I often finish the bottoms on my bowls and hollow forms by parting down to a 1″ tenon and then sawing thru the tenon with the LATHE STOPPED! See photo above.
I recommend using a saw designed to cut wet green wood. A saw with big teeth. With lots of “set” in the teeth.
Beware! The lathe MUST BE STOPPED! Do not use anything with teeth with the lathe running! Do not use anything with out tool rest support!
Silky Landscape Saw
I have found the best saw for the job is a “Silky Folding Landscape Hand Saw GOMBOY 210 Large Teeth 294-21“. They are not cheap, but worth every penny. They slice thru green wood like butter.
When you are done using this saw, you can fold it up and hang it on a magnet.
Beware! Silky sells lots of similar looking saws. Some are more money, with smaller teeth. Look for 210 Large Teeth.
No substitutes! There are LOTS of cheaper “look a likes” on Amazon. I got suckered into purchasing one of these. It looks just like my Silky saw. But, it does NOT cut like butter. I don’t understand why. But, I gave up on it and purchased a 2nd Silky saw for my studio classes.
Silky GOMBOY 210 In Use
Silky KatanaBoy 5
I also have a Silky KatanaBoy 5 saw with a 20″ long blade. This is an incredible saw! It cuts thru 10″ diameter logs no problem!
Anyone who has tried my saw, has to get one!
I use it to maintain hiking trails, etc. It is like a hand powered chain saw.
If you don’t have a chain saw you could use this saw to cut up logs for woodturning. To cut blanks for bowls, hollow forms, etc. I have done it. HOWEVER! You have to find some way to hold the logs firmly. While you use two hands on the saw. Nylon strap them to a rock solid cutting bench. See my Carl’s Chainsaw Bench blog entry.
FULL DISCLOSURE! Most of the time I DO NOT use this saw for woodturning blanks! Why? Strapping the logs down and having them come lose while hand sawing is just to much of a pain. My big chainsaw, is close at hand and a lot less work.