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Did you see what I saw?
But seriously, rocketry (building rockets) goes hand-in-hand with another of my hobbies, woodworking. Several of the somewhat specialized tools can make cutting stuff for rocketry a lot easier. One of these sets of tools are handsaws. Specifically, Japanese-type pull saws. There are several small saws available, and are fairly inexpensive.
So what's so great about these saws? First, they cut on the pull stroke, not the push (many Japanese tools work this way). Because pulling the saw puts less strain on the blade than pulling, the blades can be made a lot thinner. The teeth in these saws typically have little or no set (set is where the teeth are bent to alternating sides of the blade). This allows you to put a finger (or finger nail) or guide directly against the saw to guide it as the cut is made. Pull saws generally take less pressure to make the cut, an advantage if you have limited hand strength. Some of them are made without a "back" or stiffening rib across the top. This makes them very flexible and able to make flush cuts. They come in different teeth spacing (teeth-per-inch) to serve as either rip or crosscut. Some saws have two edges, one side has rip teeth, the other crosscut. Here are three of the pull saws I frequently use for rocketry (great for cutting balsa, plywood, as well as body tubes, fiberglass, and plastic).
The top saw is made by Irwin. I bought this one at Lowes. The middle saw is a real Japanese dozuki (I caught it on sale at Woodcraft). It has the rib on top to stiffen the blade (no flush cuts!). The bottom saw is a Dewalt flush cut saw (Home Depot). For size comparison, the Dewalt has a 5" blade, the Irwin and the dozuki have 7" blades. Some models of the Irwin have removable blades, releasing with a push button. The Dewalt and the dozuki blades are released with a thumb screw.
But seriously, rocketry (building rockets) goes hand-in-hand with another of my hobbies, woodworking. Several of the somewhat specialized tools can make cutting stuff for rocketry a lot easier. One of these sets of tools are handsaws. Specifically, Japanese-type pull saws. There are several small saws available, and are fairly inexpensive.
So what's so great about these saws? First, they cut on the pull stroke, not the push (many Japanese tools work this way). Because pulling the saw puts less strain on the blade than pulling, the blades can be made a lot thinner. The teeth in these saws typically have little or no set (set is where the teeth are bent to alternating sides of the blade). This allows you to put a finger (or finger nail) or guide directly against the saw to guide it as the cut is made. Pull saws generally take less pressure to make the cut, an advantage if you have limited hand strength. Some of them are made without a "back" or stiffening rib across the top. This makes them very flexible and able to make flush cuts. They come in different teeth spacing (teeth-per-inch) to serve as either rip or crosscut. Some saws have two edges, one side has rip teeth, the other crosscut. Here are three of the pull saws I frequently use for rocketry (great for cutting balsa, plywood, as well as body tubes, fiberglass, and plastic).
