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Hi All.
I have a 1" x 10" Western Hemlock board that I am thinking about making into some top plates. As a hobbyist I like to try new things (hemlock) so I thought I'd try hand cutting the plates (vs. Band or Table saw).

Any suggestions for making a jig to do this with a hand saw?

I saw a picture of the Lyon Healy / Regal plant from the turn of the 20th Century, and it looked like they had a slotted box in which they stood the plate material , and a two man hand saw. Keeping it with the theme of "olde tymey" I want to use my grandfather's WWI era hand saw, which I recently sharpened. This could be fun, or a crime against nature, TBD.

Regards, GS

FWIW . I resawed vln plates in maple wood using a large beam saw, basically a 1.5in wide blade 5 ft long with 2 straight handles. I got the blade from suffolk machinery.Tensioning is via a long wing nut it/s a t shape with 2 handles .I/ve also done it with a 28in 5 pt ripsaw or euro bowsaw that has a 1in blade traditional woodworker or highland hardware sells these euro saws. A large japanese ryoba ripsaw works well in softwoods , japan woodworker , woodcraft, etc. The problem with usa rip saws for ripping plates is they don/t track well because of the whippy blade . Hope this helps . THey do work for ripping e.g. taking a 2in slice off a 5in board

Here's a page out of Ruobo. A friend made one - ended up being a pretty heavy thing to keep it from moving around as you saw.

Ed

PS - your grandfather's saw better be filed for rip

To saw plates with a hand saw I would first cut the board to the maximum width needed for the instrument. I would then kerf both edges with the table saw blade raised as high as possible. The kerfs would act as a guide for the hand saw. This would allow you to use your grand dad's hand saw with out turning the endeavor into a "manhood" thing

As said, the saw better be filed for rip cuts but also very sharp and filed evenly so it tracks well. You don't say much about the saw, are the gullets deep enough for such a wide rip cut. There will be a lot of dwarf to remove from a 10" wide rip cut. . .

I'' not saying don't do this, but you'all be manliest than I am when you are done

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

george I got the plans for making the beam saw from a book in the local library.They are fairly easy to make and you can use leftover wood scraps an bits of hardware. The blade stock can be purchased from suffolk machinery .The beam saw works quite quickly. But your wood should be mounted in a secure vice with at least 6 ft of empty space around you. Start with a cut at a 45 deg angle with the wood held upright, and mark your wood all around so you don/t veer off your cut line . Practice on scrap first !! Roy Underhill l might also have a plan for one . He is a hand tool woodworker who does a lot of PBS videos . Good luck.

Here is Tom, he is awesome!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OtmswWZ4Lvo

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Wake up and smell the rosewood!

It is a rip saw. Six teeth per inch, and just sharpened, to your point though the gullets are not that deep, so it could take a while.

Thanks
GS

Ah, ya see what happens, now I am totally jonesin' for one of those kerfing planes. . . and darn it there are plans for it, and I can think of a bunch of uses for it.

Ah yes! When I first saw this thread that is the video I was thinking of which I saw a while back, could not remember the guys name though.

Yikes! I hate reading quotes from me that demonstrate how terrible my cell phone posts are. . . really, how terrible my proofreading is

That was swarf not dwarf, I'm not I", you'll be manlier than I. . .

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Six teeth per inch will be fun. 4-1/2 would be my guess for that much wood.

Ed

I once considered using a reciprocating saw (sawzal) with bearings as guides mounted horizontally.
Just a thought.

Bob

Thanks for the clarification, I was gonna inquire about your dwarf problem

Unless, of course, dwarves are the new goats.

Steve

I've done it... pretty much as Clay S. described above. As I moved down the cut I put shims into the slot and moved the clamps to above the saw.