Circular Back Saw
© Frank Ford, 8/22/00; Photos by FF, 8/15/00
A few days ago, my friend, Bill Sveglini ("Uncle Bill" the band instrument guru) about a tool he was using to cut a very narrow kerf when slicing through a key support for a clarinet, or some such. Anyhow, I managed to misunderstand what he was up to, and somehow got the idea that he was using a circular saw blade held rigidly in some device so he could cut this thing by hand. It took me a while to come back to Earth when he finally got it through to me that he was using a 1" diameter saw in his Dremel tool. Meanwhile, I'd fantasized about this saw thingy, and later just had to try it out.
My idea was much the same as Bill's. Namely, I wanted a saw that would cut the narrowest kerf possible. As it happened, I had a 0.006" thick metal slitting blade which was intended for a 1" arbor machine.
Here's how I went about my little project:
I drew a line across this thin saw blade and simply cut it with my Dremel tool loaded with the carbide cutoff wheel:
This little carbide cutoff wheel is the greatest! If you haven't tried one, you've missed the bestest tricks your Dremel can do:
Then, I had a segment of a circular saw blade, neatly cut out:
I simply gripped the blade in my Versa Vise, and cut a slit in a piece of 3/6" thick ebony scrap:
Then I glued the saw blade into the recess with some medium viscosity cyanoacrylate:
And, mounting the ebony into a standard handle, I had a cool little circular blade hand saw:
This turns out to be the greatest little saw for cutting a tiny kerf right behind a mortised-in nut. It's easy for me to see exactly where the saw is cutting. Unlike when I'm using a straight saw, I don't have to worry about where one end is cutting while I'm looking at the other end:
Its very flexible, so I can hold it right next to the back edge of the nut. And this slitting saw has no set to the teeth, so its kerf is only .006 inches!
Back to Index Page