Hand Hacksaw

[Roger BParticipant @rogerb61624]

Having looked to see what the fitters at work used I decided to buy one of these:

**LINK**

Interestingly the blade is held by screws rather than pegs.

[DiogenesIIParticipant @diogenesii]

My late father carried out what I can only assume to be a life-long trial of Eclipse hacksaw frames by never, ever releasing the tension except to put a new blade in it every few years..

..when new the top of the grip was in line with the centre of the tube.. ..like DMB's, when I inherited it, it had a big extra nut between the wingnut and the frame, and the blade would still fall out if I shook it..

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

A friend of mine has just bought a hacksaw from Aldi. The tension is against a spring. It came with three blades, I'm particularly impressed by the one for wood. Use it all weekend for pruning and still sharp. For about £4, not bad

Roy

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Andrew Tinsley on 01/03/2022 13:37:24:

I have used Lee Enfields and standard German army (WW2) Mausers. I found that the Mausers were a better proposition than the Lee Enfield. The best British rifle that I have used was the P14 from WW1. The action is superior to both the Lee Enfield and the Mauser.

…

Andrew.

That's the experience of individuals firing clean well-made ammunition on a range. It's an example of why individual opinion is untrustworthy. Not because the individual is wrong, but because his test and experience is incomplete. Large-scale live-firing military exercises are more revealing, but the full range of pros and cons emerge when rifles are tested in a major war. This is when target shooters discover many of their key interests are low value.

In fighting context, which rifle performs best? When:

• The ammunition is made to loose tolerances and treated roughly in transit
• The soldier is wearing gloves
• Fired cold from well below freezing point.
• It is impossible to keep the rifle clean because the soldier sleeps in a wet trench, knee-deep in mud
• the butt has been used to break down a front door
• the rifle has been used to extemporise a stretcher or as a lever
• The soldier has to acquire and shoot rapidly at close dispersed targets as when a position is being rushed by a group who are shooting back.
• one is issued with a stock matched to the size of the soldier

The German military were satisfied with their rifles but a common complaint was they were too finely toleranced, which made them finicky when firing dirty ersatz ammunition in difficult circumstances. One of the Lee-Enfield's big advantages was it was deliberately loosely toleranced and less likely to misfire iffy ammunition. It's excellent ergonomics also give it an edge when soldiers are severely stressed.

As tools both rifles failed the test of time. For military purposes, all bolt action rifles are inferior to any half-decent auto-loader! (most of the time). Today, it doesn't matter which was best!

Dave

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

I must have one of the most eclectic model-engineering libraries going… Having already journeyed down the garden this wet morning to find my Zeus book to answer a thread about threads, I have just gone to the workshop again to see what Eclipse had to say on the subject.

This is in a booklet James Neill & Co published undated but some of the drawings, of saw-using chaps in lab-coats, suggest 1950s or early 60s. It was even printed in England!

Naturally it assumes Eclipse blades in Eclipse frames, but the general point is to take up the slack then tighten three full turns only. (I think we were taught that in school Metalwork.)

Relaxing the frame after use though?

The booklet says nothing about that.

It was probably written for trade users who might be expected to wear out a saw frame in as little as ten years (they are not always the tool-caring types we might imagine). However, I think the experience Diogenes gives, and no doubt common to many of us, is due to the fastenings and frame holes wearing rather than the frame stretching over time. I have a saw like yours, and with lots of washers under the wing-nut, but I think because the bore through the handle, and other parts, have worn enough to swing the also-worn pins closer and off-axis.

So I think slackening the blade does not achieve anything useful – as with any tools, even good-quality hacksaw frames and blades only ever tensioned and used correctly, will wear out eventually, but I doubt they stretch.

I'm sure a new hacksaw of good make, with good blades tightened properly, will see us out!

[Paul Smitherman 2Participant @paulsmitherman2]

Hi GENTLEMEN . INTERESTING TOPIC HACKSAWS' Starting work in a coppersmiths shop during the winter 1962/3 Hacksaws were quite an item of everyones tool kit mainly straight grip,, Eclipse 60B models (straight handle ) the hacksaws all pictured above were frowned upon and refered to as PISTOL GRIP Hacksaws. I was just turned sixteen back then and it was soon deemed necessary for the coppersmiths to assist the plumbers with frost damage work One of my particular traits was the ability to use a hacksaw with ease, especially under water or under floor where you could not see what you were doing only by feel , I soon aquired the nick name UF (under floor) and was often asked for by the forman plumber , FOR WHAT ITS WORTH I have never got to grips with the pistol grip H/saws whilst the flat frame straight grip ECLIPSE HAS the unique ability to allow you to look at the blade withleft eye down the leftside and right and at same time down the right side with the right eye Also you can turn the blade 90degrees to frame (if reqd ) I have three of these hacksaws all original to me . I Also own a pistol grip Sandvik 225 from Sweden which i purchased because it has the ability to turn the blade 45 degrees to the frame Think I have only used it some two or three times in the forty oddyears I have owned it

"QUESTION" !What do you look at whilst cutting with a hacksaw?

"ANSWER", ,THE BLADE , It is what is doing the cutting !!

Regards C/P AKA UF

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

I remember the three turns after taking up the slack, my Eclipse 40PG with the pressed steel pistol grip is plenty tight enough at only two turns, the 1970s tubular frame one struggles to ever feel taut and the tubular frame easily takes a permanent set.

Mike

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

You know how you mark where to cut with your thumb …. That's why my left hand thumb is 1/8" shorter than my right.

Bob

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, I found this one today that I made earlier, about 55 or so years earlier in metalwork at secondary school and it still has the original wooden handle. Haven't used it for Donkey years though. First time I ever put a screw thread on a square bar, using a hand die.

Regards Nick.

[John Doe 2Participant @johndoe2]

I've had a Sandvik 225 hacksaw frame since 1984 or so. A very good saw frame made of square section tube and cast end brackets – it has a 45° blade position too, and a screw that tensions via a lever arrangement. No problems with tension so far, but I might start loosening it off after use now, having learned that might be a good thing to do.

Re old tools; aren't 'old' chisels and plane blades made from better quality and/or better heat treated metal, compared to some modern ones? So better to buy old woodworking tools and refurbish them than buy new ones made with inferior materials?

[Paul Smitherman 2Participant @paulsmitherman2]

Hello John , just a slant on the remark re old materials for woodworking tools back when i first started work the firm I worked for had some 43 carpenters & joiners and all would only buy or use Henry Disston saws . and they had to be what they called Yankie Disstons made in USA they would not entertain a Canadian made Disston saw ,Having used one some years later I fully understand why that was so , Disstons were famed for making all the saws needed in the Americian Logging industry ,Usually band saws up to 400ft long and hand felling cross cuts (before the advent of the chain saws , Even so a well maintained and set two mann crosscut was far quicker than a chain saw , (I was once privilaged to witness this) at a logging convention in Verginia USA. Regards keep Whu-Flu FREE C/P

[Author]

Posts