Crescent Nicholson 12" Cushion Grip High Tension Hacksaw Frame - 80965

Glad to see this model is still in production. I am passing my old one down to my son after 19 years of almost daily use. I've tried other saws during this period, but none has matched this Nicholson in overall performance. The tensioning system is the best on the market. Received the new one yesterday. Nothing has been changed or cheapened over time. The rubber grip sleeves deteriorated on the 19 year old saw after 10 or so years, but they were often exposed to solvent and oxidizer rich environments as well as daily UV radiation from the sun. The only difference in use from the loss of covering is that when the saw is left sitting in full summer sunlight for half on hour is that the exposed aluminum grip can become too hot to grip. It cools quickly with the application of a must rag. The tensioning system is more rugged than ither saws twice it's price. The lever and lever keeper appear milled from solid aluminum billet, rather than die cast. When a blade is fully tensioned while hot, the tension becomes phenomenal when the saw cools. This can make the tension lever keeper keeper difficult to slide off. No worry. The thick extruded aluminum can be easily tapped off with light blows from a wrench or hammer, with no cracking or distortion. Price to Quality ratio makes this saw worth more than the max allowable 5 stars.

I borrowed a friendS hack saw who had one of these High tension models and I was impressed. The high tension adjustment keeps the blade tight and straight. On cheap hack saws where tends to roll This high tension saw prevents the blade from rolling. I used it to cut the dovetails Sight for a $1000 muzzle loader I’m building. Until I tried this high tension saw I had given up on hack saws. I’m a fan now, especially since I need a hack saw for applications where I want to keep the heat build up to a minimum.

I bought this hacksaw for a shared shop environment where a lot of the users don't have a lot of experience using the tools. I already own a Starrett K153 and a Sandvik (now Bahco) 225 high-tension hacksaw frames.This one is not nearly as good as either the Starrett or the Sandvik.First the pluses: - It looks to be a durable frame - It will hold a blade under enough tension to do a good job cutting - The rubber grips and frame shape are comfortableButThis thing is heavy! Subjectively it feels about twice as heavy as the Starrett and the Sandvik. This isn't a problem for my intended use because we won't be doing hours of hacksawing but extra weight is extra weight and everything else being equal, lighter is better.The extra weight means you've got to lift the saw a little to keep the whole weight of the saw off of the cut. That's OK for cutting a few bolts but can be tiring and it takes a more difficult technique to master. If you put too much down force in the cut, it gets hard to push the blade and when you cut through whatever you're cutting, it's hard to keep from slamming the backs of your fingers into the freshly cut metal. If you do ram your fingers into the freshly cut metal edge, you'll bleed.There is blade storage inside the frame, as my Starrett and my Sandvik have but it's not as useful as the blade storage in the Starrett. You have to disassemble the frame to add/remove blades. That means that when you're doing a cut and want to see if you have a better blade for the cut in the frame, you have to remove the current blade, pull the frame apart, and look. With the Starrett you just loosen a knurled screw and any blades inside the frame will slide out. This is much more convenient.The product picture shows a decent tensioning nut. The product actually has a ridiculous tensioning nut. The picture of this frame, my Starrett, and my Sandvik all have a big wingnut with huge wings so you can crank that sucker down. Counting turns makes it simple to tension the blade appropriately. The MSA/Nicholson saw has a tiny, ~1/2 inch round nut. At least the nut is knurled. But it's totally inadequate for the job. The geometry of the tensioning lever (what the tensioning nut pushes on) looks like it has a bigger mechanical advantage than the Starrett or the Sandvik, so they could probably get away with a cheaper (i.e smaller) wingnut but they've gone past all reason and into lunacy here. It's easy enough to make a decent nut but I wanted a hacksaw not a hacksaw kitThe rod that the tensioning nut screws onto was so buggered up that I couldn't turn it by hand. There wasn't enough room to get a die started to clean up the thread, so I used a needle file. It's better but still inadequateThe directions show how to use their 'patented quick blade change', which is good. But the directions ought to tell you how many turns to tighten the tensioning nut to get the proper tension in the blade. My Starrett has something like 'tighten then 3 turns' written near the tensioning nut.CORRECTION:After using this hacksaw frame more, I raised my rating from 2 stars to 3 stars. 2.5 stars would be about right.The 'patented quick blade change' interacts with the tensioning nut. The 'patented quick blade change' is a lever and sliding lock on the top of the frame. You push the lever into the frame, slide the lock off of the lever, let go and the tension on the blade is gone. It works differently than any other hacksaw that I've ever seen and differently from the directions that come with the frame. It does make installing a blade a little easier.The best way to tension the blade seems to be; set the tensioning nut and then put the lever and clamp back into place. Blade too loose? Start over and tighten the nut a little. Can't slide the clamp over the lever? Loosen the nut and try again.I don't like this as well as a straightforward tensioning nut; it requires pretty good hand strength to put enough tension on the blade and I don't see an obvious way to use some other tool (pliers, lever, clamp, or etc.) to boost the tension. It's also hard for people new to high tension hacksaw frames to figure out what the right tension is.

I've worked in the trades for 50 yrs. I've owned a number of hacksaws. This one is by far the best!!

This saw replaces an identical one that I bought at a house sale many years ago for $5. We do a lot of masonry and constantly need to cut 1/2" steel rebars. Hundreds of cuts for a typical project. My mason became concerned that, after so many years of heavy use, it might fail. He asked me to buy a replacement but begged me to buy the same saw if I could find it. I did. He is happy and we have a tool that we can rely on. I highly recommend it. Excellent long-lasting design.