Loading…
12
Switched from a circular saw to a handsaw for stair stringers and my cuts got dead on
Cutting stair stringers with my circular saw always left me fighting the blade, especially on the angled plumb cuts where it would wander or burn the wood. Last month I was framing a set of deck stairs out in Boise and said forget it, grabbed my old Disston handsaw that cost me $15 at a garage sale, and marked every notch with a sharp pencil and a speed square instead. Took me maybe 20 extra minutes per stringer but every single notch sat flush on the treads with no shimming. The circular saw was fast but I was always going back with a chisel or a rasp to fix what it messed up. The handsaw cut slow and clean and I could feel the line the whole way through. I know some guys swear by a jig and a router for stringers, but for one or two sets a year the handsaw and a good square are plenty. Anyone else ditched the power tool on stringers or am I just getting old and slow?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
the_parker11d ago
Man, you just cost yourself an hour a set to save ten minutes of cleanup, that math never works out. A sharp blade and a good jig take care of the wander and burn you're talking about, so the saw was never the problem. Sounds less like getting old and more like getting slow on purpose.
5