Why can't I cut straight?

I've had this before, but now I'm getting annoyed with my kack-handedness. I'm cutting my firewood to length with my electric reciprocating saw and whether I put pressure on or not, the cut always seems to go curved and thus the cut is much longer than it needs to be.
How can I keep a straight line when cutting?

You can blame the tool, and do it with a clear conscience. The set on the teeth is getting lopsided, which makes the cut wander in the direction of the "stronger" side. A careful sharpening and setting job should remedy this. We get the same problem with chainsaws, and it can be maddening when you're making rings from a big log.

Good to know it's not just me that has this problem.  Since it seems to always wander to the right by the time I finish the cut, I was hoping to blame it on being in the northern hemisphere,.....convinced that I could solve the problem by moving to Tierra del Fuego.... ;-)

Maybe you could put together a miter box to fit the saw blade. That keeps the blade in alignment for the most part, though the issues with the teeth might interfere with a perfectly straight cut. You probably aren't going for perfectly straight, since it is firewood.

Hey Nancy. That's a "feature" with all recip saws. You can back off in the cut and trend the blade in the desired direction, somewhat.

Your flexible pruning blade doesn't give you a lot of control in big cuts. One trick I use is to leave the saw in one position, held by gravity, and rotate the small log I am cutting.

The only recip blades that cut true-ish are heavy demolition blades. They are thick, they last, but they eat battery power like crazy.

Thank you all for your responses, and nice to know I'm not alone. Could be the Northern hemisphere, we'd need someone to chip in from the Antipodes to confirm our hypothesis!
I don't think in this case it is the saw blade wearing, as the one pictured was almost new. Maybe they aren't the best quality - they were a multipack and are very sharp. It would probably help if I had a good sawhorse to hold the wood. Then I could concentrate more on controlling the saw.
Yes, in this case it is just firewood, but I have a similar problem with joinery, when I attempt it. It is disheartening when the results are less than my aspirations, I have some rather wonky (if functional) shelves for example :). In that case it was a hand saw. Sometimes I can improve things on square bits by grooving two sides with the blade and then trying to follow the lines, but it isn't as easy as I think it should be.

I wonder if putting the branch into a vice would help?

Your log reminds me of when I cut my hair.  Same thing happens.

Are you cutting the logs with the adjustable guide right up against the wood?
If not that would certainly help keep a straight cut.

Hi Nancy,
I think I would agree with trying to brace the wood somehow. If the wood is held still, you should be able to use both hands and make a reasonably straight cut. If the wood is rolling or slipping or bouncing, I could see it being hard to cut straight.

Nancy Reading wrote:... I have a similar problem with joinery, when I attempt it. It is disheartening when the results are less than my aspirations, I have some rather wonky (if functional) shelves for example :). In that case it was a hand saw. Sometimes I can improve things on square bits by grooving two sides with the blade and then trying to follow the lines, but it isn't as easy as I think it should be.

1. I agree with the importance of stabilizing the piece being cut. I guess building a sawhorse could go on your wish-list. They can be built out of either dimensional lumber (old pallet wood even) or round wood, but personally, if you want/need to cut a lot of small dimension firewood, I'll invent something with a built-in length block, that can use you foot to hold the wood. Test it, improve it, then post your results on permies for us all to copy! Alternatively, buy a table chop saw.

2. Try using a pole saw instead - I use a body rocking movement and stabilize the wood with my foot.

3. Vices are great, but you need a fairly large one for fire wood and you need it bolted to a sturdy table. Two hands on the saw in the picture would help a lot.

4. Human joints are designed for certain jobs - sawing in a straight line isn't one of them. I would use left-over pallet wood (which makes fine firewood) and practice with the hand saw paying attention to where you stand and at what angle to the cutting line. Adjust your position and orientation until you find a spot where the arm's natural arc is easiest to straighten. This position will not be the same for all Humans, as our proportions are not as exact as some books suggest.

Hubby put a ton of crap around our vice which forced me to stand a bit awkwardly, and my ability to saw decently straight decreased. I would by no means consider myself a pro as I just don't do enough of it, but to quote a friend, "practice makes gooder and gooder!"

5. No, you are absolutely not alone in wanting/needing to learn this skill. It doesn't come easily for most of us. There are outliers in every activity.

Serious question, do you guys use the blades that are specialized for pruning? Here in Hawaii they don't sell them on the shelves of home depot or ace hardware so the majority of people are unaware they even exist and are always using the blades designed with teeth to cut through dried lumber, it bothers me in a pet peeve way because it'd be so easy to hop on Amazon and order a pack of the correct blade for the tool you already own. As far as straight cuts go I always use a relief cut on the opposite side so sometimes I get the angles mismatched and it's not straight but that's my own error, usually just having a good blade and utilizing the tools fence + some cutting techniques sometimes like see-sawing to lessen the amount of teeth cutting at the same.

Kyle Hayward wrote:Are you cutting the logs with the adjustable guide right up against the wood?
If not that would certainly help keep a straight cut.

No - I like to move the blade fore and aft - that seems to help shed the sawdust. I hadn't realised it was supposed to be a guide!

Jay Angler wrote:I agree with the importance of stabilizing the piece being cut. I guess building a sawhorse could go on your wish-list. They can be built out of either dimensional lumber (old pallet wood even) or round wood, but personally, if you want/need to cut a lot of small dimension firewood, I'll invent something with a built-in length block, that can use you foot to hold the wood. Test it, improve it, then post your results on permies for us all to copy!

