5{oung;Scieflf- 
SCIENCE 
IS 
KNOWLEDGE. 
KNOWLEDGE 
IS 
POWER. 
A PRACTICAL JOURNAL OF 
HOME ARTS. 
Vol. VI. 
NEW YOKK, APKIL, 1883. 
No. 4. 
Something About Saws —III. 
BY "our NED." 
AVING fairly dis- 
cussed the meth- 
ods of filing 
hand-ripping and 
cross-cutting 
saws from an am- 
ateur's stand- 
point, I will now 
take up the 
smaller saws. 
The back-saw, Fig. 1, may be of various 
lengths and sizes, but in some one of its 
forms it is indispensible to the amateur 
wood-worker. The tenon saw, which is 
about twelve inches in length, is, perhaps, 
the most useful for the amateui' who can 
only afford one back-saw, but where two 
saws of this kind can be obtained, one 
should be fourteen or sixteen inches 
long, and the other a thin-bladed, dove- 
tail saw, about eight inches Ion"- in the 
blade and having about eighteen or 
twenty teeth to the inch. This latter 
saw should be kept for cutting the shoul- 
ders oi small tenons, dove-tail work, and 
making fine 
joints 
blade 
thin, 
not 
much 
As the 
is very 
it does 
require 
" set," 
but care must 
be taken not 
Fig. 1. 
to force it through the wood if there is a 
tendency towards sticking, as a twist or 
false movement of the hand may spoil 
the saw, as the blades are very easily 
buckled, or *'kinkeJ." 
Fig. 2 shows the style of teeth required 
in saws of this kind. The backs of the 
teeth are left square and the cutting edges 
filed more or less beveling, according to 
the hardness of the materials to be cut. 
If the wood is of a soft kind, such as pine, 
cedar, poplar or butternut, a little more 
bevel than is shown in the engraving may 
be used, but if the wood is hard, such as 
oak, ash, hickory, walnut or mahogany, 
then less bevel will answer ; but for gen- 
eral purposes, that is, where the saw is 
intended for cutting all kinds of wood. 
