A look into the Nokogiri Kobo saw smithy

Dieter Schmid - Fine Tools

Georg-Wilhelm-Str. 7 A - 10711 Berlin
Tel ++49 30 342 1757 - Fax ++49 30 342 1764
Website: www.fine-tools.com

To the saws of Nokogiri Kobo

A look into the Nokogiri Kobo saw smithy

blade blanks The forged and rough-ground saw blade blanks wait for further processing.

specially made drawknife Traditionally the saw blades were literally cut down to their finished thickness and contours with a specially made drawknife like this one. This method has mostly become a thing of the past, and is now used only occasionally with the highest quality hand-made saws.
Photo of several different saw draw knives

rolled shavings Using the drawknife produced these small rolled shavings of steel. I even tried it myself and was astonished at how easily and quickly the knife cut.

grind the faces of the blades Today most manufacturers of these types of saws use machines to grind the faces of the blades into their final shapes. The stone's face is slightly rounded so as to make the ryoba blade thinner in the middle as compared to the edges.

filing saw teeth Today saw teeth are mostly cut with a computer-controlled grinding machine. Traditionally the teeth were cut with a file. But even today many of the finer traditional saws are individually inspected by a master saw smith and, after being clamped into a wooden saw vice, are touched up here and there by hand with a file.

A Japanese saw vice looks like this. It is made of two boards which are bolted together. The boards are thickest where they are joined together. To fix the saw blade in the vice, a wedge is driven with a hammer into the v-shaped double bevel cut into the edge of the board away from the mouth of the vice. This forces the mouth closed and firmly holds the saw blade without marring its surface. Traditionally the saw smith used the vice sitting down, holding the vice with both feet. If you would like to experiment with this kind of saw vice, it can also be clamped in your workbench and the saw blade filed from a standing position, as is more usual in the West.
Saw filing vice, enlargement

Setting the teeth Setting the teeth on the saws is today also mostly done by machine. Traditionally it was done by hand and by eye with a special hammer. Most of the old smiths at Nokogiri Kobo are still masters of this process.

these problems are touched up with a hammer At the end of the manufacturing process, the saw blades are looked over centimeter by centimeter. With hand-forged saws where the blades are hardened at the end of the production process, the blades are occasionally slightly distorted or warped - a common byproduct of this operation - and these problems are touched up with a hammer. Even today, this work must by done by hand by a master smith.

teeth for crosscut An extreme enlargement showing the complex geometry of a saw's teeth. In this case the teeth are for crosscut.

A look into the Nokogiri Kobo saw smithy
	The forged and rough-ground saw blade blanks wait for further processing.
	Traditionally the saw blades were literally cut down to their finished thickness and contours with a specially made drawknife like this one. This method has mostly become a thing of the past, and is now used only occasionally with the highest quality hand-made saws. Photo of several different saw draw knives

	Using the drawknife produced these small rolled shavings of steel. I even tried it myself and was astonished at how easily and quickly the knife cut.
	Today most manufacturers of these types of saws use machines to grind the faces of the blades into their final shapes. The stone's face is slightly rounded so as to make the ryoba blade thinner in the middle as compared to the edges.

	Setting the teeth on the saws is today also mostly done by machine. Traditionally it was done by hand and by eye with a special hammer. Most of the old smiths at Nokogiri Kobo are still masters of this process.
	At the end of the manufacturing process, the saw blades are looked over centimeter by centimeter. With hand-forged saws where the blades are hardened at the end of the production process, the blades are occasionally slightly distorted or warped - a common byproduct of this operation - and these problems are touched up with a hammer. Even today, this work must by done by hand by a master smith.