What do you saw with?

[AdeV]

I wish I had some pics of my OLD knifemaking shop, when I was in the Army, circa 1996.
My cutting setup was an old black and decker drill.  I made a wooden cradle for the drill, held it down with hose clamps, and chucked a 1/2" arbor with a 8" cutoff wheel in it.  This was clamped to a table, and the work was held in the hand.
Cheap, yes.
Effective, yes.
Hair raising, yes.

 :jaw:I hope you've still got all your fingers.

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9...
YEP!

How many of them are in pickle jars on the shelf? 

[Bryan]

Love my power hacksaw. 30 or 40 years old, but would have once looked like the one pictured, minus coolant.

I have a 14" GMC friction saw but it's useless for heavy sections.

[rleete]

I managed to get a pair of Harbor Freight 4x6 bandsaws at auction recently.  What a labor saver!  I wish I had bought one new years ago, but the current price ($270) was just too much.  Now I can't imagine doing it by hand at all.  Cuts through a 4" diameter, .3 wall thickness steel pipe like nothing, and that's the factory blade.

If anyone is in the Rochester area, I'm looking to sell one of them, cheap.  No shipping, though.

[Brass_Machine]

When I started making kickstands, I had to get some sort of powered saw... I have a HF 4x6. It is bolted down to a new stand (stock one was too flimsy and too low). With a premium brand blade, it cuts wonders. Mine gets used almost every day. I do want to add some coolant to it though.

Before that, I used a sawzall type reciprocating.

I also have an abrasive chop saw. I got an el' cheapo off of ebay. I use it to cut the CF tubing.

And as an aside, I have a radial arm saw and a table saw. Haven't cut any metal on them, but i know people that have...

Before anyone gets envy, they are all cheap ebay/HF finds...

[krv3000]

nothing posh  for me just a standed hacsaw for me

[Stilldrillin]

I bought my "Ding Dong" hacksaw, from my local motorcycle shop, in 1964. 

It still performs like new...... But it's power supply has dwindled over the years! 

Here's one!    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-HACKSAW-DING-DONG-STAMPED-FRAME-No-6-/330505801054

David D

[Artie]

I have an old power hacksaw (older than me!!!) which does all the heavy stuff the cooland pump has been dead for decades so I just run the garden hose on trickle over the piece being cut., also friction cut-off drop saw which is only good for thinner material, thin blade 4" angle grinder and then the right bicep and shoulder.... oh, used with a hand held hacksaw..... actually use that for 'most' small jobs...  

[TroyO]

Are there advantages to a Power Hacksaw Vs a Bandsaw?

[Artie]

I guess it depends on the style of bandsaw... a vertical saw needs you there to move the job, a horizontal does its own thing while you have a cuppa, same with the power hacksaw.

Not sure about bandsaw blades but about $30 Aus for a blade for the hacksaw. With coolant they last for ages.

[Bryan]

Are there advantages to a Power Hacksaw Vs a Bandsaw?

Someone said recently on another forum that shapers are the sailing ships of machine tools. I'd say hacksaws are their little brothers. Maybe like a small yacht. A dinghy with an outboard (bandsaw) will probably get you there quicker. Up to you how you want to travel.

[ksor]

I do it with this italian saw - 340mm Ø - 2 speed - I think 50 and 100 RPM.

I think it's the best peace of equipment I've ever got - it can cut in different angels too.

[Corvus corax]

At the minute a small angle grinder attached to one of those little gadgets that turns it into an offcut machine. That a hacksaw an electric jigsaw with Bi-metal blades.

I've had my eye on one of these little metal cutting bandsaw for some time


I wish I could turn up an old power hacksaw somewhere. I remember those from a few workshops when I was a kid.

[benchmark]

For small precision work i use this



For cutting large stuff i use this

[sparky961]

I suppose it's no wonder this topic has so many hits.  Cutting to length is usually the first step in making anything.

I have a soft spot for the old power hacksaws too.  So much so that I've owned two of them, but each only for a short time.

The one was a beast of a unit.  It cut, but not very straight and it seriously needed someone with more time than I have to give it some TLC.  It was very loose and someone had seriously messed up the "lift on back stroke" mechanism.  I still remember three of us almost killing ourselves moving it from my shed to load it into someone's trailer right after an ice storm.



The other was a really nice looking Craftsman unit.  I ended up shipping it to another province to a guy that collected old Craftsman stuff.  I bet I gave him an insanely good deal, but I was just happy to see it go to a good home.  It had a really neat vice arrangement that I wish I would have taken some detailed photos of.



With both of them, i just found that no matter what I tried to tweak they still wouldn't cut very quickly and the action was very rough.  Maybe it was just me.

I found a 4 x 6 bandsaw for sale locally about a year or two ago.  It needed just the amount of TLC that I had time to give it.  Someone had an old washing machine motor on there that was turning the wrong direction.  The blade was mounted backwards to accommodate this.  I changed the motor to one of the ones I got with the power hacksaws (too expensive to ship the motor with it), and tweaked the blade alignment until I was extremely happy with the result.

Yes, there are lots of things to complain about with these little saws but I have been happily surprised by just how capable they are when you treat them as what they are - a light/medium duty home shop machine.  For what I do, this is by far the best choice.