A few years ago, after hearing great things about Knew Concepts and their amazing fret saws, I eventually splurged and bought one. The prices aren’t pretty, but I was growing increasingly frustrated with my coping saw for making detailed cuts.
For woodworking, a fret saw like this one is excellent for cutting out waste material when cutting out dovetails by hand. For other work, it’s great for making precise cuts, curves, and other intricate details.
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In general a fret saw is far better suited for making precise cuts than coping saws, although coping saws do have their place. Coping saws also have longer, thicker, and more durable blades.
The big 2 things about Knew Concepts’ fret saws, at least for me, is the rigidity of the frame and controllability of the blade.
You need a little more or less tension? That’s easy. You need the blade at a slight angle? That’s a quick adjustment too, with the pivoting blade model.
These saws work with 5″ (5-1/8″ nominal) fret saw and jeweler’s saw blades. There are 3 sizes, corresponding to throat depth: 3″, 5″, and 8″. I bought the 5″ version.
In each size tier, there are 3 different saws, with the difference being in the blade retention style.
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- Screw tension
- Lever tension
- Lever tension and swivel blade clamps
The Knew Concepts fret saws with screw tension are least expensive, with lever tension and swivel blade clamp are most expensive.
I bought the most featured one because I thought it would be useful to be able to rotate the blade, with detents at 45° either way, and I was right. That feature has come in handy, not all the time, but frequently enough. It’s not going to be essential for everyone, especially if you work with smaller work, but I took the chance and it paid off.
If I instead opted for the 8″ size – again, this corresponds to the throat depth, each saw takes the same size blade – I might not have needed the swivel feature. But in my use, the rotatable blade makes complex or difficult cuts a little easier.
Each blade comes with a Pegas #7 skip tooth blade, which is well suited for woodworking. Depending on where you buy your saw, it might come with something different.
These saws are definitely not for everyone, due to their price. When I bought mine, it was a birthday gift to myself, otherwise I couldn’t really justify it. If you have deeper pockets, or a bigger birthday or holiday budget, they also make titanium-framed models. The regular red-colored ones are made from anodized aluminum.
With right saw blade, you can cut wood, plastic, or even light or thin metals. For woodworking, stick with the Pegas #7 skip tooth blade to start. A replacement pack of those blades is between $3.25 and $6 or so, per dozen. That blade, when coupled with this saw, is capable of cutting in reasonably tight angles, which is why it’s praised for dovetail work.
If you think you might make use of the swivelling blade clamps, which allows the blade to be rotated to any angle or indexed at 90° or 45° both ways, step up to the highest model. If you don’t think you need that feature, at least still stick with the lever tension model. The lever makes blade installation and removal quick and easy, and I suppose it might allow for blade tension to be eased up a little, if ever needed.
Knew Concepts makes their saws in the USA.
You’ll see some woodworkers, including some very influential ones, gushing about these saws and how great they are. My saw is fantastic, and I will never have to buy another fret or coping saw ever again. Or at least that’s what I told myself. Is it magical? No. But I quite frankly cannot think of anything bad to say about the saw.
Who is this for? Anyone who wants to make precision cuts in wood, plastic, or light metal materials. It can also be used on jewelry-making materials, such as wax.
What isn’t this for? This isn’t a saw for hogging out large chunks from thick materials. It can be used for cutting the waste wood from dovetails, but within reason. You’re not going to want to use this for long straight cuts in very thick wood materials.
Don’t know which one you need? Go with the 5-inch models, as I did, and decide whether you want maximum affordability, quick blade changes, or quick blade changes and a rotatable blade. If you’re still not sure, here’s a selection guide.
Knew Concepts also makes a coping saw, for constuction, restoration, coping, molding, or large fine cuts, that works with standard pinned 6-1/2″ blades.
5″ Saw Prices:
- Screw tension: $56
- Lever tension: $73
- Lever tension and swivel blade clamps: $99
Buy Now(via Amazon)
Buy Now(via Otto Frei – this is where I bought mine)
More Info(via Knew Concepts)
Don’t like the handle?
There are optional 3rd party handle upgrades available at Lee Valley for $85 each. There’s also an upgrade handle for Knew Concepts’ coping saw.
tim
I never knew the name of this particular tool. They look super useful as I’ve seen alot of trim carpenters use them. I’ll be looking into a more affordable alternative soon.
Thanks.
