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...  

What do you saw with?
What do you saw with?

[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.

What do you saw with?

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.

What do you saw with?

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.

What do you saw with?