Fret saw versus power saw

[Quimp Slattery]

On 9/15/2024 at 3:21 PM, Captain Cambo said:

am a bit reluctant to use the saw in the flat as I live on the top floor and would not want to annoy the neighbours.

Hi Captain, I’m in a top floor flat too and have the same concerns. For that reason, as well as a general desire on my part to keep things simple and old school as much as I can, I use a manual fretsaw and a piercing saw. 
 

It takes a little longer and makes my arm ache a bit sometimes. On the other hand I make my mistakes slowly enough to stop before I saw where I shouldn’t. 😉 And best of all, I feel ‘closer to the wood’ somehow it’s more satisfying to me to avoid using power tools, when possible.
 

I often think of those marvellous eighteenth century Admiralty models and those made by the French POWs from soup bones and their own hair. No electricity in use then. 🤔

Edited yesterday at 03:47 PM by Quimp Slattery

[Mike Y]

I do scratch build in an apartment. Never had a big scroll saw, but a benchtop bandsaw (Proxxon MBS in my case) is not too bad. It has a bit of a high-pitched noise that does not travel too far (tested with neighbours), and I also put a rubber mat under all machines to reduce the noise distribution through vibration. You can buy these mats for washing machines and like.

So unless your apartment walls are made out of paper (which might happen) - it should not be a thing preventing you from scratch building!

Also the actual cut time is miniscule, you spend way more time preparing, marking up, gluing, sanding, etc, than the actual "cutting pieces from wood" time. 

 

Would be happy to help you with any other "tools in an apartment" problems, there are some photos in my build log that might help   It is absolutely doable! And you don't need too much space, my modelling corner is 120cm wide.

 

 

[ccoyle]

Hi, gents. I split this discussion off into its own topic.

[CiscoH]

i do almost all my work with hand tools.  mostly the powered stuff is in the garage but thats only used to cut billets into strips.  if i bought strip wood then there would be no need for noisy powered tools.  

[Gregory]

18 hours ago, Quimp Slattery said:

I often think of those marvellous eighteenth century Admiralty models and those made by the French POWs from soup bones and their own hair. 

I think of that too, but I also think if they had had power tools , 3D printers and Laser cutters, they would have used them. 😁

[Quimp Slattery]

4 hours ago, Gregory said:

I think of that too, but I also think if they had had power tools , 3D printers and Laser cutters, they would have used them. 😁

Don’t be silly, they wouldn’t have been able to plug them in to anything. 😁