How to safely and efficiently utilise your bow saw for maximum effect and minimum effort. This guide will show unique ways beyond the ordinary a bow saw can is used.
Bow saws make light work of sawing through wood, but using them correctly and safely is vital to achieving success.
The bow saw was designed to be used horizontally at waist height, where it performs best.
The blades are longer than their depth of cut. Thus they are designed for efficiency. If you think of this in terms of someone with long legs will naturally outpace a person with a shorter stride.
They are one of the more dangerous saws to use, owing to large teeth. Follow these simple steps to stay safe.
Bow saws grab and snag at wood as you begin sawing. Thus they are notorious for being skitterish and jumpy on the first few cutting strokes.
To counter this dangerous tendency; place the non-dominant hand through the saw frame to prevent yourself from being cut by the blade jumping out of the kerf.
Start sawing slowly with short strokes, until you have sawn through the bark and into the sapwood.
Keep sawing using short and steady strokes until you have buried the saw blade beneath the surface of the wood.
At this point, stop sawing and remove your arm from between the frame. We are now finished with the “safety reach through”.
Next, a more comfortable sawing posture is adopted.
Cover the kerf as you saw deeper with longer strokes, we are extending the cut to nest the saw into the wood.
Continue to saw until the saw blade is double it’s the depth below the surface.
Position yourself so that you can utilise the entire length of the blade.
Place the saw on top of the log and extend your reach so that you can gauge the extent of the saw stroke so that you won’t bash your saw into the wood as you cut through it.
Bow saws cut on both strokes; the push and pull.
Maintain a smooth constant rhythm and angle of attack.
Allow the blade to do the work by not applying too much pressure; this will help maintain a proper technique and conserve energy.
You are using the entire length of the blade, which is more efficient and the saw blade will last longer, as you won’t dull the saw blade in one spot by using short strokes.
Bow saws with their long and ovate frames are far more suited to hard and fast sawing than most other hand saws.
Check the wood/tree you’re sawing will not injure you by falling, rolling, or crushing you in the process. As a lot, more power and speed is being put into this method.
Place the dominant hand on the handle and the other hand on top of the frame.
Use the upper body and legs to put extra power and speed into the sawing.
Roll the hips, pull the saw across the torso, push it back and downwards across the log.
Be careful not to saw into your leg, as you complete the cut. It’s best to slow down towards the end and use more control until you’ve mastered the technique.
Two people can effectively use a 30” or 36” bow saw to quickly amassing a lot of firewood as long as a tug of war doesn’t ensue in the process.
The trick is not to smash knuckles into the wood by over pulling or sawing too aggressively.
Position yourselves accordingly, so the person holding the handguard stops their pull (return) stroke when their elbow is at a right angle.
Vertical sawing allows the user to cut smaller/detached pieces of wood freehand that would otherwise prove clumsy to cut if attempted horizontally.
By taking the wood to the saw allows for more control and precision.
The larger teeth won’t snag at the wood.The technique varies between two stances depending on your height and the size of the.
Either way, you can quickly process small to medium logs/ branches into many pieces.
You won’t be mobile, so have the branches within arms reach, so you’re ready to process before you assume the stance.
Place a firm, but flexible stick across the frame of the saw at its base to anchor the saw.
Step on the stick with both feet wither side of the saw.Lean into the saw frame, securing the other end of the frame into your abdomen.
You can now use the saw in a vertical orientation.
Begin slowing but firmly with a rowing motion, until the blade is set into the wood, then speed up the rowing as required.
If operating on soft ground, push the tip of the saw into the soil. This will help steady the saw.
The medium saw is much shorter, so use the inside of your knees/thighs to stop the saw wobbling between your legs.
Engage the “Leg Lock” by hooking the heel of your boot against the saw frame, and up against your other foot.
Try not to go overboard on a power trip with this grip it won’t end well!.
The bow saw was designed to cut a much larger diameter.
Saw partially into the branch then snap it by hand. It prevents the risk of running your hand into the blade.
If you need a clean saw cut on your stick, rotate the stick as saw but pay extra attention and go slower!
This is the most useful grip concerning the diameter of wood in terms of firewood.
Attempting to saw detached wood, this size horizontally with a big bow saw is plain awkward; if no sawhorse is available.
The span grip is prone to slipping and inducing fatigue as you don’t have a good purchase on the log.
As a result, it often poses more problems than solutions, as the diameter of wood is too large and heavy to be sawn comfortably or safely.
This diameter wood is more suited to horizontal sawing.