Thread: A Crazy Saw Service

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Is your wife given you grief, does she not know how important this saw making business his.
Does she not understand there a literally thousands possibly more hanging on your every word you type, about these saws, these pieces of modern art your hand carving from raw materials.
How does she think a desk will be made if you don’t have a “suitable saw”
Royal commissions seem to be the flavour of the month now,just saying maybe a quite word,
[emoji853][emoji853][emoji853]

Cheers Matt,
Safely tucked away in Victoria [emoji6][emoji6]

Matt

It is a saw point,

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Paul,
I think I’ve missed the boat possibly due to the dry conditions your experiencing there,
But why the extra bevel now on the saw bolts I know your said to make them pull in harder??

Were you concerned the bevel Ian produced would not be enough.
To make them look flush?

Matt

It is to do with a combination of fitting the screws flush with the timber and at the same time coping with any drift of the hole off centre.

The saw screws Ian made up are beautifully prepared, but Ian did mention that when he makes the next batch during one of those "out of retirement moments" he will put more of a taper on the head of the male and female components as really he just added a bevel on the underside of the bolt head and nut.

In fact the last handsaw I assembled, which was the crosscut with the Ironbark handle, I had somehow managed to have the hole well off centre. With the shaft off centre it was impossible to attach the nut. This morning I accentuated the taper on the head of the bolt and took it right to the top. This allowed clearance to engage the thread. Once that happens the nut ended up seating itself as it was screwed on. Another way out would have been if the shank was longer. That would not have mattered as the excess would have been cut or filed off after the nut was tightened down.

Although I don't have a metal lathe the tapering was easily done on the side of a grinding wheel. The bolt was very easy and the nut just took a little longer and especially the smaller size because there is not much to hold. The smallest nuts were hardest and probably took a minute each. As I mentioned before I polished up the nuts so they were smooth and would have minimal frictional resistance. When you look at the old split nut assemblies they are made in exactly the way I have described above. I don't know if it was for the same reason.: Quite likely I think.

Regards
Paul

OK. We're getting down to the nitty gritty now. I took Ian's advice and smothered the handles with some oil. Just a single coat for now. BLO, because I have lots of it. Please note that the saw screws still have to be adjusted to fit flush on most of the saws. I think by now you know which saw is which so I will just refresh your memory with the timbers.

Gidgee, which to my mind has more colour than I have seen before. Before oiling it seemed almost black to the extent I was hesitatant to oil it as there is an inevitable darkening. However, if I didn't know for certain that it was Gidgee, I would have guessed at Brazillian Rosewood!

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Ironbark, one of the browner versions and has more figure in it than is immediately obvious here:

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Silky Oak, which I found a very different timber to what I am used to. It's soft!

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Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle. The reverse side has more figure if anything. A very gentle effect but quite pleasing:

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Forest Red Gum (E. Territicornis). In real life it has more red than appears here but nowhere near as red as I am used to:

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Unidentified Eucalypt from the back yard. It's main appeal is in conjunction with the other timbers as it seems understated (a bit like apple ) :

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The family together:

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Still a way to go yet.

Regards
Paul

I came in for a quick rest after spending the day chopping mortices in Forest Red Gum. My recommendation for this pastime is: Don't do it!

Anyhow sitting in front of the computer I saw some pictures and once thing led to another and I ended up looking at H.O.Studley's tool chest specifically to see what saws he had. Apparently there were three saws of which I could only see two: An 8" back saw and a 10" backsaw. I had wondered what brand they were. As an American originally from Boston and working in the later half of the nineteenth century and the first part of the twentieth century I suspect they would have been an American brand.

What do you think they were?

studley cabinet 2.jpg

I have to say I don't know what they are and I can't identify the medallion. Some pointers would be that it is unusual for there to be wheat carving on back saws. The only company that comes to mind immediately is Wheeler Madden and Clemson, but the saw screw penetrating the back is also a little different. In that regard Richardson Bros and Harvey W Peace both employed that style with the screw through the back, but may not have had a carved handle.

The final puzzle is the larger saw, which appears to have wheat carving on the reverse side along with the medallion. In other words it seems to be a **e about face (that word kept getting deleted) .

I did look a little for other pix and videos, but nothing came up with better images. I also saw the handles described as Rosewood, but I am unconvinced about that. Studley did make some of the tools in the chest, but my understanding is that these were specialised tools relating to the only to the piano maker's trade.

If I don't succumb to the devil drink, I will be going back out to the shed to do some work on the Kenyon saws, but I am feeling a little weary and can't make any promises hence the interim offering above.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

I came in for a quick rest after spending the day chopping mortices in Forest Red Gum. My recommendation for this pastime is: Don't do it!

