Very clear instructions, great demonstrations. I find TRW to be among the finest instruction available on KZfaq. I ALWAYS learn something new. It's funny but I'll watch one of his videos on something i thought i knew very well, and i always walk away having learned something new. Great content, well delivered.

I bought a 12" bad axe dovetail saw and really struggled starting the cut. It would bog down, skip and bind--even after following advice in other videos. The exercise at around 7:30 was key for me. I also think a factor was that I was accustomed to pushing the saw away with weight down from using Japanese saws for many years.

As good an instructional here as can be found anywhere……

One of the best instructional videos on the subject of sawing I’ve ever seen. Those are some great exercises to work from. One cannot improve without deliberate practice.

These exercises are what I needed to improve my sawing skills. Thanks for sharing. Greatly appreciated.

Thanks! This is the answer to much frustration!

Great advice will be practicing these techniques for sure.Thank you.

Thank you for this. I’m much less intimidated by sawing now!

Brilliant!! Ive seen so many "how to saw videos" most cover the same stuff but you had some new great tips and exercises here 👍

1 that James Wright gave us was to set up a camera record a check out my alignment.

Shannon is a brilliant teacher. I couldn't saw to save my life until I stumbled across his videos and practised his techniques. I like the way he analyses what he is doing for the viewers' benefit. This video is very good and reinforces his excellent instructions. He's got a great workshop and fantastic tools. I'm envious. Thanks, Shannon.

Thank you for these tips and advice

Great training video Shannon! I can't believe I'm wanting to learn what I was taught in my high school wood shop class at the age of 54. I sure have an appreciation for hand woodworking and I am eager to learn and incorporate some new old skills into my shop and woodworking journey. Thank you John

Thanks for sharing these great exercises! As a beginner woodworker, I've been struggling with hand sawing and these tips and techniques are really helpful. I especially appreciate the emphasis on proper posture and grip, as I've found those to be crucial for making accurate and clean cuts. Looking forward to practicing these exercises and improving my sawing skills. Thanks again!

Thank you so much for publishing this video! I've been wanting this exact thing for a long time and have scrounged up a few short articles here and there, but having it in video form is way richer! Everyone seems to want to focus on getting projects done, I want to practice in-between to make the projects more enjoyable. Thank you for filling this much needed space and covering the not-so-glamorous topics :) You are and extremely skilled teacher.

Great instruction!

Very nice of you sharing your experience, Shannon. Exactly what I need now after a bit of a break with woodworking 😉

Excellent video and recommendations!

Thanks for the motivation to get out to the shop

Thanks for a very informative video, very helpful. I’m a hobbyist woodworker and recently started “warming up” before sawing, what a difference it has made to my accuracy. I’ll now follow your advice and hopefully continue to saw better. I have learnt that the more accurate your sawing, the quicker the project goes, as it ultimately leads to less planing, particularly on cross cuts. A nice square crosscut leads to a couple of passes on the shooting board and you’re good to go. Thanks again, UK Dave.

Your explanations of the why as well as the how, especially in the fifth exercise, really opened my eyes! I’ve watched Paul Sellers and tried to imitate but without much success. But you explained the why if each stroke-each movement-and my brain is reeling! Can’t wait to get to my shop and pick up a saw!

Thanks 👍 as a beginner like those tips .😊

Another well done exercise and explanation Shannon. Great stuff for teaching old and new makers.

Thank you so much for some great advice. I am off to the shop next to practice these drills. I am sure it will help. Cheers!

Thanks!

Outstanding

Very educative video ! The one on push stroke starting was alredy so fruitful to me 👍 Thank you very much 🙏

Really, really useful: thanks so much!

Thank you

Thank you for sharing a forgotten technique nowadays.

Some great tips! Your workbench sessions with Rex Krueger is still one of my favorites! So much information! I'll combine this with my "saw freehand dovetails as uncle Frank (Klausz)" that I'm doing right now. (I'm no Frank Klausz but it's fun!)

Excellent! Very usefull, clear and precise explanations, thank you. How about something similar about japanise handsaws? As they work under tension, they require a different training.

Saw the ears off a what now? Lol! Great exercises Shannon. I think these will help me with my dovetails for sure! I get so tense and strain my neck and shoulders worrying about precision. I need to remember this is what I love to do and just relax!

Thank you so much Shannon. All of your videos related to sawing or saws themselves go straight into favourites. Along with a prayer mat. This is an invaluable video. Can I ask about dominant eyes please? I'm mostly right handed with a right dominant eye. Yet counterintuitively I prefer to saw to the left of the line and do a better job of sawing plumb. Thanks again. Cheers Alan

Seeing you starting the big rip saw on the forward stroke reminded me of when I started to practice that, my uncle seen me do it and asked why I don't drag it back like everyone else. I explained to him what I learned from you and why it's done, told him if I could do it with a big rip saw then I could do it with any saw. The best sawing tip I learned from you is "taking a step back", this drastically improved my sawing ability and accuracy 😁 As for practice, I mark out dovetails in scrap and saw them, then I saw more tails inside the originals until there is no room left, I don't mark these and try to keep them as close to the original kerfs as possible, a plumb cut gets dropped in the middle. If I break through into a kerf beside the one I'm cutting or the little sliver breaks lose, then I cut off at my baseline and start again. On thicker sections of scrap I practice tenons, I mark 4 cheek cuts as normal about 1\4inch in from the sides of the board. Then I mark another set about 1\2inch in from the sides, and so on til I run out of room on the board..... the end grain looks like a grid pattern. The cheek cuts are about 3inch deep. If I can't drop every one of those cheek cuts where they're supposed to be, il saw the board off as the baseline and do it all again. I tend to start my tenons on the far side, make a shallow kerf across the top and then jus keep dropping the handle to my baseline, think you once called this the "Wearing method"...... I find it "awkward" tracing the saw forward, I'd rather trace it back to me, same for sawing the walls of a dado; I've tried breaking that into 2 parts like you showed, but I have more success starting on the far side. I'm wont mention my first thought when I seen the dribble marks on your stool........ Il always have the mind of a 12 year old boy 🤣

Believe it or not, these techniques worked on my bar of Cracker Barrel cheese this morning using my new serrated Cutco Cheese Knife. Perfect little squares and so yummy a practice session…..

It is kind of funny. So much of this video is what I already know but this reinforcement is very good. If you get the technique right everything else falls into place. My take away is "muscle memory", if you build it with this video's good start you can saw anything.

2:10 🎵🎵 Just keep sawing, just keep sawing, just keep sawing, sawing, sawing🎵🎵

A well tuned, well set saw is the secret to improving your sawing skills. If you are fighting the saw before you even begin life is going to suck.

When cutting your dovetails, place the board in your vice so all your cuts are vertical. This way your muscle memory is always the same. Do one side of the all the tails, then move the board in the vice so the other half are now vertical. You will always be naturally better when dealing with nice square movements.

Get a pile of firewood and cut it by hand with a bow saw and try to cut it as square as possible. :D

Vectors? Are you taking math classes on the side?

Thank you very mutch Shannon. Thease exercises are going to help me improve a lot. You are appreciated.🤏

Finally, some in his right mind.🪚