Tool for sawing wooden rods easily?

[Bill_Houghton]

You don't mention, unless I missed it, whether your mobility limitation includes limited hand use.  If it does, all the below may be pointless, and finding a friend/neighbor (or someone at your local independent living agency, if you have one in town) to help might be better.

If you want to do it yourself, as mentioned earlier, a bench hook is your friend: read about bench hooks here

A bench hook doesn't have to be complicated; but it allows you to use any straight edged counter (kitchen counter, dining room table) as a temporary working surface that you won't damage, and provides a solid backstop against the cutting pressure.

As to the cutting itself, a fairly fine tooth wood cutting saw, which you should be able to find at your local hardware store, should do the job.  You want a saw you'll push, not a Japanese saw (which you would pull).  If you want a clean job, take some masking tape ("painter's tape," which is blue, is best, although the green painter's tape, which doesn't hold quite as well, is useful for making temporary labels and thus useful other than for this; and should be OK here, too) and wrap it around the cane at the cut.  You can mark on the tape where your cut is.  If you really want to go first cabin, make your cut mark, then wrap a piece of printer paper around the cane so it's aligned around the diameter and with the mark, then mark all the way around the cane against that paper.  That will help you guide the saw for an accurate cut.  A little sandpaper to knock off the sharp corners, and you should be good to go.

[barryvabeach]

With no disrespect to Bill, I would suggest you look for a Japanese style saw.  Amazon  or more expensive   I haven't used either of these particular ones, but did a search for Japanese, then sorted for cheapest, that is the first one, then saw the second which is a more typical style.  


All you would need to do is to open a drawer which has slides , till it stops, rest the cane across the drawer slides so that it is up against the back of the drawer front, then use the saw, which cuts on the pull stroke  ( English, American etc, cut on the push stroke ). The back of the draw front will act as a bench hook, though you would probably want to rest the other hand on the cane to hold it.  In general,  Japanese saws cut with very little pressure - you just push it back and forward, and the teeth do the cutting.  

Another option would be to take a piece of scrap board, or a book, and put it in an open doorway, and put the cane across the doorway resting on the book ( so you won't cut into the floor),  you would be on the other side of the door way, and since you are cutting on the pull stroke, the doorway will hold the cane in place.  


I agree with Bill that tape will make a cleaner cut. 

BTW,  completely agree with your spirit,  I would much rather do something myself, even if I don't do it as well as a professional, then to rely on someone else.

[Blackwood]

With no disrespect to Bill, I would suggest you look for a Japanese style saw.  Amazon  or more expensive   I haven't used either of these particular ones, but did a search for Japanese, then sorted for cheapest, that is the first one, then saw the second which is a more typical style.  


All you would need to do is to open a drawer which has slides , till it stops, rest the cane across the drawer slides so that it is up against the back of the drawer front, then use the saw, which cuts on the pull stroke  ( English, American etc, cut on the push stroke ). The back of the draw front will act as a bench hook, though you would probably want to rest the other hand on the cane to hold it.  In general,  Japanese saws cut with very little pressure - you just push it back and forward, and the teeth do the cutting.  

Another option would be to take a piece of scrap board, or a book, and put it in an open doorway, and put the cane across the doorway resting on the book ( so you won't cut into the floor),  you would be on the other side of the door way, and since you are cutting on the pull stroke, the doorway will hold the cane in place.  


I agree with Bill that tape will make a cleaner cut. 

BTW,  completely agree with your spirit,  I would much rather do something myself, even if I don't do it as well as a professional, then to rely on someone else.

Thanks so much! Those saws look very interesting, I will check them out! I think all of this information is just what I needed.

[Blackwood]

You don't mention, unless I missed it, whether your mobility limitation includes limited hand use.  If it does, all the below may be pointless, and finding a friend/neighbor (or someone at your local independent living agency, if you have one in town) to help might be better.

If you want to do it yourself, as mentioned earlier, a bench hook is your friend: read about bench hooks here

A bench hook doesn't have to be complicated; but it allows you to use any straight edged counter (kitchen counter, dining room table) as a temporary working surface that you won't damage, and provides a solid backstop against the cutting pressure.

