quickly. ❤ P.S. Tapered Backsaws we’re a game changer for me regarding accuracy, ease of use, and confidence; just increasing confidence alone (as long as the saw is set up right) goes a long way and alleviates the trepidation one often experiences when first beginning in the craft.
