Thread: Thos Ibbotson & Co dovetail saw

I think I'll have a go at fixing the handle, I don't have much to lose, I can always resort to a new handle if things go pear shaped. The piece of wood that came off during sanding has left what looks like a fairly clean and fresh break so I am hopeful there, if I can manage to clamp it up nicely while gluing.

I am inclined to get some nice shiny new screws and nuts, but again there's nothing to lose except a bit of time trying to tidy up the old ones.

It's a work in progress so we'll see how it goes..

So fast forward a year and a half and reviving a long dead thread, I have an update on the restoration of the little dovetail saw.... It is finally finished!

I went back and forth between repairing the old handle or making a new handle. I even went as far as getting some QS Tassie blackwood and making a prototype in pine, but in the end decided I had nothing to lose if I tried to fix the new handle first.

You can see from the earlier posts that the horns on the handle were rough and/or missing and the cheeks had broken off so I decided to fix all that. I looked for a reasonably priced small piece of beech, but I couldn't even find an old wooden plane in bad enough condition to junk, so I ended up getting a beech chopping board from IKEA! It was finger jointed but as luck would have it the laminations were thick enough for my requirements and it also gave me a variety of shades and grain direction to choose from. It probably wasn't European beech but it was a reasonably close match.

So I started by cutting off the broken bits from the handle and gluing on blocks. Because of its location, I didn't try to cut out and replace the dark spot because I thought it might weaken the handle. There were also some screw holes and a crack in the heel of the handle that got filled.

Then I set to shaping the blocks using a spokeshave, rasps, files and sandpaper. The hairiest part was cutting the mortise in the cheeks to set in the saw blade. The next photos shows the shaping in progress and completed before finishing.

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To finish the handle I used a stain to darken the areas I had replaced the multiple coats of BLO followed by shellac and wax. This also made the dark area less noticeable.

Which I soon realised was the wrong way to go about it! I should have waited to fit the new saw nuts/screws before doing any finishing, but live and learn.

On the subject of saw nuts, I took advantage of the forum group buy to procure a set of small split nuts from Alamo Toolworks (many thanks again Brett and Rob!). The old screws were damaged and the new split nuts looked just the ticket and they are very well made and highly recommended.

However they were quite a bit different to the old screws in shape, with a thicker head and a wider shaft. Also the old screws heads were actually slightly tapered and one or two were not exactly circular...

So after acquiring the necessary piloted counter bore bit, I gingerly fitted the new screws without too much fussing.

I had to refinish the handle in a couple of areas, but luckily not too much, then after sharpening and setting it is finished and I think the result speak for itself!

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It is about 20 TPI and cuts very cleanly, albeit slowly.

This has taken a while to complete but I am really happy with the results and not too worried about the difference in colour of the repaired areas, as pmcgee said 18 months ago, it shows history of the saw and adds a bit of character.

I have also learned a few things on the way:

1) I need a drill press because no matter how hard I try, I still struggle to drill a hole vertically and without wobble
2) Think about when the best time is to apply finish to a piece before rushing in
3) Beech is actually quite nice to work with
4) Hide glue works like magic
5) 20tpi is bloody hard to sharpen!