If it is anything like recycled 50-year-old old growth river red gum fenceposts then I certainly get where you are coming from. Mind you the rewards can be great.

Doug

I hope you're right in that.

As you can see I haven't got to the shed yet, but have been able to get some refreshment. In my defense I was heading out the back door when SWMBO said tea will be three minutes. That was ten minutes ago.

Regards
Paul

Sorry to interrupt this interesting post but, Saw doctor needed, ? Any suggestions
Regards
Ron

. .

Brandavino

PM sent, but if anybody is able to help him out they should contact him via a PM.

Regards
Paul

I was anxious to try out a saw and I made an effort: Well I surreptitiously squeezed in a little saw work when the dark hours arrived. I put together and tried out the large back saw having first given it an initial sharpening. It performed well in a piece of pine about 70mm sq. and a 7' x 1" board of Forest Red Gum:

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I cleaned up the back and it looks really bright and shiny but the brass just reflected the dark environment of the shipping container . Handle is still not finished, but I plan not to do that until all the handles are ready for their finish coats:

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Although the saw cut well it (the square pine above was cut by sight without marking), it needs a touch more set and the teeth are fractionally high on one side. probably not as much as they appear in the pix which is a bit optical because of the sloped gullets. I had to put a ruler along the toothline to pick it. It was then I remembered I had filed along one side once more than the other. I expect it will be a simple correction.

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In use the saw is interesting. If any of you have ever used a chain saw with an extra long bar you will have some idea when I say it is front end heavy. This is partially because of the massive brass back, but it certainly lends significant weight and really the saw only has to be guided.

Regards
Paul

The two backsaws (1 rip, 1 crosscut) in the Studley Tool Chest are hardware saws are by Chandler & Barber of Boston.
According to post from Pete Taran (somewhere) they are most likely made by Richardson Brothers of Newark as they feature a distinctive screw through the spine.
There is also a Studley made or modified coping saw with a brass frame.

Paul,
The back saw is looking fantastic,there’s a lot of figure in that handle,please promise you will give it what that figure deserves to make the grain really pop,
11/10 for sneaking out under the cover of darkness to follow in the dark lord him self
Um mean get on with the saws and stuff very stealth [emoji849][emoji849],

It’s interesting you find the extra mass and forward weight of the saw a slight advantage,


Cheers Matt

Well this is probably the moment we have been waiting for and I see that the last post was Matt's one of encouragement. If the truth is told the saws are not really complete in that slight adjustments still have to be made. However it is almost three weeks since the last update and it really is time to have a show and tell. each of the saws, to my mind, has something wrong with it: Hence the title of flaw/floor show. It is true to say that none of the flaws mak them candidates for the recycle bin, but I know they are there and I can see them. They stick out like the "proverbials." In my defence you make recall that the "proverbials" serve (ooh, an unintentional one) a purpose and the saws I believe are still very functional, which has always been my prime motivation.

Just to remind you this was the groupie of the famed originals:

Benjamin Seaton saws.Book (2).jpg

and my versions:

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Larger pic to follow.

Regards
Paul

I was unable to duplicate the pic in the earlier post so here is a biggie:


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From left to right and top to bottom:

The 11 3/4" open handle tenon saw. It was toothed using a 32tpi hacksaw blade as the guide using every other tooth to achieve 16ppi. I realised after that the blades are indeed tpi so it ended up at 17ppi which was finer than intended. The handle I thought was Spotted Gum, but it came up darker than I would have expected although not as dark as the pix suggest. In fact all the pix are darker than the saws appear in the flesh. I am leaning towards Forest Red Gum, albeit a lighter example. It had a brand new sawplate.

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14 1/16 Closed handle in Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle. Toothed at 14ppi I may have made a mistake in the angled filing on this saw (people have taken to calling this sloped gullets, although I believe this is something of a misnomer), but perhaps I can come back to that later.

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26" crosscut saw 7ppi with Ironbark handle. The saw is an from an old Disston No.12 and I have been able to retain a little of the etch to commemorate the heredity.

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19 1/16" tenon with Silky Oak handle and 11ppi. If I had the time again I would have swapped the handle with the smaller closed handle saw as the Silky Oak was easily the lightest timber and I think it would have gone better on the smaller saw. In many ways this timber had the most figure of all. I don't think there is a square centimeter without some feature. Having said that, it didn't quite finish to my expectations.


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The pix are starting to play up on me so I will post the other two in another thread before I lose the lot.

Regards
Paul