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  1. #1
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    Default I’m no longer making saws.

    I’m no longer making saws


    Well, I’m no longer making saws this festive pagan, atheist ,capitalist season.because I’ve nearly run out of fun time and will be back at work on Monday.
    I had every intention of starting and finishing this saw these last few weeks.
    Sally ,even casually asked what I planned on doing on the hoildays, as we were going to spend it in the steel palace.
    For which I proudly announced ,like a good Boy Scout in a high voice “I’m going to make a saw”
    I planned a music list to inspire me, but ,I will leave this out, unless your into proper old school punk[emoji849].

    So ,first up was my OTT Saw back this was taken down from the shelf and dusted off.

    https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sha...7&share_type=t
    Some of you may remember that, some of you mocked me and thought I had completely lost the plot and gone to the funny farm.
    Well ,it gets even worse ,I saw the files again,

    Well one thing led to another, then I had a drink, just to be sociable of course.
    Then I really got started with the saw back(evil laugh [emoji38])



    We stopped here before I ended up with two brand new saw backs for very short ladies and gentleman saws.

    This will eventually be polished to the point were I can reflect light rays back to the mother ship.

    Next out came a very nice piece of red gum, that looked very similar to the handle below.
    But ,ended up with to many checks ,so that was canned before I got any further into it.
    Next came out this lovely piece of I think Silky Oak.
    I think !! because unfortunately some of the timber in my possession, comes with out little marks or writing telling me excalty what type of timber it is.But I’m working on that very diligently.


    This is the other end of the board I cut the handle blank from.

    So after lots of pondering at the piece of timber, I checked through my random google pics of saw handles ,I like ,I ended up with this.
    I generally start to trace a saw handle from one of few dozen saws I have, and then modify it free hand and with the aid of set of French curves till I get what I feel is a pleasing looking handle.











    For some unknown reason , the handle actually looks quite chunky or bloky around the grip in the pics.
    But , it is actually quite round which is how I like them feeling.no Mr bushmiller this is not a que to insert something rude.
    There’s quite a bit more work to go, I want to refine the handle a bit more and clean up a few more areas that I’m not showing you in pics [emoji849].
    I need to make some saw nuts on the metal lathe.
    For which I’m sure I will possibly go a bit OTT on just because I can, they will be turned up in mild steel as well.
    Because well , this will upset some of you purists I’m not a huge fan of brass[emoji20].
    Then , I have to sand the handle to about 400 grit and finish that,
    Not sure whether to use a high gloss finish,oil or wax on this one?
    But , I’m leaning towards the full gloss finish.
    Then ,there’s the saw plate to attend to, and of course to file the teeth in, and sharpen it up for which I’m massively out of practice on 14 TPI Rip.

    So now the extended plan is to have this one finished before the end of the year [emoji849][emoji849].

    Cheers Matt.
    More to come soonish!


    Sent from my iPhone

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  3. #2
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    Default

    Southern Silky Oak, Backsawn? Very bland/beige for Silky.

    Well you have 50 weeks to finish off the project, get on with it!
    Pat
    Work is a necessary evil to be avoided. Mark Twain

  4. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simplicity View Post
    I’m no longer making saws.........


    We stopped here before I ended up with two brand new saw backs for very short ladies and gentleman saws...........


    For some unknown reason , the handle actually looks quite chunky or bloky around the grip in the pics.
    But , it is actually quite round which is how I like them feeling.no Mr bushmiller this is not a que to insert something rude.

    Cheers Matt.
    More to come soonish!

    Matt

    A few comments:

    1. The departure from sawmaking doesn't seem to have lasted long.

    2. What type of back do short ladies require? Something a little spineless perhaps.

    3. Is there a blok(e)y grip and a girlie grip? (There is the opportunity for an indiscreet comment there but I am resisting in the light of the following point and not wishing to shoot myself in the foot.)

    4. Why would you think I would insert a rude comment. I am mortified.

    5. "More to come soonish." I think you are only marginally better than I in the ability to take on much and deliver little!!

    I was going to insert a conbination of laughing and embarrased simileys at this point, but they have stopped working.

