News on the Knew Concept saw frame

I have been contacted by Lee Marshall, the inventor of the Knew Concept saw frame. He recently visited the UK to promote his new saw frames. Sadly some of the major tool suppliers, including Cookson, did not answer his requests for meetings. But some good news is that Palmer Metals is now stocking the Knew Concept saw frames in the UK. Any one interested in these fine saw frames see; Tools >

I have tested the aluminium saw frames and found them superb, their lightness is a benefit over the standard steel frames and their blade tensioning system is ideal for those who do not like using their body to tension the blades, check them out ladies.

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The other area I've found the tensioning system to be very useful is when piercing items from large sheet - 6" discs from 2' square sheet, for example. Waving a sheet like that around while trying to tension a traditional frame is a bit of a nuisance. This is also where the 8" frame has been a joy to use.

Have you seen hide or hair of the titanium frames, James?

Yes Peter, I have one of the 5 inch Titanium frames. When I first got my aluminium frames, after I had pierced the bowl overlay I wrote a report on the Ganoksin website and was contacted by Lee Marshall the inventor of the saw frame, he asked if he could use my photos on his website and I agreed. He also asked me to give him an honest report of what a trade worker thought of his frames and if they could be improved. I sent him my comments. One of my comments was about the extra time taken to re tension the saw blade each time I changed piercing holes. He has since made the Titanium frame and had added a lever release system on the saw blade tensioner, which allows you to change piercing holes without having to re tension the blade each time. They are an improvement on the aluminium frames if you are a serious piercer. I am now testing the Titanium saw frame in my workshop, so far it has been great.

Does the blade clamp on the Ti version handle thick & thin blades without needing to reset the screw? I can definitely see the advantage on a lever-release over the screw tensioner - the screw is not a big deal for doing profile work, but as soon as you start doing any quantity of piercing it gets to be a touch tedious.

My only concern about the saws is their lateral strength - which is why I didn't take mine away to West Dean with me, I was worried about them bending in being carried back & forth. I don't know if the Ti one would really solve that; it probably requires too much mass.

Peter, The blade clamping system on the Ti frame is the same as on the aluminium ones, the lever system just releases the blade's set tension so that you can change holes. When I pierce multiple holed items, I release the lower blade clamp when changing piercing holes. After changing holes I just re grip the blade into it's lower clamp and then with a flip of the tensioning lever on the top clamp the blade is immediately re tensioned to what you had set in the first place. I would post a photo of the Ti frame, but I think the maker would not like me to do that until they are on sale.

The strength of the Ti frame should eleviate any worries you have about frame strength, but my aluminium frames have had a good caning in the past couple of months and they show no sign of bending.

Great to see a UK supplier although the sterling price seems to be as much as the dollar price. The postage & customs charges were steep so it is still probably better value to buy in the UK. At least Palmer Metal were prepared to support a new supplier - it's annoying to see all the goodies available in the States that are just not available here.

I did a quick calculation - $ price + import duty + VAT as usual brings us to about the price Palmer are charging (or around $1 -> £1).

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Originally Posted by Goldsmith

Peter, The blade clamping system on the Ti frame is the same as on the aluminium ones, the lever system just releases the blade's set tension so that you can change holes. When I pierce multiple holed items, I release the lower blade clamp when changing piercing holes. After changing holes I just re grip the blade into it's lower clamp and then with a flip of the tensioning lever on the top clamp the blade is immediately re tensioned to what you had set in the first place. I would post a photo of the Ti frame, but I think the maker would not like me to do that until they are on sale.

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Ah, that makes sense. So there's still the situation that they're initially set more for #2/#4 blades than 4/0? Not really an issue, more good to know.

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The strength of the Ti frame should eleviate any worries you have about frame strength, but my aluminium frames have had a good caning in the past couple of months and they show no sign of bending.

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It was really just "stuffed in a daysack" that bothered me as a potential problem - I don't regard that as normal use for them, although my older frames cope OK with it.

Peter, you mentioned that you went to West Dean, were you doing a course or teaching? I only ask because John Norgate one of my colleages from the IPG teaches there.
Have you heard of the IPG? I have been a Fellow of the Institute of Professional Goldsmiths (IPG) for the past 25 years.

Learning rather than teaching (chasing & repousse with Nancy Megan Corwin); I know of John, but I don't think I've met him. Similarly, I'm aware of the IPG; I don't believe it would accept me for membership - not having had 4 years of formal training (and to be realistic, never likely to either).