Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Having long since lost my Citadel Hobby Saw (acquired years ago, when I first got in to Warhammer, before I knew what I really needed or what to expect), I've only just recently had a need for it. I've learned a lot since then, like that Citadel tools aren't the only option.

To that end, can anyone recommend a hobby saw? I've seen good things about X-Acto saws, and the Gale Force 9 "Bone" Saw. Of course, the Citadel one may well be good enough, I just don't know. Thanks.

You need three saws for a full hobby setup, not in order of importance:

A jeweller's saw, with spare blades. Good for piercing cuts, turning corners and very narrow kerf.

A razor saw for general cutting of white metal and plastic. It will not cut harder or thicker metal. (The GW saw is a good one, actually. I once wrecked a GW saw by cutting up a die case zinc toy.)

A hacksaw. This will be used for heavy duty sawing e.g. zinc toys and wood.

They are not as expensive as you might think and can easily be found online and from places like Hobbycraft and B&Q.

I'm really only looking for something to cut plastic, at the moment. It'd be good to have a full setup, but I just wouldn't have a use for it all yet!

Would a jeweler's saw be viable for plastic? Very fine cuts are what I need; I'm going to be doing a lot of cutting of Space Marine legs for extending and re-posing.

Thanks for the reply!

The type of hobby saw depends upon what you want to do with it.

For straight cuts, I use a razor saw with mitre box. The advantage to using the mitre box is that it's easy to setup a jig so that you can repeat cuts of the same length very quickly. You can get the saw & mitre as a kit from Amazon.com for about $12.




For curved or round cuts, use a coping saw. These can be picked up in almost any hardware store for $5 - $20 depending upon quality.



If you want to go all out, get a scroll saw. This is essentially a powered coping saw. They are expensive, ranging from $100 on the low end to over $500 on the high end. They are a tool for woodworkers, and can also be purchased at hardware stores.

The razor saw and mitre box look absolutely perfect for what I want to do. As I said, I'll be doing the same cut many times, so that sounds like it would be really useful! Thanks a lot for that, I think you've saved me a great deal of work.