Thread: A couple of dovetail saws.

Weather's finally cleared up so I picked up the work on these two.

First to shape the second handle. Abdul does a QC.

Abdul does QC.jpg


Here they are after shaping.

Shaping done.jpg


Cut out some plate material and check to be sure everything will fit.

Cut some plates, now to mount them up.jpg


Now to prepare the saw plates, grinding, squaring the edges and and polishing prior to installing the backs.

Polish the saw plates.jpg


Stainless first, starting carefully.

Start the stainless back carefully.jpg


Gently tap the back along the plate, this is the critical stage.

Start as described above.jpg


From here on out it's easy.

Drive the back down the plate.jpg


Now for the brass one.

Now for the brass one.jpg


Next adjust the tension of both.

Tension the brass back.jpg


And we have it.

backs with plates installed.jpg


Now for some teeth, both are to be 16 ppi.

Now for some teeth.jpg


Nice and sharp, ask me how I know.

Nice and sharp.jpg


Mark out the mortises.

Lay out the recess for the back.jpg


I mark the outlines of the back onto the front and top of the tote with 0.5 mm pencil and then using the zero-set gents saw I cut just inside the lines on the exposed surfaces as it helps avoid split outs.

Beginning of mortise.jpg


Then, using chisels and floats I work the mortise down from the top and in from the front.

3 4 deep.jpg


When I get it to the stage that the back is pretty close to fitting the mortise I use floats to trim back the walls of the mortise.

Pretty close.jpg

Enough for today.

Cheers,
Rob

Continuing where I left off yesterday. Lots of float work on the insides of the mortise.

For me this process involves a lot of trial fitting as I slowly deepen and broaden the mortise starting at the front of the saw handle.

Beginning at the front

work it in bit by bit.jpg


Go in with a cheek float and remove the high spots.

broaden the mortise.jpg


Getting better

slowly slowle.jpg


Got it.

it fits.jpg


Now to radius the heel of the blade. I'll cut it back to just between the saw bolt mounting holes.

where to cut.jpg


Dress the radius so that it flows into the curve of the handle.

just right nice and tight.jpg

So here it is, ready for the saw bolt holes.


ready for screw holes.jpg

Tomorrow the other saw...

A short day today.

I fitted up the second saw.


both blades fitted.jpg


Cut the bushing seats.

bushings seated.jpg


And did the first sanding.

setup complete.jpg

Tomorrow: Finish sanding and shaping touch-ups, infuse the handles with hardener and begin applying finish.

Cheers,
Rob

As I described in this thread (https://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=180942) I am hardening the handles by vacuum infusion of polycarbonate dissolved in acetone. Kind of a messy operation but for the more friable types of wood it is invaluable.

After baking off the acetone.

Here they are after drying.jpg


Close up shot.

close up after drying.jpg

These nodules of plastic pretty much brush off or are removed by light sanding. The handles are noticeably heavier than they were before processing, unfortunately I didn't think to weigh them.

Cheers,
Rob

Hi Rob. I be honest with you. I am not a big fan of vacuum infusion to make the wood suitable for saw handle work. There a plenty of compatible woods available to select from.

Stewie;

Here they are, close to being done. Just a little more shaping and finish work.

dovetail saws done.jpg

Good job Rob. Looks like they have some relatively serious weight.

Originally Posted by planemaker

Hi Rob. I be honest with you. I am not a big fan of vacuum infusion to make the wood suitable for saw handle work. There a plenty of compatible woods available to select from.

Stewie;

Hi Stewie,

These are made from Jatoba (http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-...dwoods/jatoba/), quite suitable for tool handles but as the article says a little harder to work. My purpose in hardening these handles was to strengthen them as they are not as strong as a closed handle design. The value of the hardening proved out yesterday because I was buffing the handle for the brass saw when it caught on the wheel and was pulled from my grip. The handle hit the concrete driveway apron with a resounding crack. I was sure that the handle had broken but despite impacting directly on an edge of the rear lower horn the damage was limited to a mark about 1 X 4 mm which was easily cleaned up. I have no idea of the impact velocity but it was likely pretty high as the buffer I was using is a 3/4 h.p. 1750 R.P.M. unit with a 9" non-stitched cotton wheel.

Cheers,
Rob

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Good job Rob. Looks like they have some relatively serious weight.

The stainless backed saw is 356.5 gm and the brass backed is 312.4 gm. I have a Lien Nielsen of equivalent design that goes 356.7 gm and a walnut handled Wenzloff and Sons at 311.4 gm.

Here's some better shots of #19.

SN 19 Right side.jpgSN19 RHS tooth detail.jpgSN19 RHS.jpg

And here's some of #18.

SN 18 Left side full length.jpg

SN 19 LHS handle detail.jpg

They look awesome Rob

Really beautiful and well made saws.

There are only two things I'd change: The screw holes should have the same distance to the lower edge of the wood looks much bette. And there is no need to sand the blade. THe blue color will vanish with any acid.

Cheers
Pedder

Hi Pedder,

The blade is sanded because I have been taper grinding them, these two saws have 0.002" taper from bottom to top.

The positioning of the screws relative to the cheeks is designed to emulate both the Lie Nielsen and Wenzloff design. Note the relatively high position of the back on the Wenzloff saw.

First the Wenzloff

Wenzloff dovetail handle rotated.jpg

The Lie Nielsen

Lie Nielsen dovetail handle rotated.jpg

And one of my saws.

Alamo Toolworks dovetail saw rotated.jpg

That being said I do appreciate your artistic sense - a characteristic that I feel is relatively weak in me. I've attached the original PDF's in case anybody want's to use them as patterns.

Cheers,
Rob

I've put these saws up on eBay along with several others I've made recently. The viewer response has been interesting. Out of 7 saws posted the dovetail saws are by far the most popular as measured by both number of page views and number of watchers. The other saws have also attracted interest by they are by no means as popular as the dovetailers are. Does anybody have any idea as to why that might be?

Cheers,
Rob