Bow saw blades

[Rob Hazard]

Does anyone know a source for high quality bow saw blades? I'm talking about the crosscut blades used with a tubular frame for pruning tree limbs.
I've been to all the local suppliers of outdoor tools, like Home Depot, Lowe's, Tractor Supply, Rural King, and all I can find are cheap Chinese garbage that goes dull in a half hour of cutting, if it's not already dull when brand new. Even Fiskars blades are stamped out in China.

(I don't mean to pick on the Chinese; I realize they are aiming at a market niche. I just want a higher grade of edge tool.)

[Edward Pearson]

Bahco do bow saws and separately ranges of bow saw blades for dry wood or green garden timber cutting like this one...Bahco makes their stuff in Portugal I think, at least the files are. Hard point teeth as you'd expect these days. Bahaco stuff's always good when I've bought files. Cheap but up to a quality. On a side note they do mostly hard point saws but they have one in their range which is hand resharpenable softer steel, like Spear and Jackson do.



The bow saws and blades page...see if they make one your size or buy a new saw from the ID numbers.

Do Bahco export to the USA - might get import tariffs? Just had a look, nope don't export to USA, so forget all that!

https://www.bahco.com/gb_en/catalogs...t/?q=bow%20saw

[NeilMB]

Ditto on Bahco. I'm not sure why the name-change, but supposedly Bahco is the company formerly known as Sandvik with their long-standing success at making steel and saws and knives.

Not sure about importing, but I bought a Bahco bow-saw blade from either eBay or Amazon and put it into a shop-made wooden frame.

IMG-0057.jpg

[jpatrick]

I bought some good blades from our local Ace Hardware.

Jeff

[Rob Hazard]

I've bought them from Ace too, and while they were a bit better than the big box blades, they still don't measure up to the quality that was available only a few years ago. I will look into the Bahco blades. Thanks, all.

[mohsart]

Not sure about Sandvik, I thought they were a completely different company. But Bacho bought E A Berg (a famous chisel manufacturer, who used a shark as their logo) at some time and changed the chark to whatever fish Bacho uses. /Mats

[NeilMB]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahco Is surprisingly interesting. Bahco has been around for a long time, sandvik bought them in 1991 and Snap-On bought the whole saws and tools division from Sandvik in 1999 and used them Bahco name.

[StevenBauer]

I thought this thread would be about fancy joinery saws.

I bought some bowsaw blades from Germany that are fantastic.


https://www.fine-tools.com/gestell.html

[Nicholas Scheuer]

I once used bow saws frequently, decades ago. My single bow saw has been leaning up against the wall on the floor of our garage, untouched, for something like 10 years. I use a hefty Porter Cable "sawzall" now for tree branches, green or not. a sawzall is handier up on a ladder. Maybe that offers a hint as to the "why" of your problem; bow saws no longer being a "go to" tool for many of us. Come to think of it, since the now rusty blade on my bow saw has been idle of so long, maybe it's one of the good-quality ones not made in China.

[Rob Hazard]

Thanks, Nick.
I'm not unaware of the "why" of my problem. I'm a Sail & Oar guy at heart, after all, as some of you know. Not infrequently I take a bit of ribbing for not toting a chainsaw into the woods, but I prefer the quiet snore of a hand saw, or even the rhythmic thump of an axe, to the annoying snarl of a small engine. I heated with wood for 30+ years, and I happily gave away my chainsaw when I retired. I leave tree felling to younger guys who carry insurance.
Am I in the right place? Is this the *WoodenBoat Magazine* Forum?

[Nicholas Scheuer]

^^^ Nothing wrong at all with your philosophy, Rob. I just wanted to offer a possible reason why quality tool sources might have walked away from a long-time business.

[Nicholas Scheuer]

BTW, nice saw you have there. I should correct my first post to say I actually have two bow saws. The oldest one is a classic style wooden one that belonged to my grandfather featuring a pair of sprung wood bars across the middle.

[Edward Pearson]

People here repurpose bandsaw blades in the old school 'Continental' wooden bow saws. You'd want alot (more) kerf with green wood cutting though compared to dry/ hardwood cutting to avoid binding I think. Standard handsaws use more kerf/ set for that back in the day.

The bowl makers bandsaw thick fairly green wood regularly to get a blank from a piece of trunk. I think they end up with thin skip tooth blades with only 1-2 tpi when using on moderate bandsaws, so they might be useable.

Tuffsaws here in the UK supply alot of the bandsaw blades for keen amateurs here and recommend a Sabrecut with 'deep gullets and more set' for green wood cutting. You might have a bandsaw guy in the states who supplies similar, and use that blade as stock material for your metal bow saw with holes drilled appropriately. They cut and weld up from long stock for each order, so could probably actually just send you the free lengths you wanted and it'd save them welding n grinding it.

https://www.tuffsaws.co.uk/index.php...gory&path=4_86

[Dave Hadfield]

Blades for European Buck Saws - Lee Valley Tools

[jpatrick]

Since some drifting is a part of boating: I have both the large and small saws mentioned in the OP but find that I mostly use a folding Silky brand pull saw more than anything else. It is way handy to tuck into my back pocket to have readily at hand when clearing brush and the like. It is very sharp and cuts just about anything. (except rocks)

Jeff

[David G]

Has anyone mentioned Highland as a source? I've not bought this particular item from them, but would expect good things --

https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/...ws-blades.aspx

[Thad Van Gilder]

There is a company down the street from me that makes very high quality blades, both from stock and custom.

Lie-Nielson Invites him to their open house every summer because of his quality.

http://blackburntools.com/