In this issue:

• What’s Knew?: We moved!
• Artist Spotlight: Cynthia Eid
• Featured KC Product: Saw blades
• Featured Article: Knew Concepts Coping Saw Review in Fine Woodworking Magazine
• Be Featured in Our Knewsletter: Tell us about your project

Knew Concepts fret saw frames have evolved to an amazing and sophisticated design. Light weight, sturdy and strong make the Knew Concepts saws a perfect tool for your craft. Much of the evolution has been an ongoing process with ideas from crafts person such as yourself, and problem solving solutions from our skilled workers here at our shop.

What’s Knew? We Moved!

Oblivious to Changes

Ever noticed how over time your clothes (all of a sudden) no longer fit right?

After four years, and adding more stuff a bit at a time, we ran out of room. First a CNC milling machine (a ten foot cube weighing 13,000 pounds). Next, the CNC lathe (smaller, but still comfortable). Then, just like at the “all you can eat buffet line” small items here and there, until one day we looked up, and realized that the “relaxed fit” wasn’t working any more.

Then it became a modern day version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears to find a new space. Everything was either way too big, way too small, way too expensive, etc.

Finally, my searching led me to a place that was becoming vacant. A really nice building complex with an award winning bakery, a couple of breweries, and several wineries just across the street. At 2100 sq. feet, a bit bigger than actually needed, but room to grow. 20 foot ceiling, lots of 220 volt 3 phase power. The entire East wall is floor to ceiling glass, so the rising sun floods the area during the day.

During the move, Fine Woodworking released their Jan/Feb issue that featured coping saws and the floodgates burst open (see the story and issue below). Trying to move, find stuff, assemble saws, and ship during a blizzard of orders that exceeded anything we had ever encountered before was exhilarating to say the least.

Here’s our new address:
719 Swift Street
Unit #1
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Thanks for your patience and forgiveness as we worked through the problems.

~ Lee (the saw guy)

Read Cynthia’s story, in her own words here.

Artist Spotlight: Cynthia Eid

This issue’s featured artist, Cynthia Eid the god mother of the entire line of hand saws. She badgered me (politely) for three years to make a fret saw that was designed around the concept of the Precision Die Saw that I made for her. I finally asked her what was so unique about it... she told me that she used it as her “go to” saw. After all, it was unwieldy when used freehand, and was heavy. She replied without hesitation (she had three years to think about it) that the frame was far more rigid than any other frame out there, and that she could pull tension on a blade far beyond anything else. Also, probably the most important thing was that she didn’t have to poke a dent into her sternum when bowing the frame while setting tension on the blade.

She is an incredible metal smith and a long time personal friend. I am so blessed to have her as a friend.

~ Lee (the saw guy)

Purchase Saw Blades here.

Featured KC Product: Saw Blades

At Knew Concepts, our primary business is making the best saws on Earth. For those saws to work at their best, we need the best sawblades we can find. Over the years, we have developed connections with the world’s leading sawblade manufacturers, in Switzerland and Germany. We make sure the blades we load into our saws before they ship are the best we can possibly find, which means that we keep a limited supply of blades on hand for our needs in making the saws. After much not-so-gentle persuasion, we have decided to begin selling those blades directly.

There are dozens of types of sawblades, in hundreds of sizes. We’d go crazy trying to stock them all. Frankly, there are blade retailers that do a better job of that than we would. We make saws. So this will always be a selection limited to blades we keep in stock for our own needs, or blades that are unique and hard to find otherwise. These are all blades that we use personally, for our own projects.

A note about sawblade sizes: The coping saw requires 6.5" pinned end blades, and will not accept fret saw blades. Jeweler’s saws and fret saws are the same thing, just called by different names. All of the Knew Concepts fret/jeweler’s saws require 5.125" (130mm) plain end blades, and will accept either woodworking or jeweler’s grades. The only real difference between wood and metal blades at that size is thickness and number of teeth per inch. The saws themselves don’t care.

Featured Article: Knew Concepts Coping Saw Review in Fine Woodworking Magazine

During our move (mentioned above), Fine Woodworking released their Jan/Fed issue that featured coping saws and the floodgates burst open. Trying to move, find stuff, assemble saws, and ship during a blizzard of orders that exceeded anything we had ever encountered before was exhilarating to say the least.

Download the Knew Concepts Coping Saw Review in Fine Woodworking Magazine.

Be Featured in a Knewsletter

We love to hear your thoughts about your craft projects while using our saws. Please feel free to write us and tell us what you’re working on. We will pick out one artist for every knewsletter to feature their project that was built with the Knew Concepts saw. We may also use your anecdote as a testimonial on our website.

Previous Knewsletter Issues

Have you missed an Knewsletter Issue? Don’ despair! We got them all listed in our Knewletter Archive for you to check out.