Locating bolt holes in replacement saw handles

**Isaac S** · 2nd November 2013, 07:15 PM

I finished shaping a replacement handle for an old Disston saw today, only to face the challenge of locating the holes for the saw bolts.

Given the moderate rarity of this saw, enlarging the existing holes in the blade was not an option, so I needed to align the holes in the new handle with them very closely.

I came up with the solution below. While it undoubtedly has been used by others, I have not yet seen described. Its chief advantage lies in being able to mark the holes while the handle is positioned on the blade. All that is required is a flat surface, a piece of tape, a square. And a pencil, which, despite a fascinating collection of mechanical pencils and leadholders, is invariably the single most difficult item to find in my shop.

triple-cove-drilling-01.jpg

Mark the heel of the blade on the tape, then align the square with the horizontal center of the hole. Mark this location on the tape, then read the vertical location of the center of the hole and write that on the tape.

triple-cove-drilling-02.jpg

Showing the marks and measurements for the centers of the holes.

triple-cove-drilling-03.jpg

With the handle on the blade, transfer the measurements to the handle. Make sure that the heel of the blade is positioned on its mark, or all of the holes will be off.

triple-cove-drilling-04.jpg

It doesn't get much better (or easier) than this.

**BobL** · 2nd November 2013, 07:34 PM

The way I have done it is
- put the handle on the blade and used a pencil to traced around the handle on the blade.
- remove the blade and placed it underneath the handle aligning it to the pencil marks. By looking directly overhead it can be accurately aligned
- clamp blade to the handle and flipped it over and marked the holes.

**orraloon** · 3rd November 2013, 12:42 PM

Isaac S,
It looks to be as good a method as any and a bit less of a fiddle than I have been doing. I was using the blade as a template to trace the holes but there was always some slight error due to the hole centers being eyeballed in the tracings. Sometimes I have to adjust a hole with a small round file to get a line up. I will give your way a try on my next one.
Regards
John

**RayG** · 4th November 2013, 01:00 PM

Hi Isaac,

Nice technique, and very handy to file away for future use.

The way I do it is to clamp up the blade and handle ( if it's a replacement handle, it's easier to fit up the blade before any shaping is done. ) then use a transfer punch to mark the hole centers, the thin saw plate doesn't allow the transfer punch to align automatically, so you do need to eyeball it until it fits into the hole, and then you have an accurate centre for drilling.... then drill a 1/16 through hole on a drill press to transfer the hole centres to the other side of the blank.

Then you can drill or counterbore for whatever type of saw screw you are using. Fit the blade and then do the shaping.

Regards
Ray

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