As to the cutting itself, a fairly fine tooth wood cutting saw, which you should be able to find at your local hardware store, should do the job.  You want a saw you'll push, not a Japanese saw (which you would pull).  If you want a clean job, take some masking tape ("painter's tape," which is blue, is best, although the green painter's tape, which doesn't hold quite as well, is useful for making temporary labels and thus useful other than for this; and should be OK here, too) and wrap it around the cane at the cut.  You can mark on the tape where your cut is.  If you really want to go first cabin, make your cut mark, then wrap a piece of printer paper around the cane so it's aligned around the diameter and with the mark, then mark all the way around the cane against that paper.  That will help you guide the saw for an accurate cut.  A little sandpaper to knock off the sharp corners, and you should be good to go.

I didn't mention it but should have; upper body strength is pretty good as it compensates for the lower. But some balance issues that sometimes can play havoc with jobs where fine motor skills are necessary. The bench hook sounds like a great invention that could be very helpful, thank you!!

[clovishound]

BTW you can get a Ryoba style saw at Lowes under the Irwin brand name. They have a plastic handle, but are made in Japan. They may not be as good as some of the Japanese name makers, but I have one and it cuts very well. Run about $22. For about $15 they have a dovetail saw. They are supposed to cut more cleanly than the fine side of the ryoba.

dovetail style:



ryoba style:

[dry heat]

Not sure just how practical this might be but it’s a thought. Get a tubing cutter and use it to make a guide for the saw to follow and then use a pull saw or back saw to finish the cut. I’m sure it will mark up the finish some but shouldn’t be too  hard to repair. If there’s a school in your town there might be woodworking classes or FFA club where the instructor would be willing to find a student to help or do it themselves. Good luck, ES

[bandit571]

Needed a Towel Rod cut to length, tonight...

   
marked and cut....

[FenderMan]

I assume this is something you need to do more than once.  Am I correct?  The best thing for you to is to invest about $50 or so in a mitre box/saw.  Search for Craftsman CMHT20800, and you’ll get an idea of what I’m referring to.  Cutting a wooden cane will be fairly easy with one of these, provided that you secure it to your table with a couple of clamps.

[Timberwolf]

With no disrespect to Bill, I would suggest you look for a Japanese style saw.  Amazon  or more expensive   I haven't used either of these particular ones, but did a search for Japanese, then sorted for cheapest, that is the first one, then saw the second which is a more typical style.  


All you would need to do is to open a drawer which has slides , till it stops, rest the cane across the drawer slides so that it is up against the back of the drawer front, then use the saw, which cuts on the pull stroke  ( English, American etc, cut on the push stroke ). The back of the draw front will act as a bench hook, though you would probably want to rest the other hand on the cane to hold it.  In general,  Japanese saws cut with very little pressure - you just push it back and forward, and the teeth do the cutting.  

Another option would be to take a piece of scrap board, or a book, and put it in an open doorway, and put the cane across the doorway resting on the book ( so you won't cut into the floor),  you would be on the other side of the door way, and since you are cutting on the pull stroke, the doorway will hold the cane in place.  


I agree with Bill that tape will make a cleaner cut. 

BTW,  completely agree with your spirit,  I would much rather do something myself, even if I don't do it as well as a professional, then to rely on someone else.

...............................
I would suggest you look for a Japanese style saw.

Best solution so far and the easiest IMO..

[barryvabeach]

Just to be clear, Western saws cut on the push stoke, so to hold the rod  in place, you need support at the rear of the cut. The miter box that is suggested would do that because the stock rests against the board at the back of the box.  A bench hook can work the same way, though the miter box lets you cut specific angles, which can be of some assistance in some woodworking projects.


Since a Japanese saw cuts on the pull stroke, you would want support in front of the rod to keep it from coming towards you.  Bench hooks can be used for that, though they are designed differently, or as I suggested above,  a drawer that has a stop to keep it from coming completely out, would work fine for infrequent use, or you could even prop the rod in front of anything else that is not going to move, like a leg of a table, so long as you put a support under the rod so that you don't cut into the floor.