Festivities Over

[The Justified Sinner]

At last the festive season is behind me and I managed to get back to the bench today. 

I was given a new saw for Christmas, one of the "Knew Concepts" saws which is completely rigid. Although it is a bit fiddly to get blades into, it is an amazing tool: from the second I started to cut with it, I knew that I would not be going back to my old, springy iron frame. Because the frame is rigid the blade rarely catches in the way that we are used to with traditional frames.

 

 

I was thinking about this and wondered if this is the first major change to the jeweller's piercing saw since the middle-ages!

 

 

http://www.knewconcepts.com/

 

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"Cold Genius" is back on the bench again. I've done a load of work on the box section of the piece and today completed the major construction work on it:

 

 

 

I'll post more photographs tomorrow.

[Brigitte Martin]

Ha, NYC and Pittsburgh: Obviously THE places to be. Well, as luck would have it Stevie is in NYC and I am ... in the other place. And so much looking forward to meeting you.

[The Justified Sinner]

Jon, my first impressions are that it is absolutely superb. The fact that the sawblade is simply incapable of snagging makes it very easy to use and the lightness makes it possible to work with the 8" saw as easily as if it were a small iron-framed saw.

 

As to whether it is worth the money or not, well that is a personal opinion. Over here, it is not that much more expensive: the difference is about £20.

 

Stevie, the red certainly would hide any mess from cuts, though - "touch wood" - it is years since I cut myself when sawing!

The microscope is an old Meiji stereo inspection scope from the electronics industry (a factory in Livingstone was shutting down) which I cobbled onto a makeshift adjustable stand over the peg. I started using it for stonesetting, then tried cutting and now I cut almost everything using it. My optician said that it is much better for my eyes than using glasses or no assistance (I have fairly long-sight) and I find it makes possible things which would otherwise be tiresome or impossible, such as cutting the snowflakes from 2mm silver sheet with a 6/0 blade.

More recently, I discovered that you can solder under it with a hydroflame torch and a tiny nozzle (22 or smaller) which makes chain repairs and other fiddly soldering jobs very, very easy.

 

I will be in the US this year: New York and Pittsburgh for 3 weeks in July.

[Stevie B.]

Nice looking saw. Doesnt come in my color though :(

I guess its red to hide the blood?

 

I hope you update all of us overtime with how the saw and you are doing together. I may have to get one...

 

Your magnifiers look even more intriguing!

 

Are you getting over to the USA this year?

[Jon M Ryan]

It's really better than a standard saw frame, and you think it's worth the price?  I had seen it in tool catalogs before but ignored it.  Maybe I'll get one since I plan to be doing a lot of piercing soon.  Too bad it's so ugly....