Brad, If you are staying away from the line with a power saw and cleaning up with a chisel, the hand saw, cut to the center of the line is right there with the power saw. I would and do choose the handsaw. If you are cutting the line with the power saw and that is it, it has to be faster. I am sure you use less energy hand sawing to the line and being done with it. I have not done a lot with dry, old hard wood, but I think it would still apply and if you had to pare to the line I can see that being a lousy job, I would reach for the hand saw in that case as well.

Tim