Knew Concepts 5" Woodworker Fret Saw

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Price: $118.44    

Product Feature

• Supplied with a 15 TPI #7 skip-tooth blade.
• Lightweight, maneuverable, and easy to adjust.
• One of the most innovative fret saws available.
• Weighs only 5.2 ounces, yet is incredibly strong.
• Unique blade holder makes blade changes and tensioning simple.

Product Description

Woodworkers Fretsaw by Knew Concepts

Made in USA, these fret saws are designed for quickly cutting waste from hand-cut dovetails. Their innovative truss-like frames are light-weight and far easier to use than their predecessors - the traditional jewelers fret saws.

This light-weight but stiff frame reduces the occurrence of blade breakage and the thumb-screw blade clamps make it a cinch to install a blade. Gone is the awkward tensioning procedure associated with traditional fret saws. A simple cam lever easily tensions the blade in a second and you're ready to put the saw to use.

The unique blade mounting system allows the blade to be swiveled 45 degrees right or left and a detent locks the blade at center. This is quickly accomplished by rotating the cam tensioner to release the tension, then retention the saw blade.

This 5in. size weighing 5.2 oz.will accommodate coping and larger fret work while still doing a superb job of removing waste from hand-cut dovetails.

Knew Concepts 5" Woodworker Fret Saw Review

Normally, I wouldn't spend this much on such a simple tool, but based on the rave reviews and sleek design features, I bit the bullet and paid the price. For about fifty years, I have been using much less expensive coping saws ( or fret saws ) for cutting dovetails. Based on that experience, here are my observations:

Pros:
It really is lightweight and rigid, two qualities that make it a pleasure to use.

The rigidity of the frame dampens vibration and keep blades taught for accurate cuts.

The clamping mechanism swivels, which allows angling the blade to the frame. That means you can cut deep dovetails near the center of a wide board without having a huge throat opening. That's great in my opinion because you can get better control with a smaller saw and you need less room to store or carry it.

Handle is OK. It's easy to improve with some grip tape; an idea that Rob Cosman extols. Being Canadian, he calls grip-tape "hockey-stick tape."

The lever-operated tension mechanism works as advertised, which is a great feature. You can release the tension in one second for storage, which dramatically prolongs blade life. It only takes a second to re-tension the blade for use. Although there are many saws that have a similar mechanism, this is the best, most consistent and smoothest one I have used.

Cons:
Price. I know what aluminum costs and how quickly it can be cut with modern CNC tools. This should not cost so much. The main cost of manufacturing these seems to be in the anvils. From the machining marks, they look as though they are individually machined, drilled and tapped. That's nice, but it increases price. I know I could do all those operations in my basement with the same materials for practically nothing, and just a few dollars for materials.

The clamping anvils are small, made for skinny jeweler's blades. Some experts (like Rob Cosman & Paul Sellers) use 12.5 TPI skip-tooth blades for cutting dovetails. So, if you're satisfied with that single type of blade choice, OK.

For woodworking, I have found standard coping saw blades cut faster than those skinny jeweler's blades. These clamps are too small to use thicker or wider blades, and they will not accept pinned-blades. The thicker and wider blades (available cheaply at all home-centers) last longer, cut faster and leave a cleaner edge that requires less touch-up.

In my experience, it is good to have a variety of blades for different woods. Hard maple cuts nicely with higher TPI. Softer woods require larger teeth to remove saw-dust efficiently. Wide blades are also easier to SEE, so these old eyes can tell what direction the blade is pointing. Therefore, if you were to choose just ONE fret / coping saw for numerous jobs, this is not the best choice.

The clamping anvils attach to the frame with two opposing set-screws. The problem is they don't exert enough pressure on the flat aluminum to stay in place. When I put enough tension on the blade to keep it reasonably taught, the entire rear anvil (near the handle) pops off. I fixed that by lightly drilling two detents to hold the set-screws. That solved the problem. However, for a hundred bucks, I expect to NOT need such modifications.

So, here is the bottom line:
There is no fix for the skinny-blade capacity. This saw only accepts pin-less narrow jeweler's blades. Even if you love those little blades, it would be nice to accept other blades for different jobs... blades you can easily find at every home center, instead of having to order special blades online.

You can fix the slipping anvil problem by making dents to hold the set screws. At this price you shouldn't need to do that.

There is no fix for the price either.

This saw does not cut any better than my nine-dollar coping saw, like those available at any home center.

It looks great and is well made.

The quick-tension lever saves a few seconds of nut-twisting.

If those few seconds are that valuable to you, then go ahead and buy it.

If you just love nice tools and can afford it, go ahead and buy it.

If you despise spending too much on a fancy tool that does not work any better than a cheap tool, this is not for you.

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