I am looking at the two saws and started wondering about the handles. Do both saws have handles at the same angle or are they at different angles?
Thank You
It is not noticeable in use and I haven’t measured them but I believe they are a little different. Frankly it is needed. The Dovetail saw has a tighter angle and the whole handle is canted down a bit so the force is directly behind the teeth. This really gives you a lot of control and precision when sawing at angles right on a knife line.
The small tenon saw is more open and relaxed and positioned up a little higher over the tooth line. This raises your center of balance which I find to be very helpful in sawing vertically for tenons. Tenon cheeks are most often much deeper cuts than dovetails and sawing vertically is very important. The saw thing applies to crosscutting whether it be to size a board or cut away the end of a dovetail. So the positioning of this saw is very conducive to that.
It is for these reasons that I don’t find the different handle shape to be noticeable. The same shape on different saws would not suite the operation very well.
Thanks for the review. Forgive the ignorance of a new woodworker, but which would you say that this saw is more comparable to, the Lie-Nielsen Tenon Saw Crosscut or the Lie-Nielsen Tenon SawRip version? Also, as a new woodworker buying their first saw, would you suggest a 12″ or 14″ length? Thanks for the help and thanks for the great information you share.
I can’t really draw a direct comparison since Bad Axe has their “hybrid” filing which puts the saw squarely in the middle of those two Lie Nielsens. This saw is smaller than the Lie Nielsen tenon saw however so it would be better to compare it to the carcass saw they sell. It is a good utility player since it can do cross cut and ripping actions very well. For a beginner a shorter saw will treat you better and you will have more of a feeling of control that way.
I must say, not only in Mr. Harrell clearly an amazing saw maker (I can’t wait to get one of his tenon saws), but he is also a marketing GENIUS!
…saw bling, hybrid dovetail saws, hybrid filing…
…names for saws like Doc Holiday, Wyatt Earp, The Beast, and Darth Vadar…
The market called, and Mr. Harrell answered with a vengeance!
I think anyone interested in selling woodwork, tools, or anything else could learn a thing or two from him (I think Adam King would approve
I am looking at the two saws and started wondering about the handles. Do both saws have handles at the same angle or are they at different angles?
Thank You
It is not noticeable in use and I haven’t measured them but I believe they are a little different. Frankly it is needed. The Dovetail saw has a tighter angle and the whole handle is canted down a bit so the force is directly behind the teeth. This really gives you a lot of control and precision when sawing at angles right on a knife line.
The small tenon saw is more open and relaxed and positioned up a little higher over the tooth line. This raises your center of balance which I find to be very helpful in sawing vertically for tenons. Tenon cheeks are most often much deeper cuts than dovetails and sawing vertically is very important. The saw thing applies to crosscutting whether it be to size a board or cut away the end of a dovetail. So the positioning of this saw is very conducive to that.
It is for these reasons that I don’t find the different handle shape to be noticeable. The same shape on different saws would not suite the operation very well.
Thanks for the review. Forgive the ignorance of a new woodworker, but which would you say that this saw is more comparable to, the Lie-Nielsen Tenon Saw Crosscut or the Lie-Nielsen Tenon SawRip version? Also, as a new woodworker buying their first saw, would you suggest a 12″ or 14″ length? Thanks for the help and thanks for the great information you share.
I can’t really draw a direct comparison since Bad Axe has their “hybrid” filing which puts the saw squarely in the middle of those two Lie Nielsens. This saw is smaller than the Lie Nielsen tenon saw however so it would be better to compare it to the carcass saw they sell. It is a good utility player since it can do cross cut and ripping actions very well. For a beginner a shorter saw will treat you better and you will have more of a feeling of control that way.