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  5. #4
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    [QUOTE=Bushmiller;2121554]Matt

    A few comments lol


    5. "More to come soonish." I think you are only marginally better than I in the ability to take on much and deliver little!!

    Paul I’m sure you are Fully aware of the skill and time it takes to be such a person as you out lined above.
    I take on this responsibly very seriously.

    Cheers Matt.
    Working on witty replies to your “other” remarks!

  6. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pat View Post
    Southern Silky Oak, Backsawn? Very bland/beige for Silky.

    Well you have 50 weeks to finish off the project, get on with it!
    Pat
    I just put some turps over the handle to wet it up a bit.



    I don’t think it’s that bland[emoji849].

    Cheers Matt,

  7. #6
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    Matt

    A little disturbing to see you are on the turps. You have taken the wind from my sails as I was going to ask for some close ups of the timber because it did not look to have the classic medullary ray feature of the casuarina oaks. However it clearly does have the charcteristic rays and is going to look spectacular.

    Just on the chunkiness, the horns do not have to be thin to look refined. You only have to take the curvature to the edge (I think this is right up your street) to lessen the blocky look. In fact this technique is probably preferable as you retain much of the structural strength, but the eye is drawn to the thin edge (but not too thin).

    I actually like the round bits (on the saw.)

    How is the heat front in the tin box? I heard there have been some spectacular temperatures down South. It is a mere 34.3 degs C in my shed at the moment (I just checked), but about another three hours before the hottest part of the day so it could get stinky hot. A friend yesterday said his partner, who was somewhere in Victoria, was experiencing 47 degs C and my SIL in the Newcastle region said it hadn't been below 40 degs C all week.

    I am starting to feel a little guilty. I should be outside setting sandstone blocks around a pond. Maybe in a minute.

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  8. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bushmiller View Post
    Matt

    A little disturbing to see you are on the turps. You have taken the wind from my sails as I was going to ask for some close ups of the timber because it did not look to have the classic medullary ray feature of the casuarina oaks. However it clearly does have the charcteristic rays and is going to look spectacular.

    Just on the chunkiness, the horns do not have to be thin to look refined. You only have to take the curvature to the edge (I think this is right up your street) to lessen the blocky look. In fact this technique is probably preferable as you retain much of the structural strength, but the eye is drawn to the thin edge (but not too thin).

    I actually like the round bits (on the saw.)

    How is the heat front in the tin box? I heard there have been some spectacular temperatures down South. It is a mere 34.3 degs C in my shed at the moment (I just checked), but about another three hours before the hottest part of the day so it could get stinky hot. A friend yesterday said his partner, who was somewhere in Victoria, was experiencing 47 degs C and my SIL in the Newcastle region said it hadn't been below 40 degs C all week.

    I am starting to feel a little guilty. I should be outside setting sandstone blocks around a pond. Maybe in a minute.

    Regards
    Paul
    Paul
    The Turps was only small digression I promise it will not happen again till the next one,

    The handle really only looks chunky in my crap pics.
    In the hand it feels quite slender I suppose you could say,
    But yes the bloody horns in other attempts I’ve always felt I’ve stuffed them up.
    But I happily agree these ones will get thinned out
    Or will be made to look thin around the edge anyway.


    The hot spell the other day I was working on the saw till about 11.30am I then gave up due to rain coming out of my bald head,and the possibility of the saw handle drowning in my sweat on the bench.
    I think we got to around 38 in Ballarat but not sure.
    47 I can’t get my head around how hot that would be.

    Cheers Matt.

  9. #8
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    Matt

    Unless I am copying an existing saw handle design I frequently make the mistake of cutting the horns too thin. The fact is you can always thin them down but it is really difficult to bulk them back up.

    Temp reached amodest 36.5 deg C today at about 1600hrs. I can't really imagine 47 degs C either. The most I ever experienced was 45 degs C and a good part of the day was spent in the shower trying to cool down. No air con in those days. Having said that I don't know how the temp was measured. A bit like people's claimed fuel consumption in their favourite car. Divide it in two and believe half.

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  10. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bushmiller View Post
    Matt

    Unless I am copying an existing saw handle design I frequently make the mistake of cutting the horns too thin. The fact is you can always thin them down but it is really difficult to bulk them back up.

