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Veritas are manufacturers of many fine quality
tools and jigs for the woodworking market and are well regarded in the
woodworking fraternity. Today we are taking a look at their Flush Cutting
Saws - a tool that should be standard in any woodworkers shop.
A saw is not just a saw!
To the uninitiated, a saw is simply a device that cuts material,
whether it be wood or not. Of course, as professional or hobbyist
woodworkers, we are aware of the huge range of saws available today, each
with their own purpose and level of quality and any good woodworker will
display an arsenal of saws in their woodshop to tackle almost any task.
You can put 2 tenon saws (for example) side by side and while they may
both complete the same task, one may complete it much better than the
other. The quality of a tool (particularly with saws) is perhaps the most
important factor under the spotlight when it comes to laying down your
money. Since Veritas have established a good name for themselves, we
decided to give their flush cutting saws a run for their money to see if
they stack up to their reputation.
A Unique Tool
The flush cutting saw is indeed a unique tool and performs a task that
perfectly fits its name. It cuts flush with a surface, and with the added
bonus of not marking the surface it is actually cutting flush with. This
is because it has both a flexible blade and saw teeth that are only set
one way. They are somewhat similar to fillet knives in the kitchen, but
you won't be letting SWMBO touching these babies!
Application
As the above introduction picture shows, the Veritas flush cutting saw
is ideal for trimming dowels and plug flush with your work piece. This
results in a nice smooth finish that usually requires very minimal
sanding, if any (assuming your blades are sharp of course). In testing
(cutting about 50 odd wooden plugs and dowels) we only needed to sand the
surface very lightly with a few passes of medium grit paper on most
occasions. It certainly wasn't necessary on many, but there is nothing
wrong with being a perfectionist now and then... is there?
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Cutting our way easily through
some wood plugs |
No sanding required, and no
marred or scratched surface |
Another great use we found was trimming pocket hole
plugs. We used the
Kreg Pocket Hole Jig
to butt join a CD tower to it's base and filled the pocket holes with
wooden pocket hole plugs. After gluing, these plugs certainly do not fit
flush with the surface and require routing or trimming for a flush finish.
You can trim these flush with a router, but it is quite tricky to do. A
few seconds with the Veritas flush cutting saw and we have nice flush and
concealed pocket hole joints that are much easier, safer and faster to
trim than with the router.
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Pocket Hole Plug
trimming
the safe and easy way! |
Another great result! |
The Veritas
Flush Cutting Saws can be used in virtually any application where you need
to cut off a projection without concerning yourself with damaging the
surrounding face.
Saw Mechanics
Veritas offers two types of flush cutting saws - single edge and
double edge. A double edge saw can cut on either side allowing you to cut
projections in tight areas where you may not be able to practically or
effectively use the single edge saw.
Both saws
feature 22 tpi Japanese tooth-pattern blades. The saws cut on the pull
stroke, so don't try to cut on the push stroke (a common habit some of us
possess) and expect a good result. Pull strokes are the order of the day
with these saws and you will find that the blades cut very cleanly and are
rigid enough to provide good control. Take things nice and easy, and as
you will or have heard many times before, don't try and force the tool to
do a job it isn't built or designed for. You can cut fairly aggressively
with these saws, but use a little common sense to avoid damaging the
blade.
Each saw is
marked to show the direction the blade needs to be orientated to have the
teeth facing up (which will avoid any scratching or marring of your work
piece). The words "This side up" are printed at the base of the blade
close to the handle. The handle seems quite strong and is comfortable in
the hand and can be hung from its handle for storage purposes if required.
Conclusion
There is only so much you can say about a saw of this nature, however,
we found them to work very well in testing, they were comfortable and easy
to use and cut extremely well with no marring of the work piece. There is
no doubt that these saws will get plenty of ongoing use from us in the
future. Recommended!
The Veritas
Single Edge Flush Cutting Saw retails for US$17.95 and the Double Edge Saw
for US$22.95 and both can be ordered direct through
Lee Valley
or through most major woodworking supply stores worldwide.
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Available to
Order Online through these companies...
Click graphic to go to
their direct product page for this item |
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In Australia
www.timbecon.com.au
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Veritas Flush Cutting Saw Photos
All photos copyright onlinetoolreviews.com. Use without prior
written permission prohibited
Ahh, Nice new saws just waiting
for some action!
The 'Genu-wine' thang!
"This side up"
Flexible blades allow you to cut
flush with the surface
22tpi for fine cutting that usually requires no sanding
afterwards
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