(I) Student Practice for Improvising Bow & Bucksaws


Cro

Cro

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Link to the lesson:

(I) Improvise a Bowsaw & Bucksaw

Student practice for this lesson can be found here: http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/posts/938833 The objective for this lesson is to improvise a bowsaw and a bucksaw in the field. The bowsaw should be made with the saw blade only, you may use any cordage you see fit, but the frame of the saw is...
bushcraftusa.com

Post up your results here.

Remember to be safe while using the blades.

Take your time, slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
 
I used oak for both the bow and bucksaw. I used the Adventurer Spiral Wire Camp saw for both. EDIT- Then put a blade in the bucksaw.

Measuring the sapling for the bow. The wire saw cut ok with my thumbs in the big rings.

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I used a fork (plenty strong) for one ring. Cut a notch for the second and wrapped it with jute.

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Cutting a smallish branch. Not too bad.

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The bigger log took some time.

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Batonning the handle(s) for the bucksaw. My wood for this was oversized.

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The size of the oak made fitting the notches pretty easy. But it was heavy.:15: I didn't wrap the ends on this one. No way was that oak splitting anymore.

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Cutting worked...worked ME! :4:

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The bucksaw cut the same wood as the bow did. But the weight was ridiculous.

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I was unimpressed with the wire saw. So was Theron714 (He was laughing at me sweatin' and swearin'). It took FOREVER to cut that 4-5 inch log. If somebody can figure a way to get a hatchet or a 24" saw blade in a psk...I'll buy it in a second. LOL. I wouldn't use oak again (too heavy) for the bucksaw, unless that was all I had available. I wouldn't use as thick material for the bucksaw (the bow saw worked fine as is.). I will space the cross member a little higher (hand width and a half?) from the bottom next time for more clearance.
This was a great lesson. I learned alot on this one. I'm inspired to work on a better bucksaw...with a BLADE not a wire. Ha ha. Thanks for this one. It was really fun.

EDIT- I put a blade in the bucksaw and did a little work to the notches and cross member and wrapped the ends. Much better. Solid. Cut great.

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I used a longleaf pine branch to split with the saw (I know better than that!:34:).

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I had to wrap a shirt around the log to keep from breaking my hands or doing nerve damage...but I did it.

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Hey brother don't forget to show the bucksaw with a blade and splitting wood for credit.
 
improvised saws

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I started with a wire saw I keep in my PSK.



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I cut a piece of dried Autumn Olive. Then stretched wire saw between two trees. It worked well to cut notches and trim up bow.



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finished saw.



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Cut down small juniper and cut it up into pieces. This is probably as big as I would cut using this saw.



Next, I started work on the bucksaw.



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Started by batoning down a 1.5" hickory sapling.



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batoning into pieces of right lenght.



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Carving uprights, splitting ends for saw blade, carving cross piece. My trusty Cooper's Creek worked a treat.



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Finished saw.



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Took down 8" dead and dried dogwood. This is a really hard wood.



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Cutting up limbs.



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Splitting by saw cut. Man, it's like slamming a baseball bat into a wall! You really need gloves with a tough wood.



Thanks,
Ches
 
Once again another lesson that needs straight wood!! LOL
Here is the Bow Saw, made out of winged elm. The split wood just has a pic at the end of the video because my battery went dead. These are my first attempts at videos, so i go out of frame a lot. But it was fun. I did speed the videos up a little. I don't move that fast.

Improvised Bow Saw BushClass USA - YouTube

Here is the Buck Saw made out of Oak. Had to make 2 handles for one side. Every time I would put pressure on them I it would twist. Finally found a semi straight piece and got it done.

Improvised Buck Saw BushClass USA - YouTube
 
I just got back in from playing in the woods, trying out this lesson :)
I decided to make the bow saw from a wire saw, choosing a bit of willow for the handle and using a bit of bootlace to tie it up with (well we always have those with us:) )
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After cutting my handle I tied the saw between two trees to notch the base to take one ring of the saw, the other end hooked securely onto a fork.
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The tension on the saw started pulling one of the rings out of shape so I used the bootlace to secure it better
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Then came the cutting!
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I then moved on to the Bucksaw.
This I made using a Mora Bushcraft Survival knife, some Hazel, some cord from an MOD IPK (braided nylon) a fairly short (18"?) blade and a couple of key rings.
I would probably have done a neater job if I had not misplaced my glasses!
Batonning
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fitting the parts together
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lashing the joints
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Tensioning
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Then the cutting!
If you look closely you will see that one of the arms of the saw is actually bending under the tension I applied!
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As the saw was "deep" between blade and crosspiece it took quite thick logs:)
Then came the wood splitting - and all I could find that I had not cut up already, was too rotted or too green was a bit of quite twisted oak...
It was hard on the hands but it worked!
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Strangely enough it first split along the side /end I was holding...
The Bucksaw worked a lot better than the wire-saw bowsaw - boy was that slow! - but both blades worked better in the wood than on their own :)
 
This was a lot of fun and very relaxing. Thanks to Croatoan for the lesson! I have done this before but never used cordage to hold everything in place, this was a great advantage and added stability to the construct. The wood is Willow.

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Hey Skab, good work on the saws, don't forget to show using the saw to split out a piece as IA Woodsman showed and you're all set.
 
Fixed.
 
Here is my bowsaw, I ran out of time to do the bucksaw, but I collected the wood to do it tomorrow at home. It is only a 15" sven saw blade, so mine is a little smaller scale than some of the others.

I picked a young beech.

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then I got it notched...

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It started to crack in the middle, so I wrapped it in paracord.

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Saw 1/2 way through...

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Then split it with a whack.

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Thanks for the lesson, this one is new to me.
 
This is my bow saw using a 21” blade. I used just this blade to make the saw and that would have been impossible without my gloves. Each end is pegged with a twig I snapped off from the branch I used to make the saw with and lashed with jute twine. The saw worked pretty good to hack up the remainder of the branch and was a whole lot easier than just using the blade. The cut piece is about 1 1/2" diameter.
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Buck Saw
I made a buck with a buck!! I used pecan limbs for the arms, some green paper bark type tree for the cross member, and jute twine to lash it all together with. And this saw worked tons better than the bow saw, mainly because it was a bit more comfortable to use. Pictured with the saw is the 119 I used to make it, a pine log split as required, and a felled tree about 8” diameter I cut through using it.
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Here is my beech bucksaw made with a knife. This was far more difficult (for me) than I imagined, and it took me about 2 hours to complete. Thanks again for the lesson!

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Cross batoning to length.

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baton split to allow the saw blade.

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angle baton for the notches

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All done up

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The maple was well seasoned, and split with the first whack on the floor.

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took the whole day out in the forest and did two lessons..the saws and the natural tinder char and fire...great day...storm coming in so took advantage of the weather.
hopefully everything is shown in the vid. used willow for the bucksaw and a juniper sapling for the bowsaw. blade I got for the bow saw wasn't long enough or well made but worked. Lot of work when you are limited to just a knife or just the saw blade but that is reality too if you are up doing this.
Making Some Saws Out In The Bush - YouTube
 
Ok I finally got out and got this one done. I wanted to do some work to my shelter as well, but I underestimated how long this one would take. I got out there and got into the kit and realized I used the split rings off my wire saw for something and havent replaced em. So I improvised with snare wire. It worked great. I also do not own a bucksaw, have never used a bucksaw, and thus didnt have any blades. So I used the wire saw for both. It worked just fine, except cutting took alot longer then I thought.. It was an eye opener and I learned a ton. Brought the little man with me and gave him a lesson on the wire saw and how to use it. He had a blast.

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Hardwoodsman in training
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