Thread: Piercing Saw Find

Looks nice & solid Helmut, you should be able to put plenty of tension on your blades with that frame.

Not the foggiest idea of its age or origins I'm afraid, but agree it's a lovely thing & well worth preserving.

See how you go with a gidgee handle, but it's already a weighty frame by the looks, so much as I like gidgee, I would probably go for something a bit lighter, if it were mine. If you use it as a jewellers' saw, which I assume it's meant to be, even a light saw can get pretty tiring in a long sessions (like cutting out the sides for an infill plane ).

I use two saws for plane making: one has a 75mm throat (yours looks to be about that), & the other has a 125mm throat & a heavier frame. It's not that much heavier, but after about 5 minutes of sawing, I certainly start to notice the extra weight! So I always do as much sawing with the smaller saw as possible & only reach for the deeper saw to cut where the other can't reach. The smaller frame is also easier to steer & keep on the line....

Cheers,
Ian

That’s gorgeous, if you want too sell, I’ve got a $2 coin with your name on it Helmut.[emoji6]

Please show it again with its new handle.

Cheers Matt.

I have some Black locust that might make a nice handle - Then use a contrasting wood for a ferrule, say Gidgee.

An octagonal handle might be best for this tool. It would go with the overall aesthetics of the tool.

It would be a nicer transition from octagonal to square, where the tang begins.

Have you ever seen a piercing saw with an octagonal handle?

I will give it another buff tomorrow with a suitable rust inhibitor.

Originally Posted by thumbsucker

...... Have you ever seen a piercing saw with an octagonal handle?.....

Nope, but that doesn't mean they don't exist...

With handles of any sort, comfort is paramount, but aesthetics are important too. Our ideas of each vary widely, so go with what pleases you - you can always try something else if you end up not liking it.

I'm borderline fanatical about handles. I've tried numerous styles & sizes on different tools over the years but my preference has tended towards very simple shapes. Way back, when I first saw the "London" pattern chisel handles I decided that was the ultimate shape for handles, so made a set for my motley lot of bench chisels. For some reason(s) I can't remember, I didn't like them, so changed to a more simple shape: Old chisel set.jpg

As you can see, that was in my early days and I hadn't quite mastered the art of turning replicates!

Years down the track I lashed out on a set of LNs. I liked the handle size & shape (many don't!), but the hornbeam was just too bland for my taste so they got new woodwork. At first I made them from different woods, as in the pic, but soon decided that looked silly & changed them to all she-oak.

LNs rehandled.jpg

Just a couple of weeks ago, I made a set of small paring chisels and put similar handles on them. I found the smaller two had a bad habit of rolling away when put down on the bench - the blades are lighter than the handles so they just sat on the handles & rolled. I decided to fix that by giving them a set of the "London" style octagonal handles:

5 set re-handled.jpg

That fixed the rolling problem, and the strange thing is, I've been using the larger chisel constantly over the last week & a half, & much to my surprise, have got to like it a lot.

Nothing is forever.......

Cheers,

I got around to cleaning up the saw. Started by soaking the metal in Sodium Carbonate (Washing Soda) to break down resin buildup on the metal, then scrubbed it with 0000 wool after a few hours. Dried and applied a rust inhibitor. I did not use citric acid because, for such an old tool, it had no real rust or pitting, just dirt.


I opted for a blackwood handle, and while it works and feels comfortable - I did encounter a problem. The diamond cross-section of the vertical stem cuts into the handle when you to to seat the handle fully on the tang, the stem with its diamond cross-section cuts into the handle and acts like a wedge wanting to split the handle. A design flaw in the original tool. So, I must turn a round handle with a brass ferrule and cut out a V north into the ferrule to accommodate the vertical diamond stem.

In the photo, the handle looks disproportionate, but this is a relative size distortion due to the small size of the tool and the size of my hands. I could reduce the handle length by 25mm, but it feels good in the hand.

Having cleaned up the steel, I am left with something somewhat shiny. I am considering using Gun Blue to oxidise and patina the surface again. However, are there other options for restoring some aged patina without another 100 years?


This tool was totally handmade; there is nothing square about anything. All the components only fit together one way; for example, the jaws are not square or parallel. However, they still work perfectly because they are angle and rounded into mirror images of themselves.


The throat clearance is only 55mm, so it is tiny.

Screenshot 2023-10-27 at 7.23.28 pm.jpg Screenshot 2023-10-27 at 7.23.47 pm.jpg Screenshot 2023-10-27 at 7.23.59 pm.jpg Screenshot 2023-10-27 at 7.24.27 pm.jpg Screenshot 2023-10-27 at 7.24.43 pm.jpg

I Like your handle, Helmut, it looks like a very good shape for your saw. But I think you definitely need a ferrule, that tang needs to be driven in tightly or it will come loose in use & drive you nuts. You could just turn up the end of a blank for a ferrule & hand-shape the rest like this one, couldn't you?

The fact that the steel is in such good condition indicates it's probably wrought-iron which is much more resistant to rusting than mild steel or cast iron & would have been the choice of a smith 150 years ago. Not to be confused with the "wrought iron" gates & fences made more recently, which are made from mild steel and have poor rust resistance!

Cheers,