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Thread: A half-back saw

  1. #1
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    Default A half-back saw

    Finished this one off today. H-back Tulip oak 025 plate.jpg

    The vital statistics are: 14 inch blade, 10 tpi (rip), 0.025" plate, Tulip Oak handle. The design is based on the Disston half-back.

    I had planned to work on it as my demonstration piece during the workshop on Sunday, but ended up not touching it all day. The saw plate is thinner than the couple of half-backs I've made previously, for which I used 0.030" plate. I was a bit anxious about the 'free' blade being a bit too whippy, so I hammered it to put some tension in the blade. It seemed to work a little bit, but I'm still pretty tentative with my saw tensioning, & afraid of marking the plate,so I probably dont hit it quite hard enough. In any case, the saw cut nicely & tracked straight, & doesn't feel like it wants to bend up under pressure.

    As a matter of interest, the Tulip Oak is from a chunk I picked up at the wood show in May. It's a dense wood and not bad to work with, though it's easy to split out the edges if you are too enthusiastic with the rasp. It finishes nicely, but the colour & grain pattern make it very hard to see small defects in the surface. I thought I had it perfect until I applied the finish, and discovered the row of small indentations you can see across the middle . I will have to dismantle it & re-sand that side.

    Cheers,
    IW

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  3. #2
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    Nice work Ian. The unique shaping of the handle and brass back is something I have not witnessed with your saw making work in the past. Kudos for working outside your normal comfort zone.

    regards; Stewie.

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    Thanks, Stewie. The handle shape is one I developed from the original, over about 3 'generations', but I'm only beginning to play with brass decoration. My attempts are pretty timid at this stage, but I'll certainly play around a bit more & attempt more elaborate decoration in future. Since my saws are for (I hope) heavy use, I have been reluctant to get too wild. So there'll likely only be a few show ponies issuing from this stable, I'm afraid...

    Cheers,
    IW

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    Very nice Ian. Is that the Dillenia that you and Paul went halvies in?

    As a suggestion - what about another notch at the front top of the brass, just for a bit of visual balance?
    Regards, FenceFurniture

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    Default That's better

    Quote Originally Posted by FenceFurniture View Post
    .... Is that the Dillenia that you and Paul went halvies in?..
    Hmm, p'raps you should borrow the Optivisor now, Brett, this Mr. Magoo disease is catching! Line 2 in the original post:

    .......14 inch blade, 10 tpi (rip), 0.025" plate, Tulip Oak handle (italics added to maximise embarrassment).......

    I did buy it at the show, though, along with the Dillenia. Haven't used any of the Dillenia yet, but one of the participants at the w'shop used it for his handle. He didn't get to the stage of applying any polish, but it works pretty well, and gives a nice surface off the plane, & I think it should be quite good, but I'll hold on the endorsements til I've actually made a handle from it, myself.

    I'm in two minds about the Tulip oak, though. It works ok, and is dense, strong stuff that should last, but man is it a bear of a wood to finish! I pulled the handle off this morning, and scraped & sanded the cheeks & middle of the handle where the marks were. Thought I had it perfect, this time, and even gave it another good sanding after it looked like the marks had gone, just to be certain sure. Then I put the shellac on, and out popped a bunch of divots I'd missed - they are almost impossible to see on the sanded wood, because of the grain pattern, but show up immediately when you wet them with finish.

    Second try finally got it right. Happy now: Half_B T_oak 10tpi rip.jpg

    Cheers,
    IW

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    Heh heh, I did actually see the Tulip Wood, but I couldn't remember if that was yet another common name for Snakewood/Dillenia. From memory it doesn't look all that dissimilar either (apart from colour which can be influenced by light source under photography).

    Anyway, it's a fine job you've done there.
    Regards, FenceFurniture

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    Excellent work yet again Ian
    And good to see some decorative brass work coming out of the woods so to speak.
    Did I start all this a while back or should I just try not to get a big head lol.
    With the medallion being slightly proud do you find it in the way so to speak.

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    Do you take orders Ian ? I know someone who maybe interested.

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    Quote Originally Posted by FenceFurniture View Post
    Heh heh, I did actually see the Tulip Wood, but I couldn't remember if that was yet another common name for Snakewood/Dillenia. From memory it doesn't look all that dissimilar either (apart from colour which can be influenced by light source under photography).

    Anyway, it's a fine job you've done there.
    At least we are even, for now.

    Actually, the Dillenia doesn't seem to have any common commercial name, though no doubt the Solomon islanders have a name for it. It's cousin in Nrth. Qld. gets called "Red Beech". It's similar to the Solomons wood in texture & grain pattern, but far less dense (or at least the small piece I have in my possession is), and the S.I. Dillenia is a very deep brown colour as opposed to reddish.

    If you had the Dillenia & T.O. side by side in your hands, you'd see they are very different, not just in colour, but the grain patterns are quite unalike. However, I do agree that it's hard to draw too many conclusions from photos. Especially mine....

    Cheers,
    IW

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    Quote Originally Posted by FenceFurniture View Post
    ..As a suggestion - what about another notch at the front top of the brass, just for a bit of visual balance?
    I was so pleased with myself catching you out, I forgot to answer the question. Doers that put me behind again?

    Yairs, I think it could do with a bit more of something, & I was going to bring the top of the front over in a similar pattern to the back, but lost my nerve. Easy to add something later, but hard to remove something if it looked ott. I may yet summon up the courage to go back & do more, but I'll think about it for a little while.

    Cheers,
    IW

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    Quote Originally Posted by apricotripper View Post
    Do you take orders Ian ? I know someone who maybe interested.
    I have done, Jake, but I have a very long waiting time. That was due to difficulty getting the right saw plate, so I should be caught up in few months, I hope...

    Cheers,
    IW

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    Quote Originally Posted by Simplicity View Post
    ....And good to see some decorative brass work coming out of the woods so to speak.
    Did I start all this a while back or should I just try not to get a big head lol....
    Well you were certainly the first to post on the topic, so maaybe you should get a bigger hat size...

    Quote Originally Posted by Simplicity View Post
    ....With the medallion being slightly proud do you find it in the way so to speak...
    The medallion is on the left side, which is where they are usually placed, so no fingers go near it, unless you are a southpaw, or use a very odd grip. The 3% of the population who are left-handed will just have to order theirs with the medallion on the other side....

    Cheers,
    IW

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    Well, I'd like a nice tenon saw. Love the look of those handles.

    I'm in no rush for one, but maybe sometime down the track, should you feel inclined.

    Paying job of course, or else no go…. or maybe some kind of swap. What I could possibly swap with you I'm not sure of….. timber ? got silky oak, jacaranda, river oak, rosesheok, red string bark, sallywattle….or cash. anyway.

    cheers

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    Quote Originally Posted by IanW View Post
    Yairs, I think it could do with a bit more of something, & I was going to bring the top of the front over in a similar pattern to the back, but lost my nerve. Easy to add something later, but hard to remove something if it looked ott. I may yet summon up the courage to go back & do more, but I'll think about it for a little while.

    Cheers,
    Yep, just a single matching notch at the front will do it.
    Regards, FenceFurniture

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    Dammit

    I thought I'd said it looks pretty speccy when I saw the post yesterday

    mustn't have hit the post button


    Anyway
    pretty speccy!

    and to comment on Fency's fancy work question on the brass work
    I'd suggest a little bit of scroll engraving down near the end
    regards
    Nick
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