    Temp reached amodest 36.5 deg C today at about 1600hrs. I can't really imagine 47 degs C either. The most I ever experienced was 45 degs C and a good part of the day was spent in the shower trying to cool down. No air con in those days. Having said that I don't know how the temp was measured. A bit like people's claimed fuel consumption in their favourite car. Divide it in two and believe half.

    Regards
    Paul
    Paul
    Thank you for making me feel better, I thought I was out there all by my self, living a life 0f solitude and shame with regards to stuffing the handle horns up.

    My normal approach to saw handle making now is. I cut my saw handle with the sides excalty 90 degrees to the face sides all over.


    I then use a trim router with a round over patten bearing bit(sorry don’t have the exact dimensions of the bit due to being away from the steel box)
    To take away the bulk of material from the hand grip area.
    Handle held down with double sided tape one side at time.
    I then refine this using a length of sandpaper about 20 mm wide 250/300 mm long 120 grit to remove the rest, and to smooth the curves.
    In the past I have stuffed up the horns by not being careful enough when sea sawing around them and have inevitably taken then beyond the edge of handle (does that make sense).

    Hence why these horns at present are still FAT
    But they will be thinned down towards the edge as you kindly suggest
    Like so

    Cheers Matt,

  11. #10
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    Matt

    There is always more than one way of skinning a cat. (Can we still say that without incurring gaol time?) However techniques cannot be too far apart and much depends on the tools you have available. I rough out the handles with a jigsaw following a ply or thin mdf template. I aim to cut about 3/6mm proud of the template and normally end up in the range of 0mm to 8mm!. Then I use two flush trim router bits on a small router to derive the exact shape. Initially a top bearing bit, secondly a similar but longer bit extended further down (this is because mostly I am using dense Aussie hardwoods and cannot complete the cut in one hit) and lastly I flip the handle to make the third cut using a flush trim bit with a bottom bearing.

    Now with the required shape I pencil a line for the rounding of the horns and other parts using the fingers as a gauge. I then use a turning saw or a coping saw to hog off the bulk of the rounding part. After that comes a series of rasps followed by my bow sanders again with a number of grits until I have the required shape. Henry Disston, Abel Simonds and Elias Atkins would have been absolutely horrified at how long it takes me and that is on a good day.

    There is no right way of doing such things.: Just whatever works best and is most enjoyable for you.

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  12. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bushmiller View Post
    Matt

    There is always more than one way of skinning a cat. (Can we still say that without incurring gaol time?) However techniques cannot be too far apart and much depends on the tools you have available. I rough out the handles following a ply or thin mdf template. I aim to cut about 3/6mm proud of the template and normally end up in the range of 0mm to 8mm!. Then I use a two flush trim router bits on a small router to derive the exact shape. Initially a top bearing bit, secondly a similar but longer bit extended further down (this is because mostly I am using dense Aussie hardwoods andcannot complete the cut in one hit) and lastly I flip the handle to make the third cut using a flush trim bit with a bottom bearing.

    Now with the required shape I pencil a line for the rounding of the horns and other parts using the fingers as a gauge. I then use a turning saw or a coping saw to hog off the bulk of the rounding part. After that comes a series of rasps followed by my bow sanders again with a number of grits until I have the required shape. Henry Disston, Abel Simonds and Elias Atkins would have been absolutely horrified at how long it takes me and that is on a good day.

    There is no right way of doing such things.: Just whatever works best and is most enjoyable for you.

    Regards
    Paul
    I would prefer if we skinned snakes
    I hate them with a capital H
    (Ask Sally about the stick snake I once saw in our backyard)

    I now remember your discripiton of how you accomplish your master pieces from another thread now that you mention it.

    Cheers Matt(Kennyon saws ??)

  13. #12
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    Um, I think you might have got your handle-wood bin a bit mixed or muddled, Matt - that looks most unlike any SSO I've seen and suspiciously like Myrtle Beech. A very nice bit of whatever it is, & if it is Beech, that's a far more suitable handle wood than SSO anyway, imo.

    My name is Ian & I'm a saw-aholic and I haven't made a saw for 3 months........

