# Saw specs 4-H Woodsman Skills competition team.



## Vphs4H (Oct 15, 2022)

Hi everyone. We started a new 4-H club this year. Managed a full Senior club (14-18 yrs) Woodsman Skills team and placed 2nd overall at our first competition with less than 8 saws practices. 

We need help deciding on saw specifics (especially crosscut length) and need to order ASAP. We qualified for state in April. However, our new crosscut will have an 8 month wait at least, so unfortunately we're out of luck for state unless we can find a "new" used competition practice saw. 

We did get to borrow a competitor's crosscut saw for competition and our time dropped in half from practice. But... we did beat them so they're NOT going to let us borrow again for state.

We're looking to buy competition saws and hopefully find better practice saws but not sure we'll have the money left after buying competition saws. 
We need expertise and guidance on choosing saw specs!

Current saws:
Bowsaw - used 42", basic blade. Forgot to change blades for competition and still placed 3rd!
Crosscut - 
Club saw: 6' ?" , M tooth, general saw.
Parish saw: 6"5', Mercier, M tooth (can borrow but it's been off being refiled since April and 11 other teams have access too)
Borrowed at competition: Mercier 6'5" Peg & Raker 4 cutter

Competition specs:
Bowsaw - 9" square hardwood (sweet gum)
Crosscut - 11" square hardwood (sweet gum)

New saw options
Competition Bowsaw - 
Filer- Donald Lambert, Quebec
Specs- 42", Peg & Raker, 2 cutter, new frame
Practice bowsaw-
Do we need one for our team? Or just one for members brand new to saws during workshops? 

Competition Crosscut - 
Filer- Brad Turner, KBT
Specs- 
5' to 6'5"
M tooth or Peg & Raker 
If P&R 2, 3, or 4 cutter
Practice crosscut
Suggestions where to find used saws for our kids to use? Maybe one for our team members and a much cheaper one for the brand new-to-saw kids start each year. 

*We have little to no guidance on specs. After extensive research I'm leaning Peg and Raker, 3 or 4 cutter, under 5'8". How do we know what length to choose?*


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