Rip saw (panel) recommendation?


bglenden

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I am looking to buy a rip panel saw for breaking down lumber (I have the Veritas carcass saws for finer work). Any recommendations? I would like to buy something that I can use out of the box rather than something requiring refurbishment/tuning. Money is an object, but of course I don't want to buy jun. (It wouldn't take much convincing to spend $100, I can't imagine going over $200).

Cheers,

Brian

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I am looking to buy a rip panel saw for breaking down lumber (I have the Veritas carcass saws for finer work). Any recommendations? I would like to buy something that I can use out of the box rather than something requiring refurbishment/tuning. Money is an object, but of course I don't want to buy jun. (It wouldn't take much convincing to spend $100, I can't imagine going over $200).

Cheers,

Brian

Brian Check out the PAX RIP Saw at Lee Valley. I have both the rip and crosscut saws, they are good saws for the money and do a good job. They were recommended by Shannon Rogers when I told him that I did not want to spend the money on a Lie Nielsen nor did I want to buy an older Disston. Good Luck!

James

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Brian,

You can try out the Pax saws as recommended above. You might like them. I've tried them and wasn't all that impressed. They aren't really sharp out of the box. And the handles were really uncomfortable to me. Another option would be to get in touch with Daryl Weir, Marv Werner or Mark Harrell and see if they currently have anything for sale. All three of these guys tune up old saws. So you get all the best features, i.e. really sharp saw, really comfortable handle, really good steel, but they don't cost nearly what a new LN would cost. I'm sure you could get one from one of these guys for $100.

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This is a fantastic idea Bob. I tried finding Daryl Weir and was not able. Do you have a link for him? thanks

Brian,

You can try out the Pax saws as recommended above. You might like them. I've tried them and wasn't all that impressed. They aren't really sharp out of the box. And the handles were really uncomfortable to me. Another option would be to get in touch with Daryl Weir, Marv Werner or Mark Harrell and see if they currently have anything for sale. All three of these guys tune up old saws. So you get all the best features, i.e. really sharp saw, really comfortable handle, really good steel, but they don't cost nearly what a new LN would cost. I'm sure you could get one from one of these guys for $100.

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I have had great success buying refurbished saws from Mark Harrell at Bad Axe. In reference to James' comment above, I have not used Pax saws personally but I had heard from a few that they are good mid range saws to use. I understand that the handle could be a lot more comfortable too. Truthfully the old saws are still the best so look into the seller mentioned by Bob above or look on ebay. Using some creative search strings will allow you to find sharpened saws by folks who know what they are doing. It may take a little more digging but they are there...again, you really can't beat the price and quality of tooth geometry of a Bad Axe saw.

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I have had great success buying refurbished saws from Mark Harrell at Bad Axe. In reference to James' comment above, I have not used Pax saws personally but I had heard from a few that they are good mid range saws to use. I understand that the handle could be a lot more comfortable too. Truthfully the old saws are still the best so look into the seller mentioned by Bob above or look on ebay. Using some creative search strings will allow you to find sharpened saws by folks who know what they are doing. It may take a little more digging but they are there...again, you really can't beat the price and quality of tooth geometry of a Bad Axe saw.

Shannon, I forgot to mention that you have not personally used the PAX saws. They seem like good saws so far, could be a little sharper and are a bit uncomfortable but at this point it is more about the sawyer then the saw for me. I'm quite confident the two PAX saws I own will not be my last panel saws but merely a good starting point since I had to setup an entire hand tool kit from scratch. It also seemed like Brian wanted to stay right around $100 that's why I recommended the PAX saws, while the disston saws were averaging around 150-185 from Bad Axe.

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