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Fixed my earlier typos (hey, English is not my native tongue :)
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PeterK
PeterK
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I am a beginner myself with hand sawing, but the following tips worked for me for straighter saw cuts:

  • Mark your cuts either with a pencil or marking knife or both. This allows you to see if you follow the line. The added benefit of using a marking knife is that it severes wood fibres, so there is less tearing or splintering on the exit side.

  • Do not force the saw, just let it do its job. For Western-style saws, forward pressure is OK, but do not apply (a lot of) downward pressure. Relax your grip on the handle -- it may help if you imagine holding a tiny bird in your hand that you are trying not to crush.

  • As others have pointed out, your elbow should swing free of your body.

  • How you start the cut can make a huge difference. For particularly delicate cuts, I cut a straight V-groove with a marking knife or chisel that helps the blade to start right at the planned angle. Again, no forcing the saw and no downward pressure at all. I make a few pull strokes to get the blade catch in the wood (pros I've seen on YouTube start the cut with short back-and-forth movement -- didn't work for me, I guess it depends on the wood).

  • Another handy trick when starting a cut is to watch the reflection of the wood on the saw blade to see if you are holding it perpendicular to the surface.

  • Once the cut is started, control the saw by focusing on where the saw should go, as opposed to where it is. I know it sounds vague, but for some reason it works.

  • Use the full length of the blade. In my admittedly limited experience, itthis results in straighter, cleaner and faster cuts + the wear on the blade is more even. It helps if you imagine the saw is longer than is actually is.

  • If the saw starts to wander, do not bend the blade. Instead, track back to where the saw started wandering and try again.

Finally, practice a lot: a single scrap piece of wood offers plenty of opportunity. For what it's worth, I stopped beating myself over cuts that wandered off 1-3 degrees and bought a low-angle block plane, built a simple shooting board and now I can straighten a slightly skewed cut.

I am a beginner myself with hand sawing, but the following tips worked for me for straighter saw cuts:

  • Mark your cuts either with a pencil or marking knife or both. This allows you to see if you follow the line. The added benefit of using a marking knife is that it severes wood fibres, so there is less tearing or splintering on the exit side.

  • Do not force the saw, just let it do its job. For Western-style saws, forward pressure is OK, but do not apply (a lot of) downward pressure. Relax your grip on the handle -- it may help if you imagine holding a tiny bird in your hand that you are trying not to crush.

  • As others have pointed out, your elbow should swing free of your body.

  • How you start the cut can make a huge difference. For particularly delicate cuts, I cut a straight V-groove with a marking knife or chisel that helps the blade to start right at the planned angle. Again, no forcing the saw and no downward pressure at all. I make a few pull strokes to get the blade catch in the wood (pros I've seen on YouTube start the cut with short back-and-forth movement -- didn't work for me, I guess it depends on the wood).

  • Another handy trick when starting a cut is to watch the reflection of the wood on the saw blade to see if you are holding it perpendicular to the surface.

  • Once the cut is started, control the saw by focusing on where the saw should go, as opposed to where it is. I know it sounds vague, but some reason it works.

  • Use the full length of the blade. In my admittedly limited experience, it results in straighter, cleaner and faster cuts + the wear on the blade is more even. It helps if you imagine the saw is longer than is actually is.

  • If the saw starts to wander, do not bend the blade. Instead, track back to where the saw started wandering and try again.

Finally, practice a lot: a single scrap piece of wood offers plenty of opportunity. For what it's worth, I stopped beating myself over cuts that wandered off 1-3 degrees and bought a low-angle block plane, built a simple shooting board and now I can straighten a slightly skewed cut.

I am a beginner myself with hand sawing, but the following tips worked for me for straighter saw cuts:

  • Mark your cuts either with a pencil or marking knife or both. This allows you to see if you follow the line. The added benefit of using a marking knife is that it severes wood fibres, so there is less tearing or splintering on the exit side.

  • Do not force the saw, just let it do its job. For Western-style saws, forward pressure is OK, but do not apply (a lot of) downward pressure. Relax your grip on the handle -- it may help if you imagine holding a tiny bird in your hand that you are trying not to crush.

  • As others have pointed out, your elbow should swing free of your body.

  • How you start the cut can make a huge difference. For particularly delicate cuts, I cut a straight V-groove with a marking knife or chisel that helps the blade to start right at the planned angle. Again, no forcing the saw and no downward pressure at all. I make a few pull strokes to get the blade catch in the wood (pros I've seen on YouTube start the cut with short back-and-forth movement -- didn't work for me, I guess it depends on the wood).

  • Another handy trick when starting a cut is to watch the reflection of the wood on the saw blade to see if you are holding it perpendicular to the surface.

  • Once the cut is started, control the saw by focusing on where the saw should go, as opposed to where it is. I know it sounds vague, but for some reason it works.

  • Use the full length of the blade. In my admittedly limited experience, this results in straighter, cleaner and faster cuts + the wear on the blade is more even. It helps if you imagine the saw is longer than is actually is.

  • If the saw starts to wander, do not bend the blade. Instead, track back to where the saw started wandering and try again.

Finally, practice a lot: a single scrap piece of wood offers plenty of opportunity. For what it's worth, I stopped beating myself over cuts that wandered off 1-3 degrees and bought a low-angle block plane, built a simple shooting board and now I can straighten a slightly skewed cut.

Source Link
PeterK
PeterK
  • 490
  • 3
  • 9

I am a beginner myself with hand sawing, but the following tips worked for me for straighter saw cuts:

  • Mark your cuts either with a pencil or marking knife or both. This allows you to see if you follow the line. The added benefit of using a marking knife is that it severes wood fibres, so there is less tearing or splintering on the exit side.

  • Do not force the saw, just let it do its job. For Western-style saws, forward pressure is OK, but do not apply (a lot of) downward pressure. Relax your grip on the handle -- it may help if you imagine holding a tiny bird in your hand that you are trying not to crush.

  • As others have pointed out, your elbow should swing free of your body.

  • How you start the cut can make a huge difference. For particularly delicate cuts, I cut a straight V-groove with a marking knife or chisel that helps the blade to start right at the planned angle. Again, no forcing the saw and no downward pressure at all. I make a few pull strokes to get the blade catch in the wood (pros I've seen on YouTube start the cut with short back-and-forth movement -- didn't work for me, I guess it depends on the wood).

  • Another handy trick when starting a cut is to watch the reflection of the wood on the saw blade to see if you are holding it perpendicular to the surface.

  • Once the cut is started, control the saw by focusing on where the saw should go, as opposed to where it is. I know it sounds vague, but some reason it works.

  • Use the full length of the blade. In my admittedly limited experience, it results in straighter, cleaner and faster cuts + the wear on the blade is more even. It helps if you imagine the saw is longer than is actually is.

  • If the saw starts to wander, do not bend the blade. Instead, track back to where the saw started wandering and try again.

Finally, practice a lot: a single scrap piece of wood offers plenty of opportunity. For what it's worth, I stopped beating myself over cuts that wandered off 1-3 degrees and bought a low-angle block plane, built a simple shooting board and now I can straighten a slightly skewed cut.