Tom,
The Stanley Sharp tooth is a decent disposable saw. I have found you need to check the set on the teeth, for some reason they seem to vary a little from saw to saw.If you have an old Disston (or the like) saws have them sharpened! You can even have them change one to a rip saw if you like.

I like to use new and old saws. The old saws are much more comfortable in the hand, seem to fit like an old glove with a noticeable difference in fatigue.

Hi Ken,
Agreed!

Brad,
With a little practice you will be able to split the pencil line eliminating the need to chisel or plane the end grain saving you a lot of time.

Regards.
kfhines

Hello everyone and especially Tom who seems to be looking for information on timberframe saw horses and saws in general :

Good topic and one that I woulod like to get in on:

Saws: Pick your self up a couple of good antique saws that have good tempering in them yet, you should be able to take grab them by the end of the blade and by pressing them against your body to the extent that they buckle a bit tap on them with a piece of metal lightly and they should create a singing\ringing pleasing sound if this happens then you have a good foundation hand saw.

Take it to a shop that can retooth hand saws and create for yourself a good 8 point for rough work, and a 12 point for your finer work, I promise you that you will never regret it.

CUTTING TO THE LINE:

The untold way that good clean cuts were created in years gone by and before power saws was very simple, as you do your layout along the timber and at the points that relishes need to be removed, with you scratch awl and a square scribe the lines deeply by making 2 or 3 passes across the grain or completely around if it is a mortise that will eventually be created.

Then if you have many cuts to do purchase yourself a good quality crosscut saw and have it handly

along the line tack on a piece of 3\4 by 2" material being careful to position it exactly parrallel and directly above the centre of the scribed line

You can use a good hand saw if you choose but for speed a good crosscut saw works the best, providing that you have a helper on the other end

I personally have a good crosscut saw that I keep especially for these tasks, as you use it, you can see clearly exactly where the cut is going and how deep you are

Hi I advertantly hit the enter button before I was finished

The scratch awl that I use I made from a round file like a chain saw file, I ground it to a very fine point and inserted it in a fancy round wood end that I turned out on my late. Here again this tool will out perform any that you can buy and is cheap to manufacture.

The sawhorses that I used for many years for timberframing were made from a design that I copied from an early 18th century sketch of workmen timberframing in an English setting.

I wasn't hard to come up with appropiate measurements because of the close proximity to the workmen and their tools and timbers.

These saw horses I made out of good quality white pine, and the cross section dimensions of the segments was 3" square material ie the top, and legs.

The sawhorses are about 40" long and 21" high and the legs are mortised slightly into the top piece to make them very strong.

The legs are placed vertical and right at the ends of the horse and the legs are splayed about 20" from one another with a spanner (2") square mortised in between them down about 12" from the top

The unique thing that over the years presented itself and which was extremely handy was a 1" pine board the was fitted on top of the spanners as the horse was assembled. It was an excellent place to lay your sharp chisels mallets and other necessary framing tools

WE abused these horse immensely and subjected them to 12" square timbers up to forty feet long turning them from side to side as the framing progressed.

I hope that you enjoy this information and wish you the best of luck with your life in the timberframing world as much as I did!!

NH

any chance of you posting a pic or two of your sawhorses? thanks
charlie

Thank you very much for the information on saws and horses. I am currently part way through the making of my "Clydesdales". They are 30" high as they will also be used for other purposes. I will also have a 12" and 24" surface available for drilling and chiselling, for as mentioned on this Forum, you need to lower height surfaces for some jobs. The horses will be joined by an 8 foot 3x8 and will include a bench vice and tool tray.

Not sure if I indicated it here, but my first projects are TF furniture, so current longest length timber is 6 feet. I don't have the acreage any more, so all this happens in my garage and then when done, I change the garage from workshop mode back to a garage. Believe me, I am learning lots by building the horses!

Appreciate all the info and comments

Hi, Tom-

You might want to make a set of horses that are a bit higher, say 30" or even 32", if you are working with anything 6x or smaller (I'm assuming you may be if you're making furniture...)
It will save your lower back from a lot of pain!

Enjoy