Thread: a funny little saw

Thanks Ian and Bridger

I just might have a doner saw here somewhere to convert

Bridger that wood looks like sheoak, one of our casuarina tree types, Ian would know the specific variety

Originally Posted by bridger

that's a pretty little thing, there. what wood is the handle?

there are so many old saws floating around with taper ground plates and damage like a kink or a crack about 1/3 of the way up from the toe and handle problems that can be used as steel donors that personally I would have a hard time justifying purchasing new steel to make smaller saws. but then I'm not making them to sell...

Bridger, the wood is an Aussie wood, common name is "She-oak" and botanical name Allocasaurina torulosa. It gets the 'oak' handle because it has prominent medullary rays like the northern hemisphere Quercus species. The piece I used for that saw has the grain the 'wrong' way, i.e. it isn't quartered, so the rays are end-on. I wouldn't normally use it that way, but at the time it was the last piece of She-oak I had that was wide enough dor aa saw handle.

There are quite a few different she-oaks down here, and most of them have hard to very hard, dense, woods. They are are difficult to dry because they like to split along those huge medullary rays. Most species are fairly small trees, rarely more than 2 feet diameter at the base, and with a trunk usually less than around 12 feet, so not really suitable for lumber (though there are a couple of species that can grow a decent-sized log). They do make great firewood (). Most she-oaks have interesting wood, with a fine grain that takes a superb finish. They tend to be a bit heavy for furniture, but can make tough handles for all sorts of things.

I like it because the wood has that nice tactile quality, like Rosewood, & once dry, it is a tough & stable & can take a bit of ill-treatment. It is excellent for making tools, like marking-gauges: Pic4.jpg

Here are some chisels re-handled with A. torulosa: rehandled.jpg

The common species that grows in the south west of Aust., sometimes produces a wood with what is called "lace" figure. It's some sort of abnormality, which occurs in less than 1% of trees, like birds-eye in Maple, but it is quite spectacular when you find it: Lace s-oak.jpg

Cheers,