Thread: Brand New Saw Handle - The Method

Paul,
I’m eagerly waiting for me,please don’t keep us waiting to long its rude.
An i suffer terrible from being inpatient.

Cheers Matt.

Ps I’m sure I’ve seen a similar handle somewhere before [emoji6]

It is at this point that the reader will start to realise why I use the plywood (thin MDF is better) template. It allows me to cut a fairly accurate blank out and if I want to make another handle it saves much marking out. This template was used for my docking saw several years ago. We need a router with a trimming bit. For the first pass of three I use a short bit with a top guide bearing.


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The second cut uses a slightly longer bit again with a top bearing

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While the last cut uses a trimming bit with a bottom guide bearing. This last one is much slimmer than I have used in the past, but as it rides on the face made by the two previous cuts, is not able to get further in

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The change in colour is due to the template being removed. It is not a bad idea to check to see if the handle is going to fit the hand at this point!

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Seems OK.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Paul,
I’m eagerly waiting for me,please don’t keep us waiting to long its rude.
An i suffer terrible from being inpatient.

Cheers Matt.

Ps I’m sure I’ve seen a similar handle somewhere before [emoji6]

Matt

I am going as fast as my clumsy fingers can type. Ah caint go no faster. Similar handle ?

Regards
Paul

Yes, don't let us wait for too long [emoji3]

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

There is a strict order of the steps in making a handle if tears are to be avoided and for a moment my enthusiasm for the task got away from me and I started to mark out for the rounding over of edges. Do not do this as the two most critical steps are next and you do not want to finish the handle shaping only to mess up the cutting of the kerf for the saw plate and drilling the holes for the saw screws and medallion.

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So the first step is to mark and saw the kerf for the plate. I did this with a pencil gauge first and then a pointed gauge over the top.

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I am going to use several saws in the cutting. To begin with three saws to mark out the kerf. The first has too many little teeth to count (so don't ask what ppi it is: A stupidly ridiculous number and I only use it because I have it) and no set. Mostly it will only cut to a couple of mm deep before it binds up. it's purpose is merely to enhance the score mark. I was able to cut a little deeper at one point as shown in the third pic.

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Then it was on to the second saw which is also "no set." Same story: Just enlarging the score mark up to 5mm or 6mm deep.

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Finally I use the last gents saw which has coarse teeth (too coarse if the truth be told) and conventional set. I can only use this until the back bottoms out.

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Finally (that's the second final) I cut to the full depth required using a conventional saw. There is no significance with the half back other than it was sharper than the full back saw.

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A docking saw is about 042" thick so the kerf need further opening which was done with a full size rip saw and then the kerf is checked with a saw of similar gauge.

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As the intended saw is not in my possession I used my own docking saw to check the fit. Docking saws are taper ground so it is important to check fit up at the fat end of the blade.

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I only mention this for those of you who might I have thought I was having difficulty remembering which way around the handle goes.



Regards
Paul

The second critical step is drilling the holes. I drilled a very small hole with a twist bit going from the template before it was removed. I then countersunk the holes for the medallion (approx 1") and the remaining screws (approximately 14mm. I used a 15mm bit that I had filed down). It is advisable to test fit saw screws to holes in a piece of scrap first. After that a hole was drilled half way through from the face side (5.5mm) and a larger (7.5mm) hole on the reverse side to suit the female half of the saw screw.

It is much easier to do the counter sinks first as it is easier to locate holes in the centre. The centre spur of the spade bit does make the hole a little too large at the surface but because it is tapered it still works well and in fact aids the mating of the two halves. The second pic shown below is after some shaping had taken place so it is "out of order" as late at night I had missed taking some shots. So the order is pilot hole for position, countersink for large medallion, countersink for the other screws ( seven in this instance) drill for the male half and drill for the female half.

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Then you have to check they all fit

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To avoid burring of the saw screws, which being brass they are most prone to do, it is good practice to use a wide screwdriver. I did not have anything wide enough so I have made up a number of "sawnut drivers" from old files.

