My name is Lui Rocca, I'm an oak framer, with a passion for handsaws.
I've always had and used old hand saws. There is nothing wrong with a modern, plastic handled saw, with its induction hardened universal teeth. In fact for cutting plywood, with its multi directional grain, they’re great, but they’re always short, and the teeth are too small for large green wood, and I’m not that keen on disposable stuff.
I’ve stopped and picked up countless old rusty saws in antique shops, checked the teeth and looked down the line to see how straight they were. Invariably they are past trying to bring back to life as a worker, but I have some excellent saws, some good saws, and some I was being too optimistic about.
A good old saw will outperform any modern handsaw, even when you allow for sharpening time, I’ve tested rip saws against new modern saws, and they cut at least twice as quick as a modern saw.
If you sharpen and look after your own tools, you will get to know and respect them and ultimately be more efficient with them.
For me all saws should be both functional and beautiful, if you have a smile on your face every time you pick up your saws, and it cuts effortlessly then you'll pick it up again next time. Saws are tools for using, but it doesn't hurt if they look great as well.
The saws that I like and make are large panel saws, rip and cross cut, with blades that are 24-30" in length. This is probably down to my chosen career as an oak frame carpenters building houses all over the UK.
When your working with large section timbers, it helps to have a large saw.
I haven't made any small backsaws yet, I'm happy to leave these to some of the specialist saw makers out there, to many small teeth for me to sharpen. If your after a new backsaw, there are several makers on the links page of this site. Two Lawyers and Bad Axe tools, have been very helpful to me in the past and their tools are both practical and beautiful.
If your interested in classic and vintage saws, as a collector or a user, there is a nice community over at Backsaws.net, where there are always people happy to look at and talk about all types of handsaws.
