advice on a starter set of hand saws?

Sounds like you’re heading in the right direction. If you continue to work with handsaws, you may change your mind about the crosscut and the rip saw. I have two of each and I do use them. Some other saws you might want to look at are a bow saw, a frame saw, a fret saw, and a coping saw. Most of these are personal preference tools and aren’t mandatory. One thing about tools is everyone has their own opinions and favorites.

-- Sam

Buy some japanese pull cut saws you will never regret it I love mine.Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

Tenons you want a saw pair. 12” preferably. 8” blade is just too short IMO. Crosscut and Rip – you need to cut the shoulders and the cheeks.

For dovetails I like an open handle western saw with a blade taper (toe to heal). 10” 20ish TPI for 1/2” wood or 16TPI for 3/4” I’ve also used a gents style dovetail saw, the one I have is 16TPI and just not fine enough for drawer sides. Thinner wood demands more teeth to keep smooth cutting.

DT’s also really beg for a thin plate and a super fine set. just a hair over the plate thickness. You want to remove the least amount of wood possible to minimize effort. A heavy brass back is good, but a steel back is fine. Just let the weight of the saw do the work. You just push it back and forth with a little downwards pressure.

Thanks for the info. Marcb, any chance you could recommend a tenon saw pair? At least just so I know what they look like. Similarly, you don’t have a pic of your dovetail saws do you (or a link to a catalog pic)?

All my saws are 90ish years old. The Gents saw is an Atikins. I think its a little younger from the mid 20’s Its the No 25 Silver Steel.

Pax brand are supposed to be OK. Still made in Sheffield England where the backsaw craze started. Some need a little touching up when received, but in general good quality.

However good handsaws are not cheap if purchased new. Pax runs about 90 per saw. That’s on the low end for a saw.

That’s why I buy mine old and beat up. I learned how to sharpen and tune handsaws by abusing some old panel saws i picked up for a buck. Now my saws eat wood and leave a very smooth finish (for a hand saw)

I use an old 1917 Disston steel backed backsaw that I files and recut the teeth to 16ppi rip. It works like a dream and only set me back $25 plus $4 for the file to cut the new teeth. I don’t cut tenons by hand, so I can’t offer any sound advice on which saw to get, but I would suggest an oldie but a goodie versus a new one due to the high cost of quality tools these days.

I made the handle out of a choice cutoff of curly bubinga

-- Julian, Park Forest, IL