Fretsaw

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A fretsaw
Historic fretsaw

A fretsaw is a saw for sawing thin panels of solid wood and plywood . It is characterized by the fact that it can be used not only to saw straight lines, but also to cut tight curves. It is primarily used to produce fretwork , i.e. fine patterns in wood.

Appearance

A fretsaw consists of a U-shaped bent bracket with a wooden handle. There is a screw terminal at each end of the bracket. A jigsaw blade can be clamped between the screw clamps and fixed with wing nuts .

use

clamped saw blade
Holder with V-shaped opening

The fretsaw is a pull saw. The steep side of the saw teeth should face the handle of the fretsaw. To insert the saw blade, it is first attached to a screw clamp. Then the fretsaw has to be bent a little bit so that the other end of the saw blade extends to the second screw terminal. Then this can also be tightened. The U-shape of the fretsaw acts as a spring and keeps the saw blade tensioned . The workpiece is placed on a special holder (fretsaw table), which can be attached to a table top with a clamp and has a V-shaped opening at the front. The fretsaw is held by the hand on the handle so that it points down and the bracket away from the table. The workpiece is held with one hand and rotated in the desired cutting direction. With the other hand (right-handed - right hand, left-handed left hand) the fretsaw is moved up and down.

If the desired saw cut cannot be achieved from the outside, a hole must be drilled and the fretsaw blade threaded in there. A drill bit is often used for drilling .

application

With a fretsaw, wooden panels up to a thickness of about 6 mm can be processed well. Thicker plates or workpieces can also be processed, but only with great effort. A suitable saw blade can also be used to saw thin metal sheets and plastic sheets .

designation

The fretsaw is an Italian invention from 1562 that was used to saw out inlays . These inlays were often kept in the shape of leaves, which explains the name 'fretsaw'.

Similar tools

The electric version of the fretsaw is the scroll saw . Their main advantage lies in the mechanically guaranteed compliance with the cutting angle and in the greater working speed.

If the required curve radius is not too small, similar work can also be done with a jigsaw . For this purpose, special curved blades are used , which have a normal setting, but whose cutting edges are tapered approximately to the format of a jigsaw blade. In addition, there are holding devices with which the jigsaw can be attached "upside down" - that is, with the blade facing up. The saw is now stationary and the workpiece can be moved by hand on the table.

Web links

Commons : Fretsaws  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Fretsaw  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. cf. G. Kossatz: The art of intarsia. Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1973, DNB 574433643 .