Tool of the day

sms

Well-known Member
The saw, not the Philco which is still working by the way. The saw was around grandparents farm forever.
a256809.jpg
 
The pic. is a bit tough to see the blade, but I presume the blade has the adjusting nut on it, sort of like a big coping or scroll saw used to cut fancy trims like corbels or barge boards. I have bow saws, but that one is different than any saw that I have seen.
Loren
 
Well, I had to dig a while to find that one...there is a restored one in Colonial Williamsburg, VA which looks a lot like yours.
Called a Felloe saw.

There are other similar saws with a wider blade called frame saws.

Apparently that is very a very rare tool that, if I had, would hang on display on the wall of my shop as a conversation piece!

Let's try a link:

[b:d20c04c439]https://rainfordrestorations.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/dscn9175.jpg?w=300&h=225[/b:d20c04c439][b:d20c04c439][color=darkblue:d20c04c439][/color:d20c04c439][/b:d20c04c439]
 
Sorry for the poor photos, I don't have a lot of free time right now so I get a quick one on the run.
 
Very nice--for those interested, the "felloe" is the outer part of a wooden wagon wheel. In the clip below, the wheelwright is using a bandsaw to cut out felloes, but you can see where in the days of hand tools a saw like the one shown would be needed--you're cutting out curves from a large, thick piece of hardwood and need the rigidity of a tensioned blade along with the throat depth to get all the way around the curves and thin, narrow blade to follow them. Certainly a specialized skill with the specialized tools to match, and one that has, like many from the era, been all but lost today.
making a wooden wagon wheel
 
This saw is called a Buck Saw. Of it's many uses it is used to Buck of firewood in lengths. Usually the would put log into a vee shaped cradle and buck it up.
 
(quoted from post at 21:39:37 02/13/18) This saw is called a Buck Saw. Of it's many uses it is used to Buck of firewood in lengths. Usually the would put log into a vee shaped cradle and buck it up.

Take a closer look......the saw blade is in the middle and very narrow.
Buck saws are very common...this saw is not.
 
Are the spokes on a wagon wheel set at an angle to the hub? Civil War cannon wheels had the spokes angling slightly outward from the hub. Don't know why.
 
You wrong on that one mtman. Read below and goggle Felloe saws. That is the first one that I have ever seen. I have bow saws and buck saws. This has the blade in the middle of the wood frame.
This continuing thread has been very informative and interesting.
I think we have to thank Guido for starting it.
Loren
 
Hello Adirondack case guy,

Thank you for the many tools you have posted! It has been a very informative topic, I hope it continues, as I said initially when I suggested: Tool of the Day, I thought it would be Very educational. It certainly has been for me, and yes.. you are welcome! I will be watching for more, even though I may not a way have time to reply. Later.......

Guido.
 
When I was young we had a wooden wheel wagon around the farm, and I'm pretty sure the outer piece of wood was one piece continuous. Probably steamed and bent around the spokes and then the steel tire put on. All I have left is the iron parts now, everything else rotted away. In Arizona I have seen them made up of shorter piece of wood, but have you seen the trees in AZ!
 
JerryS: I don't know either--from a quick look around a few old cannon sites and wheel maker's websites I see no evidence that cannon wheels are angled. Not to say they wouldn't have been in some specialty applications (such as to fit an existing wheel track width, perhaps, or to allow a bit more room to work around the cannon while loading and firing?) but all the ones I could find on short notice appear to have normal 90-degree spokes. Link below is one company that does modern reproductions based on historical drawings and blueprints, and all their wheels appear to at 90 degrees. It's hard to tell from relatively small pictures, but it's possible that the spokes MAY angle slightly (like a bicycle's spokes) from left to right alternately around the wheel, but that would be different from what I think you're discussing.
cannon carriage wheels
 
Just goggle felloe saws. Lots of uses for it. It was evidently not the best saw ever invented and seams that it took much patience to make what the craftsman set out to make with it. Probably why it is rarely seen.
Loren
 
its basically a really large coping saw for making curves, say if you were making large decorative brackets for a house or making a wood patch to fill in a rounded window.............the blade can usually be twisted so you can continue a cut with a comfortable hold on the frame.
 
Well, it's not to say it's impossible, but I've done enough steam bending to think it would be VERY difficult to get everything correct, lined up, bent and fit in the amount of time you've got to work a piece (even one as thick as a wagon rim) while steam bending, and multiple steam-heat cycles would give you even more problems. There are, however, some wheels that are made with more than one spoke per felloe section, for instance 2, 3, or 4 spokes per section on a 12-spoke wheel, though I'd bet most of those felloes were cut (quite possibly with a saw like the one that started this thread) rather than steam-bent. However, in doing a bit of looking, I found a video (about 5 minutes long, from the "how it's made" television series) showing a wheel rim being made in two steam-bent halves, each holding 6 spokes, which would seem more probable, though I doubt if even this method was used on large, heavy-duty wheels.
making a steam bent wagon rim
 
I agree this has been a very informative, interesting topic. I enjoy the tools posted here and old tools in general. I learned more today I thought this was just a frame saw and never looked further. Thanks all.
 


Most wooden wheels had a degree of "dish" to them. If you are interested in the whys and hows, then do a search for "wheelwrighting" or "making wooden carriage wheels". I know there are at least a few books and videos out there explaining it all.
 
Having the rim outside the hub makes the wheel a lot stronger.

When you're on a hillside much of the weight transfers to the downhill wheels and tries to push the axle out through the wheel. By having the spokes angled like that it redirects the force along the spokes to the rim so the wheel holds together; without it the wheel would blow apart.
 

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