# Bow saw vs. coping saw



## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

In this thread, someone suggested a bow saw for cutting curves. Since that's something I always do with either a coping saw (for extremely fine curves) or a jigsaw (for quick cuts of shallower curves), I was curious. Rather than hijack that post, I thought I'd start a new one.

What is the benefit of a bow saw over a coping saw? Is it just the advantage of being able to make it yourself, or are there better blades available or what? Or is it just a personal preference?

I have to admit, I'd love to build a bow-saw, but I've never had a good reason to -- I have a perfectly adequate modern aluminum one for chopping up logs, so that wouldn't be a sensible project -- but something small for cutting curves in the shop could be a lot of fun. I've got a coping saw, so I'm hoping someone will give me a reason for a project here.


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

Here's what I know of the bow saw vs. cope saw. The coper is smaller, with a smaller throat. There are different sizes of bow saws but they are generally much larger and as a result you can do much larger work with them. The techniques I've read or seen used also use the body as much as the arm for the sawing motion allowing you to control the saw more and rip faster. If you want to build a bow saw I'd say do it and have both types! Better yet, chronicle it so we can learn with ya!


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

It's all about scale my broth'a... I mentioned the bow saw as intended to be used on much thicker material than a coping saw could ever hope to handle.

Think of it as a primitive 14" band saw, lol

~tom ...it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt...


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Lol, you kill me ACP, lol... That's what... 6 times now? :laughing:

~tom ...it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt...


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## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

Well, seems like a fun project, so maybe I'll try to find time to work on it. Right now the whole floor of my workshop (well... everywhere the motorcycle and bicycles aren't) is taken up by parts for my back deck. Once that's together, I can start working on other projects! It'll also be small enough that I can afford wood for it now, which isn't the case with most of my other planned projects.


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## mdntrdr (Dec 22, 2009)

A bow saw can also handle a wide variety of blades, 1/8"-2"+.

Therefore it can perform tasks such as ripping and crosscutting as well as curves. :smile:


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## Wrangler02 (Apr 15, 2011)

With the bow saw that I built, I can put more tension on the blade than my old Stanley coping saw. It makes cuts in thicker wood easier and more accurate.


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