2 Musical Saw Festivals

International Musical Saw Festival in California Please join us on Sunday, August 14th, 10 am – 5 pm at Roaring Camp in Felton, California for a day of cutting-edge music. This year the festival will take place inside Bret Harte Hall, an 1880’s style opera house and meeting hall. The program includes the International Musical Saw Contest followed by performances by featured groups and master saw players.

On Saturday, August 13th, 2 pm – 4 pm, we will host a street jam in front of Bookshop Santa Cruz (1520 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, CA) next to the statue of musical saw legend, Tom Scribner. All saw players and other acoustic instruments are welcome.

On Saturday, August 13th, 6 pm – 9 pm, we will meet in the outer parking lot at Roaring Camp for a potluck and jam. Please bring a dish to share at this gathering. This year we will not have a barbeque or fire due to the high wildfire risk.

Roaring Camp Railroads is located between San Jose and Santa Cruz just off Hwy 17 at 1 Graham Hill Road in Felton, California.

Roaring Camp Railroads,
5401 Graham Hill Road
Felton, CA 95018

For more information, please visit our website or Facebook page. 
 
——————————————
 
International Musical Saw Festival in Florida
October 22nd, 2022 brings the 1st International Musical Saw Festival to Barberville, Florida! Located at the Barberville Pioneer Settlement in Florida’s beautiful central highlands near many of the state’s finest tourist destinations. This historic site is a cultural relic of Florida’s long history in farming, geographically unique industries, and native textiles and pottery. The Settlement is a clear window to the past and a door to the future with its endless array of musical concerts, instrument instruction, dancing, and by-gone trades and craftsmanship. 
www.floridasawfestival.com
 

Tools used to build Musical Saws

The 3 ton punch press punches bot the single hole at the tip for the cheat as well as the holes to mate up with the holes in the handle. The current configuration is punch holes for the handle. In operation, the huge flywheel is spinning. I slide the saw in above the die and step on the pedal underneath the yellow guard. Dogs slide out and engage the wheel which in turn slams the punch down and through the saw.

Here are some saw blades which have already had the single hole punched and are now waiting for the handle holes.

Tools used to build Musical Saws

This is the router. There are three setups for this table

  • The inner plunge cut
  • The inside route using a bull nose router bit
  • The outside Route, again with a Bull nose.

Looks like there’s a stack of completed handles.

This machine is responsible for 90% of the sawdust. In clement weather I wheel it outside. The wind blows the sawdust into a patch of trees – I’m sure they enjoy the fertilizer!!!

In this shot it is in a plastic enclosure to try to contain the sawdust.

More tools to build Musical Saws

The Shear is a giant pair of scissors used to cut the metal. Here are a couple of views. When I’m making the initial cut, I feed the metal of the spool to the right, across the table and then through the shear to be chopped.

Here is a shot with some saws partially cut out. How do you like all the sharp points on the scrap lying on the floor? The business right next door to me is a recycler! I borrow a trash can from him and fill it up with all my scrap. Pretty convenient!

These are the blanks after I make the initial cut. Each one of those blanks will end up as two Baritone Saws after I make all the subsequent cuts.

Some more Tools used to build Musical Saws

This drill press has an adaptor to allow one to drill 3 holes at once. Not only does it speed things up but it makes sure the holes drilled in the handle match the holes punched in the steel!

There is also another drill station to counter sink the handles as well as deburr the hole punched in the Saw.

Actually, that drill station has 2 drill pressed, a bandsaw, a grinder, and a belt sander. – All these tools get slid around on a pallet jack as I need them – When not in use, I placed them against the wall – out of the way

Tools used to build Musical Saws

Thought it would be fun to show some of the tools used to build Musical Saws…
Here is the Chop Saw.

Chop Saw

This saw is used to chop the 6 inch boards that I have ripped into blanks to be routed into handles. Here are he boards that I start out with:

And these are the blanks I cut them into:

Musical Saw Players Map

I’ve now added a map/registry of Musical Saw Players on my Map page – A great way to locate Musical Saw players who might be nearby. Whether for jamming or teaching or learning from. If you are a Musical Saw player, please consider signing up!

I’ve finished with the move down to Florida – Things went more or less smoothly, although I had some CD’s (Virtuoso) that disappeared during the move. They are probably in some box that is currently hidden under something and I’ll find them the next time I do any sort of cleaning… Oh well.

COVID-19 is still a threat so no one is allowed in the shop – we are purely an internet business. Only folks 65 and older are being vaccinated in Florida – so I’m chomping at the bit, waiting for them to lower the age! Once I finally do get vaccinated, I’ll relax things a little bit – but will still comply with the CDC recommendations re. masks, distancing…