Saw Handles

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Saw Handles

Saws have a little bit of a learning curve but are amazing tools once you get the hang of them. I go camping quite a bit and have noticed over the years how much new campers struggle to use saws, despite their enthusiasm for fire building.

There’s got to be a way to help beginners have a better experience learning to use a saw. To get some insight, I spoke with some sawing experts and observed them using a saw. Here’s an action map of how they use one to make a cut. The first yellow section is their setup, and the blue is their cutting cycle.

 
 
 

I recorded a few beginners and a few experts using a saw and drew a line of their experience on the map. As you can see by the two maps above, the beginners had a lot of deviation from a normal saw usage, while the experts had much less deviation.

A couple major issues:

  1. The blade jammed a lot

  2. Their arm or hand got tired

Below is a flow chart of beginner behaviors that led to the blade jamming and their hand tiring out, and how they differ from expert behaviors. It then explores some design features that could help address those points.

 
 

Blade jamming was the biggest issue with beginners. They would hold the saw in a power grip (like a hammer). When they pushed the saw, it often wasn’t in line with the cut and the blade would jam, jarring their arm and halting their cutting. Experts would hold the saw with a precision grip, placing their index finger in line with the blade plane. This gave them some haptic information on the saw’s alignment.

The next biggest issue with beginners was their hands and arms getting tired. They would spend a lot of energy white-knuckling the handle in a power grip. Simply lifting the index finger into a precision grip forces the hand to relax and not fatigue as quickly. The experts seemed to benefit a lot from this and didn’t appear to have nearly as much white-knuckling.

Design elements:

  1. A gunsight/scope that promotes straight alignment

  2. A handle that promotes precision grip & hand relaxation

I tried out a bunch of foam grips to see how to include these elements in a way that felt intuitive. I tried out some more organic forms, but settled on a more geometric shape that was easier to intuitively read and interact with.

 

Design notes:

  1. The main volume of the handle is too small to hold in a simple power grip, leading the user to intuitively choke up and place their index finger on the narrow plane above it (aligned with the blade).

  2. The thicker ridge at the bottom of the plane creates a small resting spot for the index finger, promoting a more relaxed grip while providing strength to the main grip volume.

  3. The blade extends a bit above the handle, creating a “gunsight” to align with.

  • Some novice users struggled regardless with a push saw (a saw with teeth that cut during the push stroke). They would also keep their arms abnormally extended to keep distance from the cutting action. I included a pull saw with a longer handle for these folks.

 
 

The black handle was 3D printed. My router went down so I busted out the calipers and hand shaped the wooden handles, which were white oak (I believe) with brass hardware.