One More Reason For Japanese Saws

In my frequent travels this past year to visit Li’l T and his parents and Barndottir the Elder I have almost always taken a traveling tool kit.  Perhaps not enough for major home repairs or construction but certainly enough to get most woodworking tasks done.  Fortunately, my SIL is an accomplished remodeler and the basement and shed at Barndottir the Elder’s home still has a pretty complete inventory of my tools, so I am almost fully set up regardless of which place I am.

My traveling tool kit is a very concise collection of woodworking tools with a couple of extra things useful for home repairs.  Perhaps one day I will blog about the contents of the kit, which resides in a mahogany surveyor’s theodolite box with a couple drawers added on beneath.

Since space is always a premium in a kit like this I have become additionally enamored with Japanese saws, more particularly Z-brand saws with replaceable/interchangeable handles and blades.  With one handle I can outfit it with any number of set-ups to accomplish everything from sawing timbers to fine dovetails and all points in between.  I keep a cardboard “envelope” for the blades and pack them separately from the handle, so the spatial footprint is surprisingly small for such a large range of sawing utilities.  In just the space of a handle I can carry a good set of saws.

Yet another reason to incorporate Japanese saws into your inventory of tools and skills.