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Now it is starting to resemble a saw handle. I cut off waste where I can to minimise wear on my rasps. This type of timber is very hard on edge tools. I did use a router with a small rounding over bit to remove waste on the inside of the handle hole as I find it a pain to remove the blade from a coping saw to place it in the hole and then reassemble. I also used the round over bit on the thumbhole as that was just the right radius.

After using rasps to achieve the desired shape I use my bow sanders for the outside curves. Bowsanders were developed for chair makers so they adapt well to the curves on saw handles. The inside curves have to be sanded with the paper hand held.

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Whatever vice you use to hold your work, it is most important to pack out the kerf if you are clamping the cheeks. Failure to do this will result in the cheeks cracking and/or breaking off. I use an off-cut of saw blade. You can see it in the first pic below.

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This is how the handle came up.

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Time for a bit of wheat carving. The stems are done with a vee gouge and the leaves with a milling style bit mounted on the drill press. (Forgot to take a pic. I will have to rectify that).

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Regards
Paul

I finish saw handles with matt varnish and then add oil rubbed in with steel wool. This is after the first coat of varnish. Slightly glossy as it was still wet.

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Regards
Paul

Nice work Paul, the recipient ought to be happy with that.

Hi Paul. Thanks for documenting your process. The handle is outstanding. Your cutouts, detailing and form is just so crisp. I have thought my efforts so far have been pretty good but this is what I should be aiming for. Sorry if Im gushing, 1st coffee of the day has probably kicked in!

Excellent work and result.
Well done.

Paul, your first post was at 8:23 & the last at 10:06 - a marathon effort (and I hope a certain impatient chap was able to stay the course) ......

Anyway, it was worth waiting for the ending, and I'm envious there were no apparent stuff-ups apart from choosing the wrong size template to begin, but that barely qualifies as a stuff-up in my book. I made a saw handle recently and it took 3 starts before I had my handle. On the first one I made a dog's breakfast of cutting out the spine slot (I heartily agree that this part should always be done first as it's the most fraught operation!). The next danger point is forming the lamb's tongue, and that's where I came to grief on #2 - a great chunk split away from the lamb's tongue as I was cutting it thanks to a crack I hadn't noticed. My method for cutting lamb's tongues is a bit brutal, I like to chop them with a couple of gouge cuts. If all goes well, I have a clean & shapely groove, but if there is too much grain runout, or a fault in the wood, it usually means starting over..

Third time lucky and I finished with a handle. I am scraping the bottom of the barrel for saw handle material atm, so all of the pieces were a bit dodgy & I had to work around knots & faults in the blank, so I was only mildly surprised & annoyed at the first two failures, but it pays to select sound material to work with! I have plenty of choice material drying quietly under the house (including some beautiful figured black wattle that BIL cut into firewood-sized pieces!) but it still needs another 12 months or more before I can use it. And of course I'm not making any more saws, anyway...

When laying out handle blanks, I use a cardboard template - I've got so many saw-handle shapes gathered from various saws I liked the shape of, and many minor or major modifications thereof, plus 'new' designs of my own that they fill a small drawer on their own! I drill the parts that form part-circles, as you do, both for neatness & to make cutting-out easier. But my next step is quite different. I started out "connecting the dots" with a bowsaw, which is fairly efficient (apart from having to disassemble & reassemble the saw to cut out the finger hole) but leaves a surface that usually needs cleaning up to the lines a bit before proceeding to shaping. Some years ago I bought a cheap scrollsaw for some other job and found it a boon for cutting out saw handles. With a 15tpi blade, I can cut very cleanly & right on the pencil lines, no mucking about with screaming routers & template bits, or tidying up rougher bowsaw cuts, I can usually proceed directly to shaping after cutting out with the scrollsaw.

Shaping is the part that takes me ages, I have never got it down to the few minutes the piece-workers of old were said to manage it in. I suppose know I fuss far too much, but it usually takes a good half-day to rasp, sand & scrape my way to the finished product. In my defense, I do usually use much tougher woods than apple or beech, but even a small open beech or walnut handle takes me a couple of hours to finish. Putting "Wheat carvings" on a handle would probably take me another day, so I've studiously avoided that step! .....
Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Paul, your first post was at 8:23 & the last at 10:06 - a marathon effort (and I hope a certain impatient chap was able to stay the course) ......