Hmm. this seems to have been suggested a bit. I need something fairly portable too - since my wood is in lots of different places. I'll have to get my thinking cap on - unless anyone can point me to an awesome design to save me some time?

2. Try using a pole saw instead - I use a body rocking movement and stabilize the wood with my foot.

- Is that like a baby chainsaw?

Two hands on the saw in the picture would help a lot.

If I don't use two hands I quickly develop a blister on top of my thumb from the saw vibration. I can't always use two hands, as one is sometimes required to hold the wood if my foot can't stabilise it enough. vice/sawhorse requirement again!

"practice makes gooder and gooder!"
I think there is another one that bad practise makes badder as well!

Thanks for your helpful comments!

George Booth wrote:Serious question, do you guys use the blades that are specialized for pruning? Here in Hawaii they don't sell them on the shelves of home depot or ace hardware so the majority of people are unaware they even exist and are always using the blades designed with teeth to cut through dried lumber, it bothers me in a pet peeve way because it'd be so easy to hop on Amazon and order a pack of the correct blade for the tool you already own. As far as straight cuts go I always use a relief cut on the opposite side so sometimes I get the angles mismatched and it's not straight but that's my own error, usually just having a good blade and utilizing the tools fence + some cutting techniques sometimes like see-sawing to lessen the amount of teeth cutting at the same.

It's a fairly coarse blade with coarse teeth flat on the outside on both sides and angled in the middle. A bit like my hand pruning saw, except that only cuts in the pull direction, whereas the reciprocating saw cuts in both directions. I have finer metal blades and a coarser 'demolition blade' for wood with nails.
When I'm felling the wood I use a cut on the opposite side to save excessive damage, but not for chopping to length. Thinking about it - my cutting the wood green is generally not quite so bad as now it has been stood a little while. Part of that may be that the trees don't rock around being rooted in the ground, but ergonomically it isn't always as good then of course.

Old tech - I am your local dinosaur. Don't get the ones that combine the saw blade and a string operated clipper as they conflict. I have both and I use the string operated clipper a lot, but I will use this saw even if working near the ground just because I can use my whole body instead of just my arms.

Nancy Reading wrote:

George Booth wrote:Serious question, do you guys use the blades that are specialized for pruning? Here in Hawaii they don't sell them on the shelves of home depot or ace hardware so the majority of people are unaware they even exist and are always using the blades designed with teeth to cut through dried lumber, it bothers me in a pet peeve way because it'd be so easy to hop on Amazon and order a pack of the correct blade for the tool you already own. As far as straight cuts go I always use a relief cut on the opposite side so sometimes I get the angles mismatched and it's not straight but that's my own error, usually just having a good blade and utilizing the tools fence + some cutting techniques sometimes like see-sawing to lessen the amount of teeth cutting at the same.

It's a fairly coarse blade with coarse teeth flat on the outside on both sides and angled in the middle. A bit like my hand pruning saw, except that only cuts in the pull direction, whereas the reciprocating saw cuts in both directions. I have finer metal blades and a coarser 'demolition blade' for wood with nails.
When I'm felling the wood I use a cut on the opposite side to save excessive damage, but not for chopping to length. Thinking about it - my cutting the wood green is generally not quite so bad as now it has been stood a little while. Part of that may be that the trees don't rock around being rooted in the ground, but ergonomically it isn't always as good then of course.

I've been shown the relief cut both in high end wood working to prevent blow out on the back side and in pruning to prevent peel off and obviously when felling a tree use a notch relief cut to prevent getting smooshed. To me it kind of sounds like your trying to mix the two worlds of wood working/carpentry with pruning techniques.

Nancy Reading wrote:

Kyle Hayward wrote:Are you cutting the logs with the adjustable guide right up against the wood?
If not that would certainly help keep a straight cut.

No - I like to move the blade fore and aft - that seems to help shed the sawdust. I hadn't realised it was supposed to be a guide!

Yes, when you go to make the cut put the edge of the guide against the wood first, then use that stable edge with slight pressure to slowly guide the blade into your first cut.

George Booth wrote:Serious question, do you guys use the blades that are specialized for pruning?  

Yes, I do, extensively. They are awesomely efficient compared to standard recip blades, which are designed for different tasks.

I bought a ton of Swiss-made 12" hard-point pruning blades a dozen years ago. For a buck each. They have worked continually since, and after their fine cutting days are over they still chop roots in the soil and chew off small stumps I would trip over. I still have a few left. My only regret is not buying 10 cases of them at that price -- a lifetime supply. D'oh!

Interestingly I went the non-power tool route yesterday and took my bow saw down to cut some lengths. The results were much better in terms of squareness, and not that much slower if any. That saw has much larger teeth so really gets into the wood. Next time I use the power tool I'll try using the guide, but I do think it will clog up more.

Nancy, I think you have discovered a reality about tools.
In many many instances the simplest solution to the problem is the most effective.
Adding a motor to many tools may save a little time but removes the operator that much farther from the actual feel and process of performing the operation.
Also, think of the difference in resources and infrastructure between the two types of saws.
Your bow saw once manufactured needs no upkeep until the blade is worn out and needs replacement.
The older bow saws which I have several of can actually be sharpened and used almost indefinitely.
The motorized versions require  the infrastructure of electrical power plants and more often nowadays, the manufacturer and upkeep of batteries.
Not to mention you'll keep your arm muscles in shape with the bow saw 😊.