TESTED: Blue Spruce 12" pull saw
Review: Robert Howard
Using a sharp saw requires a very delicate touch. I read somewhere that you need to hold the saw as though it was a small, baby bird, and that certainly does suggest the required feel.
Woodworkers of my generation often grew up using blunt saws, which needed to be monstered to get them to cut at all, but if the saw is sharp even a small amount of excess pressure can cause it to take too big a bite and stop dead – particularly at the beginning of the cut.
When cutting dovetails, it can also help to think about grain direction when beginning a cut. I start a push cutting saw on the front corner of the wood, pushing upwards, and a pull saw on the rear corner, pulling upwards. This avoids having the saw teeth cutting against the grain i.e. into the ends of the wood fibres.
Japanese pull saws were an instant hit with Western woodworkers because they were very sharp, with a very narrow kerf, and appropriately delicate for doing fine work. They do require a different rhythm to a western saw, with the emphasis on applying pressure on the pull stroke and backing it off on the push stroke – a difference which you should be able to hear.
Although there are now many excellent western style saws available, they all suffer from the one disadvantage of the push saw – the blade needs to be thick enough to avoid buckling in use.
The Japanese saw, on the other hand, with its complex tooth geometry, cannot usually be resharpened locally, and so is mostly available as a throw-away blade. The delicate teeth are also easily damaged by excess pressure in a cut, especially with our very hard, Australian timbers.
Blue Spruce, the small American tool manufacturer, has resolved this dilemma by producing the first saw designed to cut on the pull stroke with Western style teeth. This means the saw can be resharpened locally, and it cuts with a very fine kerf.
In fact, with a Swedish spring steel blade only 0.012 inches, or 0.3mm, thick, this Blue Spruce saw cuts an even finer kerf than my Japanese Z-saw.
It has a hybrid tooth design with 10° of rake and 10° of bevel or fleam, to accommodate both rip and crosscuts in hardwoods, which is the wood most Blue Spruce customers are believed to use.
In designing the saw, Blue Spruce has focused on the quality of the cut, so that little or no clean-up is required afterwards, which is important if you hope to fit your joints straight off the saw. They have been willing to sacrifice some cut speed to achieve this, but for me, the speed is still impressive enough. With 14ppi the cut is very smooth, and, most importantly, easy to start.
As with all Blue Spruce tools, this saw is beautifully made. I particularly like the ferrule, which is both solid and fully encloses the end of the handle. The spine of the saw is steel, and the handle can be either resin infused figured maple or Bolivian rosewood.
The blade is 305mm long, with a depth of cut up to 45mm. The handle is gripped in the same way as a Japanese saw, in the style traditionally referred to as a gentleman’s saw. It is 28mm in diameter, which is a little on the small side for me.
Although this saw is much more expensive than a throw-away Japanese saw, it is good for a lifetime of use. However, I think for most people, the issue will be whether or not you prefer this type of saw, with this type of handle, to the traditional Western style saw.
But if you struggle with getting a saw to work for you – getting it to start easily and accurately, or to cut smoothly and straight, then this just might be the saw for you.
Review tool supplied by Blue Spruce Toolworks, see bluesprucetoolworks.com
Robert Howard @roberthowardwoodworker is a designer maker who also teaches woodcarving from his Brisbane workshop. Learn more at roberthoward.com.au