{"id":854,"date":"2010-08-13T01:35:43","date_gmt":"2010-08-13T06:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/?p=854"},"modified":"2013-04-19T23:11:54","modified_gmt":"2013-04-20T04:11:54","slug":"east-meets-west-my-saws-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/13\/east-meets-west-my-saws-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"East meets West: My saws, part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I cut tenons with a Japanese ryoba saw<\/strong>, the larger of the two saws pictured above. The reasons are simple: I get excellent results and have been using ryobas for more than 25 years.<\/p>\n

I have tried several excellent Western tenon saws from top makers and I must admit that I have not found the comfortable accuracy and reliably clean cut surfaces <\/strong>that I get from the ryoba. I concede\u00a0this probably is a matter of habit and I would eventually become as comfortable with the right Western tenon saw as I am with\u00a0my ryoba. So, rather than saying one type of saw is better than the other, I am<\/strong> sharing my preferences, and the reasons for them<\/strong>, in the hope that this may help other woodworkers find what works for them.<\/p>\n

My saw is a Gyokucho model #611<\/strong>, 240 mm (9 \u00bd”), available from Japan Woodworker<\/a>, item # 19.611.0, $38. Replacement blades are $24.50. This saw has a 0.018″ saw plate, rip teeth that grade from\u00a010 tpi at the handle end to\u00a07 tpi at the far end, and 20 tpi crosscut teeth, both set 0.005″ each side.<\/p>\n

I start cutting a tenon<\/strong> using the crosscut teeth to split the layout lines at the corners, establishing shallow kerfs. Switching to the rip teeth, I connect those starter kerfs across the end of the tenon. Once the rip teeth are buried, I cut on a diagonal on the layout line down the length of the tenon on one side, then the other. Finally, I saw away the remaining triangle of wood at the base of the tenon.<\/p>\n

The backless ryoba, with a generous width of almost 4″ at its far end, gives excellent sight lines<\/strong>. The sawing is done with a surprisingly light touch<\/strong> since the progressively coarser rip teeth<\/strong> provide plenty of aggressiveness on their own. This allows me to watch<\/em> the layout line<\/strong> when sawing diagonally down one side of the tenon while feeling<\/em> the saw<\/strong> riding in the kerf that was established at the top of the tenon. The key point is that I don\u2019t want to fight the kerf that was already established. The lightness <\/strong>of the ryoba and, paradoxically, its flexibility and aggressive teeth<\/strong>,\u00a0convey excellent sensitivity to do this.\u00a0(The eyes cannot precisely sight two separate lines at the very same moment.)<\/p>\n

The low cost and replaceable blades belie the excellent performance of this saw.<\/strong> I suppose a\u00a0handmade ryoba\u00a0costing a few hundred dollars (that I would not have the skill to sharpen on my own) would be subtly better but I don\u2019t feel compelled to go there, at least now. The quality control and value<\/strong>\u00a0in Japanese machine-made saws such as the Gyokucho\u00a0and Z brands\u00a0are amazing.<\/p>\n

The ryoba also\u00a0does general small to medium scale ripping and crosscutting<\/strong>, such as cutting a haunch in a tenon. In my opinion, Japanese backsaws are the wrong<\/em> tool for cutting furniture size tenon cheeks. However, a tiny tenon, such as in a small drawer handle, can be cut with a Japanese or Western dovetail backsaw. For very large tenons in low to medium density woods, a large Japanese single-edge (kataba) ripsaw is a good option. I will discuss such a saw later in this series.<\/p>\n

The other saw in the picture is a crosscut dozuki<\/strong> saw which I like for cutting the tenon shoulders<\/strong>. It is a Z brand saw<\/strong>, 240 mm (9 \u00bd”), 25 tpi, 0.012″ saw plate, 0.016″ kerf, available from Rockler<\/a>, item #65607, for $44.99, replacement blades $27.49. (Why do they insist on calling it a “dovetail saw?” It is not<\/a>.) It is thin, straight, and sharp enough to settle against a knifed and deepened shoulder line. A Western “carcase saw,” discussed in the next post, is another good option for this task.<\/p>\n

Next:<\/strong> small to medium crosscut work and the carcase saw<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I cut tenons with a Japanese ryoba saw, the larger of the two saws pictured above. The reasons are simple: I get excellent results and have been using ryobas for more than 25 years. I have tried several excellent Western tenon saws from top makers and I must admit that I have not found the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tools-and-shop","tag-east-meets-west-my-saws-series"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":857,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854\/revisions\/857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}