Fretsaw project: Sisyphus meets Indiana Jones

[yamatetsu]

"Sisyphus meets Indiana Jones"

45 x 60cm, backer boards 4mm, landscape 4mm, Sisyphus & Indy 4mm, 'cheap' DIY store ply, done with a hand held fretsaw with a #1 blade.



Found this online-cartoon by Mark Parisi ("Off the Mark"), just had to do it. That look on Indy's face is priceless.

This seems to be a simple pic, but it actually was a lot of work to get it done (cutting all those simple straight lines ... two holes to drill, sawing the line up, sawing the line down... about more than 150 times). It didn't help that it's too big for my fretsaw. Because of that, cutting the letters was tricky, I couldn't cut Sisyphus, Indy & the rocks out of the 'landscape' board, and some of the straight lines were tricky also.
This time, I used stain instead of paint, looks great.

[Scrappile]

Good work.

  When I Have a bunch of straight likes that I want a wider kerf, I cut down the middle of the line with a straight blade, and then go over it again with a spiral blade. The spiral easily follows the first cut and widens the turf just right. Not sure how that would work with a hand fret saw.

Edited April 6 by Scrappile

[yamatetsu]

1 hour ago, Scrappile said:

Good work.

  When I Have a bunch of straight likes that I want a wider kerf, I cut down the middle of the line with a straight blade, and then go over it again with a spiral blade. The spiral easily follows the first cut and widens the turf just right. Not sure how that would work with a hand fret saw.

Unfortunately that doesn't work too well. I probably am cutting at a significantly lower speed than a machine, and that shows. You can practically hear the wood screaming as I'm tearing through it, and the cut looks like something chewed it's way through.

[wombatie]

Fabulous.  Love it.

Marg

[daveww1]

awesome job

[heppnerguy]

I love seeing your projects and wonder what it would be like to do it with a hand held saw. I think I will just keep wondering as I know I am not going to give it a try as I am way too sheepish for that.

   Another amazing project.

Dick

heppnerguy

[yamatetsu]

I wouldn't recommend it for someone your age (no disrespect). It's physically very taxing, as you have to use one hand/arm to press the wood down and rotate it so that you can follow a curve with the saw, while the other arm moves (more or less) rapidly up and down, guiding the the saw. Your body is locked in the same position for a long period of time while doing exhausting work. I'm 55, I can do it for two hours tops, and standing up after that looks a bit like doing it in slow motion while groaning and moaning.

Then there is the problem of feeding the blade into the saw and secure it. When I started I used an oldschool fretsaw that uses wingnuts to secure the blade. That meant loosening the blade at the top, flipping the board over, feeding the blade through the pilot hole, using one hand to press down the board amd simultaneously clamp down the arms of the saw to get the right tension, and use the other hand to position the blade and screw the wingnut tight. Screwing a small wingnut tight, pressing the nut against your thumb and index finger, really starts to hurt after doing it multiple times.

Nowadays I use a fretsaw that has a lever mechanism to lock the blade. You feed the blade through a hole and use a lever like this

to fasten the blade. You can basically do this just with your index finger.

 

So, using a fretsaw for a long time is exhausting, and, well, it also takes a long time. I'd guesstimate that using a machine is 3-4 times faster than doing it by hand.

[Scrappile]

Thanks for the great info, I will cancel My dream of a handheld fret saw and stay with what I have.   I get tired scrolling with a scrollsaw!

[yamatetsu]

Behold! I am Yamatetsu, Destroyer Of Dreams !!!

...

Just try it, it's an inexpensive hobby, it's fun and it's easy to learn.

Some tips:

Try to get hold of this type of saw. I'm from Germany, I don't know if you can buy those worldwide.

You have to have some kind of board to put your workpiece on. Do NOT use something like this.

These boards are tiny, if you cut a big piece, you have to press it really hard against the cutting board to keep it from wobbling around. Another downside is that the clamp is rubbish, it can't keep the cutting board in place.

I use a worktable (essentially just a big box with weights in it) and a formica board that has a smooth surface. I cut the hole/triangle shape (which is where your blade goes while sawing) out. The board is bigger than the table so I've got an overhang, I just clamp the rear end to the table and I'm good to go. The overhang allows me to move the saw up and down below it without hitting the table.

 

One last tip: When putting the blade into the saw, I clamp the 'arms' of the saw together a bit, this gives me a bit more tension on the blade, which I think is absolutely neccessary.

Oh, and you can forget about using spiral blades, reverse blades and 2/0 blades. The 2/0s are so flat that the wingnut fretsaw can't hold them at all, and you have to tighten the lever on the lever fretsaw real hard, which means that eventually you will overtighten it and then it's kaput.

So the smallest blade I use is a #1.