Stuart
You’ll probably want a coping saw, then, at least to start. Lee Valley has a nice for under $20, but most home centers and independent suppliers should have a basic one in stock too.
Nathan
Interesting – I’ve wanted to buy a coping saw for a while but was looking at some with a steel bar frame.
BikerDad
Knew Concepts – DA BOMB of small frame saws. Pricey? Yes. Best small frame saws in the world? Yes. There is one downside to the Knew Concepts frame saws in comparison to the German-style saws. The KC saw does not allow you to shorten the frame length in order to use broken blades. I’m not sure how much of an issue this would be for woodworkers, especially those using the saw primarily for dovetails and such, where the thickness of material being cut calls for a longer stroke than a jeweler working with thin sheet metal, but it is a consideration.
Now, I haven’t used my KC saws much yet, but I also have not broke a blade, which is surprising considering how little experience I have with frame saws. I think blade breakage is probably more common for the jewelers as they are working with harder materials.
When looking at the price and going “eek”, here’s one thing to keep in mind: you’ll never have to worry about replacing batteries that won’t hold a charge any longer.
Sean
I still don’t see the difference between a coping saw and a fret saw, and I thought they were used interchangeably.
I recently bought an Irwin brand coping saw, and it’s as crappy as any of them. The mechanism for tightening is the same as the basic $7 no-name ones – when you go to tighten it just a bit more, the blade starts spinning with the screw.
For as little as I use one of these, I would never pay more than $20 for one of these anyway.
Stuart
Fret saw: uses same blades as scroll saws, usually thin and precise.
Coping saw: uses coping saw blades, usually larger than fret saw, and meant for precise, but somewhat less precise, work.
Coping saw is often used for general purpose detailed cuts, fret saw is often used for more intricate, complex, or finer work, especially in thinner materials.
It’s similar to the difference between a fillet knife and a chef’s knife.
Sean
Well, that’s nice to know that a scroll saw blade fits on a fret saw! I had no idea. I have like 20 of those blades, but neither a scroll saw nor a fret saw. Ha.
I always wanted a scroll saw, but it’s kind of at the bottom of the list. Maybe when I turn 65 and get into weird woodwork, like rocking chairs.
Stuart
*Some scroll saw blades!* This fraw saw works with 5″ pinless blades. There might still be some incompatibilities.
Jeweler’s blades are made for fret saws, not powered scroll saws. Certain ones might fit, but you’ll break a lot of them.
There are some blades that’ll work in this and a scroll saw, but probably only larger and thicker ones.
Some scroll saw blades might fit this saw, but possibly only the thinnest and narrowest ones.
Fret saw blades, even high quality ones, are cheap, so it’s not a big deal if you can’t use the same blades in both types of tools.
Sean
I looked a little more closely, and I have an 18 pack of Ryobi brad scroll saw blades (w/ a pin), and they’re about 6.75 inches.
I also have three little bundles of pinless blades, which I believe are the “jewelers blades” because they’re wrapped in wire to hold them all together and look similar to amazon pictures. I have NO idea where I got these. Normally unknown stuff came from Harbor Freight on some weird buying spree.
Doug C
The saw seems a tad on the high price side, but those handles are outrageous!!
“There are replacement handles available at Lee Valley for $85 each. ”
i assume it is a typo?
Stuart
Where’s the typo? There are optional replacement handles, for $85 each. Hey, I don’t judge. If someone splurges for a titanium one of these, maybe they want a 3rd party upgrade handle.
BikerDad
Those replacement handles are Cocobolo or Mesquite. Yes, I think that they are about twice what I’d be willing to pay for ’em, but what you’re dealing with is about as close to a cottage workshop tool maker as you can get. The only difference between Elkhead Tools, the maker of the handles, and the classic cottage workshop is Elkhead is unlikely to actually be in a cottage.
Christian
Here’s a pretty cool video where Adam from Mythbusters talks to one of the company’s founders about the tool along with the titanium version and both of their histories of developments. Pretty interesting.
Tyler
This saw lives in a niche within a niche. People don’t want to use this saw, they just want to stare at it. It’ll definitely attract the attention of tool hipsters, the younger cousins of the Zen masters of chisel sharpening, and guys that adjust their handplanes for three hours every Sunday, before going inside for brandy.
C Jackson
Did someone hurt you Tyler? Someone with wicked nice tools?