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British Red 18th May 2007 02:20 PM

Fieldcraft: A Field Built Bucksaw

Well, Tumblerats asked to see some threads on knife use techniques. I had this one ready and it only needs a SAK ( I wrote it originally to demonstrate what a flexible a SAK can be) so here goes

I love to carry a 24" bucksaw blade in my pack. It sits inside the (internal) pocket for the pack frame (my buddy carries his coiled up inside a billy can). It's cheap and it means carrying the minimum of materials. For a couple of ounces and ten minutes effort, I have a full sized bucksaw when I get to the .

Here’s what I started with

1 SAK (with ), a hank of field line, two key rings and a 24” saw blade.

1 of 10 10/24/07 10:49 AM Frugal's Forums - Fieldcraft: A Field Built Bucksaw http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/vb/printthread.php?t=187188

Well the first step was to get some for the frame. Out came the SAK saw blade (I could do all this with a belt knife but it would take a little longer). A couple of bits of were quickly harvested. They were 1 ½” thick .

Next step is to measure the saw blade against the thinnest piece. This piece will form the cross member. Its worth remembering that the saw blade will have a keyring through the holes and project beyond each upright. Measure it like that and assume the crosspiece needs to be 2” shorter than distance between the holes

2 of 10 10/24/07 10:49 AM Frugal's Forums - Fieldcraft: A Field Built Bucksaw http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/vb/printthread.php?t=187188

Next I sawed a ring about ¼ of the way through the cross member. This ring is about ½” from the end of the cross member and all the way around it. Again, a plain blade and pressure works just fine

Then I used the main SAK blade to cut straight down through the limb to the saw cut.

3 of 10 10/24/07 10:49 AM Frugal's Forums - Fieldcraft: A Field Built Bucksaw http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/vb/printthread.php?t=187188

Four of these cuts result in a “peg” at the end of the cross member. I repeated this at the other end.

Next job was to make a socket for the peg to sit in. I decided to locate the socket about a quarter way down the uprights. I sawed about 1/3 of the way through the upright and then used the knife blade to carve out a square socket

4 of 10 10/24/07 10:49 AM Frugal's Forums - Fieldcraft: A Field Built Bucksaw http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/vb/printthread.php?t=187188

The next job was to make slots for the saw blade to sit in. I sawed these but they could be sliced just as easily. Sawing them does avoid the tendency for the split to run however

5 of 10 10/24/07 10:49 AM Frugal's Forums - Fieldcraft: A Field Built Bucksaw http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/vb/printthread.php?t=187188

The last step in making the three main pieces was to carve two notches to hold the tensioning cord

Lastly I need a bar to twist the tensioning cord. I split an off cut of hazel and drilled a hole using the awl on the SAK

6 of 10 10/24/07 10:49 AM Frugal's Forums - Fieldcraft: A Field Built Bucksaw http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/vb/printthread.php?t=187188

Next step is to assemble the saw – it went together fairly well (although I needed to trim the pegs to get a good fit)

7 of 10 10/24/07 10:49 AM Frugal's Forums - Fieldcraft: A Field Built Bucksaw http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/vb/printthread.php?t=187188

A few final pictures of the saw assembled may help to explain what I did

The peg and socket joint

The tension cord notch

8 of 10 10/24/07 10:49 AM Frugal's Forums - Fieldcraft: A Field Built Bucksaw http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/vb/printthread.php?t=187188

The tension bar

Its really not tricky to do, although it is hard to make one as tight as a “workshop made” take down saw.

Once you have the technique down, this can all be done with a basic belt knife (fixed blade). Using a pocket SAK is great practice with a variety of and produces a tight result more simply.

9 of 10 10/24/07 10:49 AM Frugal's Forums - Fieldcraft: A Field Built Bucksaw http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/vb/printthread.php?t=187188

Good knife practice and also you get something useful at the end

Hope thats the stuff you want Tumblerats?

Red

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