Saw handle question

**Thumbthumper** · 21st September 2008, 08:48 PM

My D4 tenon saw handle has been a little loose for quite a while now and it's irked me for the last time today

I didn't really want to grab the hacksaw and cut a slot in the blind nuts, but I will if it's the only way (although that's not really an option with the medallion). The nuts are all slotted. The lock bolts including the medallion are spinning in their holes so it's impossible to tighten them completely.
I can get them fairly tight, but not enough to stop movement in the handle.
Any suggestions ? Epoxy ? Pack them out with some slivers of wood ?

**Scribbly Gum** · 21st September 2008, 09:35 PM

Annoying isn't it.
What I have done in the past is to grind a little off the end of the threaded screw so that it can actually screw further into the nutted end. I have found that the cause of the loosening for me has been the drying of the wood in the handle and its shrinkage.
Might work for you too.
Regards from Tele Point
SG

**RayG** · 21st September 2008, 09:36 PM

Hi Thumbthumper,

Depends a bit on what the problem is.

Is the nut (the bit with the inside thread) bottoming out on the blade? Or is the screw bottoming out on the nut.

If it's bottoming out on the blade, a few passes with a file to shorten the nut might shorten them enough to pull up tight on the blade. In the other case (where the screw is bottoming out on the nut) you would need to file a bit off the length of the screw. You don't need to take off very much in either case, probably 1mm would be enough.

You should be able to get it to grab sufficiently just with finger pressure on the screw side, of course once it starts to grab you can get it to tighten.

Since it is most likely caused by a bit of shrinkage, another way would be to soak the handle for a while in something (maybe linseed oil) to get it to swell up a little.

Regards
Ray

Hey, Scribbly, looks like we cross posted, good to see we came up with same advice!

**Clinton1** · 21st September 2008, 11:01 PM

Or pack it out with a washer, if you are concerned about stuffing the threads.

**Thumbthumper** · 22nd September 2008, 12:27 AM

Good thoughts...
I'll have to check if the bolts are actually not able to tighten down enough to bind the blade. In which case I'll file them back a little.
I'm thinking that I just can't hold the smooth nut ends to tighten the bolt enough. They're spinning in their holes. The square section under the nut heads has chewed out the holes and won't bind anymore. Even if the bolts were a bit shorter, they may still turn the bolts when I'm attempting to turn the nuts.
I've found that I can get enough finger pressure on the medallion to tighten that particular bolt, but no amount of finger pressure can hold the little smooth ones.
I'll investigate the bolt length tomorrow.

Thanx all,
Stu

**pedder** · 23rd September 2008, 06:27 AM

You could try to stick a nut on the blank heads.
Cjeers Pedder

**pedder** · 23rd September 2008, 06:28 AM

sorry , misunderstood something

**Thumbthumper** · 23rd September 2008, 10:59 AM

Looks like SG and Ray were right (thanx guys)
Due to shrinkage, the bolts were a bit long.

The nuts didn't seem to be bottoming out on the blade, so I just filed the bolts down about 1 to 1.5mm.

All sorted

Long term pain in the neck fixed.

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