Best Hand Hacksaw Frame?

Try the Bahco/Sandvik 325 Ergo frame. Excellent hacksaw frame, but pricy. Light-weight, feels good, very rigid.

I have the Starrett K153 high-tension frame. Not quite as nice, but still very good (and certainly cheaper than the Bahco).

HTH.

Regards,

Robin

Have several, and one of the best is a cheaper one - comfortable, strong and Chinese. The worst ones I've come across have been Chinese too, but made much too light. A feature most modern designs have dropped is to have one end able to be rotated by 180 degrees. This allows fitting 2 blades without one of them being loose.

Jordan

Best ive got is a Millers Falls, circa 1914/18, nickel plated, deep throat,1 by 1/8th in frame steel, rosewood handle fully rotatable from vertical through 45 to 90 deg. Stamped with WD arrow. At a flea market, for $2.00 some 10 yrs ago. Since then found 3 more in different sizes also M Falls same period. Nothing better. Good as the day they were made. Ted Dorset UK Serious tool hoarder and obsessive metal collector.

Looks like it's $31 at McMaster.. is that the one? That's not too bad.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

second the Starrett - but it only holds 12 inch blades

Try the Bahco/Sandvik 325 Ergo frame. Excellent hacksaw frame, but pricy. Light-weight, feels good, very rigid.

I have the Starrett K153 high-tension frame. Not quite as nice, but still very good (and certainly cheaper than the Bahco).

HTH.

Regards,

Robin

I have two: a vintage Wardmaster which is has adjustable length and an ergonomic handle with durable plastic grips, and a Nicholson 80965 which is similar to the Sandvik but with a great tensioner which is easily adjustable. Fred

I have a lenox high tension hacksaw. Afer deailing with the usual crap saw, the high tension was a revelation. The blade that came with the saw (bimetal) lasted far longer than i was used to. It also has a non cushioned metal grip area but I haven't found that to be a bother. In casting about for blades after I finally bent the original blade (unsupported work tweaked , kinking the blade) I found a bunch of 10" crap harbor freight blades (high carbon). I made an adapter ( a small piece of mild steel with a hole drilled at a slight angle to fit the saw pin and a hole at the other end drilled at a slight angle to braze a pin) that allowed me to fit the 10" blade in the

12" saw and the darn blades that were REALLY lousy in the crap hacksaw were transformed into more than acceptable blades. That high tension frame at work. Pat

--My fave is my Victor, which is a lever-lock type. Steel flat bar frame very rugged and stiff. No tiny parts to fall off and it's always tensioned just right. Wish someone still made 'em to that design; I could use another one sometimes..

My favorite is a Lenox 4012.

It doesn't have a cushioned grip, but the grip is large and properly contoured, and more comfortable than other saws I've used, including a pretty-good Starrett I own. The blade tension is applied with a screw, but the screw has a toggle (below the grip in the pic) that makes it easy to operate, though probably not as quick as a lever tensioner.

The Lenox bi-metal blades are also very good, esp on SS and other tough materials. I ended up with over a thousand 18T x 12" blades if anyone is interested in buying some. Like this:

Has anyone tried the DeWalt?:

It looks pretty nice & has most of the features I'm looking for. The Bahco 325 looks nice too, but the arched frame strikes me as a little harder to hand onto with the forward hand.

Doug White

I had to cut some 1" 316 SS bolts and I used a cutting wax for band saws. It made a tremendious difference. It was like the blade was skipping over the metal but it was cutting perfectly. I would have to apply the wax on the blade after about 20 strokes, Just rub the balde with the wax. I am sorry but I don,t have the name. Tomarrow I will go out ing the garage, I mean shop, for the wives sake, and post the name of the cutting wax stick. The stick cost about $10. It would look like I could cut about 300 pieces before I would use it up. Don

Good idea! I've got some (also don't remember the brand) that I can try.

I'm leaning towards the DeWalt saw frame, partly because I can probably check one out in person at a local Sears. It has all the features I'm looking for, and I can get a much better price on it than the Bahco 325. I also can't tell if you can store blades in the arched Bahco frame. Their website description is a little sparse. It certainly looks very comfortable & ergonomic to use.

Doug White

I haven't been able to find either the Bahco or the DeWalt in any local stores to check out first hand. However, Lowes carries the Nicholson

80965, and it feels very comfortable. It's got all the features I wanted, and at $20, it looks like the winner. There are two small knurled fasteners that I suspect I will replace quickly with something easier to turn. The tension adjust knob and the stab saw screw are pretty small & hard to use.

Doug White