Many saw blades were sacrificed

Every year I see my bench skills grow by leaps and bounds. One area I’ve really improved is using the jewelers saw. I can easily measure that I am getting better by the number of jewelry saw blades used. It is harder to saw metal with a jewelers blade than it looks! I no longer dread sawing tasks and I actually find it relaxing and meditative. I vividly recall my introductory metalsmith class a decade ago when I broke at least 10 blades sawing out my first piece of handmade jewelry. Not only did I break a lot of blades, but sweat poured down my face as I tried to keep the blade moving around a curve. I made loud scratchy sounds when I was sawing until I figured out my saw blade was upside down and I needed beeswax on the back of the blade to make it move smoothly. My teacher was very patient. Learning to work with unfamiliar tools was extremely intimidating. It’s hard to be a beginner and I felt embarrassed to make the same mistakes over and over again. I have progressed to where I love to draw a shape and see it come to life with the blade of my jewelers saw. When I say that sawing is now meditative and I even enjoy it you must know this did not come easily. It is far from a talent I was born with, but I am proud of a skill I stuck with and love to do.

My well worn beginner’s saw that still is very useful for larger projects and my Green Lion saw that is so comfortable and beautiful to use.