When laying out handle blanks, I use a cardboard template - I've got so many saw-handle shapes gathered from various saws I liked the shape of, and many minor or major modifications thereof, plus 'new' designs of my own that they fill a small drawer on their own! I drill the parts that form part-circles, as you do, both for neatness & to make cutting-out easier. But my next step is quite different. I started out "connecting the dots" with a bowsaw, which is fairly efficient (apart from having to disassemble & reassemble the saw to cut out the finger hole) but leaves a surface that usually needs cleaning up to the lines a bit before proceeding to shaping. Some years ago I bought a cheap scrollsaw for some other job and found it a boon for cutting out saw handles. With a 15tpi blade, I can cut very cleanly & right on the pencil lines, no mucking about with screaming routers & template bits, or tidying up rougher bowsaw cuts, I can usually proceed directly to shaping after cutting out with the scrollsaw.

Shaping is the part that takes me ages, I have never got it down to the few minutes the piece-workers of old were said to manage it in. I suppose know I fuss far too much, but it usually takes a good half-day to rasp, sand & scrape my way to the finished product. In my defense, I do usually use much tougher woods than apple or beech, but even a small open beech or walnut handle takes me a couple of hours to finish. Putting "Wheat carvings" on a handle would probably take me another day, so I've studiously avoided that step! .....
Cheers,

Ian

Not heard from our impatient friend so he may have run out of alcohol and couldn't stay to the finish. Hopefully, for him, the bottle shop is open today . As to a marathon effort, that is as close as I get to a marathon nowadays!

I did post in several steps as I have made the mistake in the past of putting everything in one post, suffering some technical glitch and losing the whole lot. So I consolidate while the going is good. I think the time taken shaping is at least partly owing to the very hard timbers both you and I use. I really begrudge wearing out those expensive rasps if I can alleviate some of the work with other tools. I do use the electron burner for the main cut-out and there I should have gone into a little more detail.

I am fortunate in having a choice of three machines. I have an old Makita laminate trimmer, which is an ideal tool. I have a slightly larger DeWalt fixed base and lastly a cordless Milwaukee trimmer which I like a lot and as a bonus is quieter than the corded tools. It was the Milwaukee that I used. Also, because I had removed most of the material before reaching for the router I just used a non-slip mat to hold the work: I have never had a piece slip (yet ). It could be clamped, but then the clamp gets in the way of the router base. The router could also be table mounted which might be a better way again.

The wheat "carving" probably took less than an hour including marking out, cutting with the carving "vee" gouge and "milling" the leaves with this:

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The technique I use is to bring the handle to the cutter from behind. I rest my elbows on the drill press table and that steadys up the operation.

I too have to work around some defects. this was the other end of the timber that was cut off. Disston stated that they cut their boards into foot long blanks from which they would recover two handles. I did much the same so the timber would feed through the thicknesser, but I only got one handle

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This morning I lightly rubbed back the handle, wiped off the dust with a tack rag and rinsed with mineral turps ready for the next coat of varnish.



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The handle should end up looking much like the last pic, although this Forest Red Gum darkens considerably over time.

On the subject of lamb's tongues I have found that it is best to concentrate on the curved part of the cheek and then the LT just becomes whatever it is. The first time I attempted this style I concentrated on the tongue and it just did not look right.

Lastly, apologies for the long grass outside the front of my shed. Leanne took a fall about a month ago and sustained multiple fractures of the patella (sounds a bit like a Spanish dish): She does all our mowing!

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Paul,
I’m eagerly waiting for me,please don’t keep us waiting to long its rude.
An i suffer terrible from being inpatient.

Cheers Matt.

Ps I’m sure I’ve seen a similar handle somewhere before [emoji6]

Matt

Maybe one on your bench too?

Regards
Paul

I sympathise with Paul,an Ians remarks regarding the low live Vernon that now seem to frequent the internet,its getting to plague proportions,we seriously need a good a caul.

Especially those key board misfits with there off handed comments.
Who then miraculously fall asleep afterwards.

Paul the saw handle looks fantastic,an wheat carved as well,I’m convinced the new owner will love it, if they don’t i declare a public hanging.

Cheers Matt.

Ye I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a similar handle on my workbench????