    I intend to stay on the wagon, this time!
    IW

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    Default I’m no longer making saws.

    Quote Originally Posted by IanW View Post
    Um, I think you might have got your handle-wood bin a bit mixed or muddled, Matt - that looks most unlike any SSO I've seen and suspiciously like Myrtle Beech. A very nice bit of whatever it is, & if it is Beech, that's a far more suitable handle wood than SSO anyway, imo.

    My name is Ian & I'm a saw-aholic and I haven't made a saw for 3 months........

    I intend to stay on the wagon, this time!
    Ian,
    Did you view this picture of the saw handle

    Reason being I’m not sure your right(if I’m wrong I beg forgiveness[emoji20]).
    With regard the species of timber that the handle is.


    Also are you not playing with the devil hanging out in such den of iniquity while conducting a 12 step program.
    Don’t tell me your in here thinking about marking gauges.

    Cheers Matt[emoji57].

  15. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simplicity View Post
    Ian,
    Did you view this picture of the saw handle .....
    Yes I did, Matt, it was the one that convinced me it's probably not G. robusta....

    I'm on record as saying that identifying wood from a picture is a mug's game, so I won't bet you anything & I won't cut my wrists if I'm proven wrong, however, we go through quite a bit of G. robusta up this way, and although it usually has pretty fine medullary rays compared with its northern cousin (Cardwellia), they should be much more prominent than what I can see on your handle. The moderately fine grain structure, multiple narrow lines, & curly figure look much more like some of the Myrtle Beech I've had. It does look a bit pale, but colour is the least reliable identifying characteristic of wood.

    This handle is Myrtle with 99.9% confidence: Myrtle handle a.jpg

    I think it has a lot of similarities to yours, but here's another bit of Myrtle, from a different tree, just to highlight the variability of the stuff: Myrtle handle b.jpg

    Still some similarities, though, I reckon.

    OTH, here's a Silky Oak handle: SO handle.jpg

    I didn't source this wood myself, it was sent to me to make the handle, so I'm not very sure of which SO it is. I think it's more likely northern (Cardwellia) because the rays are a bit large for Southern SO, but I wouldn't stake my life on it, they both vary. However, you get the picture, you should be able to see medullary rays on either the northern or southern varieties, it's a very different picture from Myrtle...

    As I said, it's a very nice bit of wood whatever it is.
    Cheers,
    IW

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    Quote Originally Posted by IanW View Post
    Yes I did, Matt, it was the one that convinced me it's probably not G. robusta....

    I'm on record as saying that identifying wood from a picture is a mug's game, so I won't bet you anything & I won't cut my wrists if I'm proven wrong, however, we go through quite a bit of G. robusta up this way, and although it usually has pretty fine medullary rays compared with its northern cousin (Cardwellia), they should be much more prominent than what I can see on your handle. The moderately fine grain structure, multiple narrow lines, & curly figure look much more like some of the Myrtle Beech I've had. It does look a bit pale, but colour is the least reliable identifying characteristic of wood.

    This handle is Myrtle with 99.9% confidence: Myrtle handle a.jpg

    I think it has a lot of similarities to yours, but here's another bit of Myrtle, from a different tree, just to highlight the variability of the stuff: Myrtle handle b.jpg

    Still some similarities, though, I reckon.

    OTH, here's a Silky Oak handle: SO handle.jpg

    I didn't source this wood myself, it was sent to me to make the handle, so I'm not very sure of which SO it is. I think it's more likely northern (Cardwellia) because the rays are a bit large for Southern SO, but I wouldn't stake my life on it, they both vary. However, you get the picture, you should be able to see medullary rays on either the northern or southern varieties, it's a very different picture from Myrtle...

    As I said, it's a very nice bit of wood whatever it is.
    Cheers,
    Ian,
    May I offer you 100 of my best breading goats as a mark of respect and apologies.
    Myrtle Beech it is then ,unless someone else thinks it’s something else.
    I won’t be contesting the fact
    Identify wood myself , I’m about on page one of a wood identification bible of any sort.

    But ,if anyone has some Myrtle Beech suitable for saw handles I may be interested.
    It’s the first time I’ve used period.
    It cuts easily and shapes well

    Cheers Matt.

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