DIY hand saw, The Little Ripper

Last week I found myself having to cut some wood.
We had a "ribbon" saw made with a chain from a power chain saw .
It worked but took some time and a lot of energy to do it.
(we dad several branches about 3-6" thick)
So I thought of making my own .
What I wanted was something light and small, easy to pack and assemble and good enough to cut the type of wood we had.
This is the result , The Little Ripper.
Made with some aluminium, 3 screws and wing nuts, a wood/metal blade , some OmniTape and a piece of protective wrapper .
So apart from size and weight , cost was important .
It works...


just under 100g/3.5 oz
I might shoot a short YouTube clip just to inspire someone else to make something like this.
Franco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FZ2_FK8I...mp;feature=plcp

Hey, that's cool! I made a knife/saw combo from a recip. saw blade once. Sharpened the spine of the saw blade. Worked well as a knife but felt the saw part was ineffecive. I've got lots of blades around here. Might have to build one of those!

Although you are limited on what size you can cut, I am sure you can cut what you need. Great little bloke you have there. I still need to make me a small carry saw.

The good news is that it is really simple to make.
Took me a long time to drill a hole at the tip end of the saw (hand drill and cheapish drill bit...) but the rest is very fast to make.
First I thought of a larger (about 1") strip of aluminium than came up with the idea of combining the padding to make the handle with the needed cover for the blade when stored so opted for the smaller 10mm x 3mm strip.
Franco

What if you used a piece of hack saw blade for that top strip? Two saws in one.

To make drilling hardened steel easier, aneal it first....heat the tip (part to be drilled) to cherry red and let cool slowly. Drilling the end should be much easier and not effect the rest of the blade.
Building me a Franco Saw!

"What if you used a piece of hack saw blade for that top strip? Two saws in one"
Brilliant !!

By itself it may just flex too much but maybe two (one as a spare) or just added to the bar (as it is in the pics but cut to size) it may just work
A 9" hack saw blade is about 10g, my blade is heavier than it needs to be for wood because it cuts metal as well, so the hack saw blade plus a lighter version of the one I have would be about the same weight...
(the top strip and the red blade are of the same size)
Something to try out
(not that I really need to cut metal but could come handy)
Thanks for that.
Now go and make your own.
Franco
BTW, the annealing bit...
I sort of did that by accident. During the drilling I had my drill bit red hot and the blade started to scorch the wood under it
(I don't have a workshop so I was drilling over a plank of wood)
That is why the tip is black.


I just remembered something that came to mind when I was plotting how to do it.
A thin blade needs to be in tension and that would complicate the design for me.

Ah, the tension part....didn't think of that. I've got a bunch of recip. blades in the shop, all sizes and tooth counts. Now I'm wondering if another recip. blade would make a good spine. They are stiffer than a hacksaw blade and would provided a spare. I'll build what you built to better understand what you were up against.
Once perfected you need to submit your design/instructions to the make-your-own gear section. It's a good idea!

That's a great job, Franco! I took a different approach and made a few folders out of cut-down back-pull razor saw blades that fold into a wooden handle with a wing-nut as tightener and pivot. Tried different thicknesses. Japanese cabinetry saws are the lightest (1 oz complete) but require careful use. Pruning saws are durable (2.5 oz, complete) as all get-out but hard to cut down. Sorry, no pix. The 4" pruning saw version will cut thicker stuff than I imagine ever needing.

I used it on two trips (6 days all up) to cut fallen branches nearby the huts we used as a base .
The huts have a chimney or a stove so with the Little Ripper I replaced the initial wood we used and with my Mora knife I made some kindling
Works well for branches around 2-3" , can cut wider than that but it starts to be a bit hard work.
could be good for the guys with a tipi/stove combo.
Franco

I have now used the Little Ripper on another snow trip camping next to another hut.
That reminded me the importance of using a largish tent if an extended time is spent at camp but because we cooked and warmed up inside the hut the Notch did very well for me again.
So we had to cut more wood.
There were plenty of fallen branches around (snow gum) , 4 to 7 feet long 1 to 4 inches in diameter and that is what we cut.
We had the "chain saw" the Little Ripper and a 15" long hand saw with the pruning saw type handle.
Roughly I could cut 2-4 times faster with the Little Ripper compared to the chain saw (gets tiring very quickly with the chain saw...) but the 15" "pruning saw" cut about twice as fast as mine, however it is over twice the weight.
So my conclusion is that for occasional use the Little Ripper works well, for regular use one with a longer blade would work much better or something like the Fiskar Folding saw (the 7" is about 10oz) would work better.


BTW, a forum member at BPL pointed out that the Little Ripper looks very much like the Sven Saw, and it does...
(I had no idea but am rather pleased that after all "my design" is already in use...)
The Sven comes in 15" and 21" , so that could do the job for prolonged use.
The 15" Sven is less than $30 (Amazon) so well worth a look..
You can see them all here :
http://www.rei.com/category/4500579
Franco

I like the little ripper more than the sven, more character.