Starrett.

Barco 225 Plus

Regards,

IanT

How strange, my Eclipse hacksaw frame given to me at the start of my apprenticeship in 1963 has a die cast zinc based alloy handle. The other day, I noticed that the blade ran about 15 degrees out of true to the frame. I bent the handle back into shape, but at the same time treated myself to a new Stanley hacksaw – delivered for 7€90 and retired the old one to the garden shed – it had done me a sterling service and deserved a rest.

Bob

The one and only criticism of my Sandvik is that the spare blades inevitably come loose sooner or later! Apart from that it’s a super saw.

BAHCO 225 Plus.
The other lever tensioned ones mentioned have issues IMHO

The Eclpise high tension has the tensioning knob below the cutting edge. This can get in the way.
The Starret is nice but the tension is in units of 1 turn because of the "knob" shape. This can result in either too loose or too tight. Caviat It's years since I used one, the design may have been improved.

Robert G8RPI.

I bought three cheap Hilka branded high tension style hacksaw fames maybe 45 years ago when such frames first became common outside of the specialist market. Having three frames means I always have 18, 24 and 32 tpi blades ready to go so not tempted to use the wrong tpi to save changing hassle. Not perfect but quite satisfactory in use although the adjuster threads on two stripped out of the alloy nuts fairly recently. Easy fix.

Wing nut adjuster below the frame isn't terribly obtrusive in use. The projecting stud and nut on the front of a conventional folded steel Eclipse et al frame gets in the way much more. My old Eclipse has an abrafile in it. Down to my last 6 abra baldes!

Being three piece construction, square steel tube to bar with two die-cast ends, it was easy to modify them to take 10" blades as well ast the design 12".

I'm unconvinced by the line-up issues. Straight cutting is more technique than observation. Need to look from the side anyway to start but once cutting the blade is always hidden by the frame if you stand straight. Sideways observation needed to actually see the blade seems to me a good way to promote off axis cuts.

Clive

As a convert to the Japanese-style pull saw for wood, I wonder whether there is any merit in reversing a hacksaw blade so as to cut on the pull stroke?

In theory, tensioning would not be essential and a pad saw handle could be used in this way.

Incidentally, I remember someone repeatedly breaking blades on a job only to discover that he was putting them in the wrong way round!

Swiss engineers I worked with on one steam turbine job all fitted their hacksaw blades "backwards" and swore by it. Never did much for me when I tried it. And I have watched Africans on another job site use handsaws to cut wood with the saw held vertically with the teeth towards them and cutting toward themself. Holding the handle by one of the "ears" that stick out from a woodsaw handle. Very weird but it works for them.

Old chaps like to believe that old tools and materials were somehow 'better' in the past, but there's precious little evidence to support the idea! Rather the opposite: if modern tools and materials were no good, industry wouldn't be making smart phones by the billion, landing probes on Mars, erecting buildings 1km high, replacing coal with green energy, building nano-machines, or perfecting autonomous motor vehicles! Yesteryear industry did not have the techniques or understanding needed to produce many of today's high-tech products, and R&D had to work hard to get to where we are now.

Comparing old tools with new is undoubtedly interesting though. Unfortunately, individuals collecting anecdotal evidence in their workshops is a waste of time because it's essential to eliminate observer bias. If Silly Old Duffer believes one tool is 'better' than another, he will subconsciously favour it. Observer bias is difficult to eliminate, even if the observer is determined to prevent it!

The best way to compare blades is with a machine that measures over a long period of time how much work the motor does driving a saw through a given material under controlled conditions.

Ideally 4 people who only know what they need to know are involved:

• Number 1 selects a large number of blades and relabels them. Only he knows who made which blade and how old they are. There must be several examples of each type of blade, which are sent to Number 2..
• Number 2 tests the blades with a machine. He knowledge of which blade is which and the job should be done by someone with no interest or understanding of hacksaw blades. The machine measures and records the amount of work done by each blade when cutting through a large sample of the same material.
• Number 3 receives the machine's anonymised results and ranks them. He does not know which blade is which and can only use the evidence provided by the machine – he scores tables of numbers comparing hundreds of blades.
• The ranking is sent back to Number 1 who reattaches the original identities. Only then can performance patterns be identified. And whatever wins, the evidence is good.
• Number 4 checks the methodology and process I've outlined. Just as people are biased, so aree badly designed experiments. Everything about the experiment, method, results and conclusions should be made public so that mistakes can be spotted by others.

Human assessments are often widely inaccurate. Studies of wine testers have shown them to be highly biased and inaccurate when the tester believes he knows what he's tasting! Such as marking exactly the same wine in two different glasses both very highly and badly! Same problem comparing HiFi equipment, violins, shares, brand-name products and much else. In medicine, it's been shown a percentage of test subjects believe a placebo had a positive effect even when told it was a placebo.

Basically, comparative tests have to be carefully designed because everyone is daft! People who believe in Snake Oil will find ways of proving it's good stuff. Even clever chaps get things wrong. It's hard to get this stuff right! Nonetheless, engineers should work from careful evidence and avoid boosting unverified personal preferences.

Dave