Jewelers saw question

[Jerry V Lape]

Are the $10 -$15 saws on Amazon workable or is there a better product at a reasonable price available?  I just need one to cut a couple thin lines across brass butt plate extension. 

[M. E. Pering]

I paid $17 for mine about 20 years ago.  They are pretty simple devices, but look for good clamps where the blades fit in.  You need a fair amount of tension on the blades.

Matt

[Pete G.]

I bought mine from TOW. It seems to be good quality and has performed exactly as it should. I think I would shy away from anything that costs very much less. Higher price does not necessarily indicate higher quality, but low price almost always guarantees low quality.

[smallpatch]

For your purposes, any old frame will do.
If you need a serious one, (not cheap, but well worth the price), Knew concepts makes a really nice, rigid framed one.

[Chris Treichel]

Get the smallest size frame possible for the job. Larger frames wiggle more and will break more blades. I bought both a large and a small one and use the small one for 90% of the work.

[flehto]

The quality and specs of the blades is a bigger concern to me than the frame...both in durability and choosing the right TPI.......Fred

[P.W.Berkuta]

Are the $10 -$15 saws on Amazon workable or is there a better product at a reasonable price available?  I just need one to cut a couple thin lines across brass butt plate extension. 

Buy the German ones - they are not that much more then the cheaper ones you see with the rectangle frame and clamps. The cheap ones don't hold the blades at the set tension you started with - the blade loosens up - not worth the money.

[bama]

Rio Grande has some good saw frames and. blades. I agree that the blades are more important than the frame. You need a blade that has two to three teeth per the thickness of material you are cutting.

[dogcatcher]

Or make your own.  These are 2 fret saws that I made a few years ago.   I also made a jewelers saw, but cannot find the picture of it.  On the jewelers saw I used a 5/16 bolt for the end clamp assembly pieces with a small piece of flat steel that was threaded for a machine screw.  I first hacksawed the for a flat spot and then filed it smooth, drilled ad tapped it so the flat piece I added would get a good clamp on the blades. 

With the threads on the steel rod at the top I get better control of the tension on the blade.    Still trying to figure out a tension system like the Knew concept saw uses, but it has a low priority at this time. 

Here are my 2 fret saw.  Both use pinned end coping saw blades, the blade holders were made using a 1/4 bolt with the head cut off.  I cut the angle slot with a hacksaw, the same with the center cut.  The stretcher bar has a tenon on both end and that fit in to slots.

[smylee grouch]

Looks like nice work dogcatcher.

[Chris Treichel]

Nice work but those are bow saws for cutting wood. One of my friends who studied as a jewler mentioned a task for mastering the jewler's saw in his apprenticeships... 100 perfectly cut Lincoln head pennies.

[kaintuck]

Nice work but those are bow saws for cutting wood. One of my friends who studied as a jewler mentioned a task for mastering the jewler's saw in his apprenticeships... 100 perfectly cut Lincoln head pennies.

and THAT took about a thousand blades!!!!

marc n tomtom