Thread: Saw handles

At the Katoomba GTG Fencefurniture and I compared the forstner bit with his one. Drilling one hole with each bit both drilled through some hard she oak (from the back saw workshop) with no burning and no tear out when supported with a clean piece of MDF. She oak was clamped, bit raised a few times to clear chips and vacuum in use. So as suggested its down to my technique.
Heavens above' comment hit the nail on the head when he said "we were in production mode" in the workshop and that led to some errors. I think I was in production mode in my batch as well.

I am still working but it's taking a while with cabinet files as I am waiting for my rasps to arrive.

I have some questions about tooling that I am thinking of purchasing for the next steps:
1. If you use a counterbore and depth gauge where do you purchase them from?
2. If you use a slitting saw to start the slot which one would you recommend?

Originally Posted by Pac man

At the Katoomba GTG Fencefurniture and I compared the forstner bit with his one. Drilling one hole with each bit both drilled through some hard she oak (from the back saw workshop) with no burning and no tear out when supported with a clean piece of MDF. She oak was clamped, bit raised a few times to clear chips and vacuum in use. So as suggested its down to my technique.
Heavens above' comment hit the nail on the head when he said "we were in production mode" in the workshop and that led to some errors. I think I was in production mode in my batch as well.

I am still working but it's taking a while with cabinet files as I am waiting for my rasps to arrive.

I have some questions about tooling that I am thinking of purchasing for the next steps:
1. If you use a counterbore and depth gauge where do you purchase them from?
2. If you use a slitting saw to start the slot which one would you recommend?

Planemaker got a few in maybe send him a PM to see if he still has any, maybe he'll can sell you one. I got mine from him and very happy with it. Even came with an in depth tips & instruction sheet personally written up.

Originally Posted by Pac man

At the Katoomba GTG Fencefurniture and I compared the forstner bit with his one. Drilling one hole with each bit both drilled through some hard she oak (from the back saw workshop) with no burning and no tear out when supported with a clean piece of MDF. She oak was clamped, bit raised a few times to clear chips and vacuum in use. So as suggested its down to my technique.
Heavens above' comment hit the nail on the head when he said "we were in production mode" in the workshop and that led to some errors. I think I was in production mode in my batch as well.

I am still working but it's taking a while with cabinet files as I am waiting for my rasps to arrive.

I have some questions about tooling that I am thinking of purchasing for the next steps:
1. If you use a counterbore and depth gauge where do you purchase them from?
2. If you use a slitting saw to start the slot which one would you recommend?

Couterbores from Lee Valley, Digital Readouts from eBay (Adelaide)

FF not sure we are on the same page. This is what I was meaning re counterbore and I should have said stop collar instead of depth gauge:

https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...21#post1727921

Ah, I see. Not a favourite method of mine. I've always found that stop collars can shift and cause out of balance wobbles (therefore an eccentric hole). A tendency to mark the job too.

It could be that I've just used cheap ones, but I have tried a few different brands. For twist bits they are a bloody nuisance because the grub screw wants to screw into the flutes and damage them.

They may work better with a counterbore and a smooth wall. The only counterbore I've had experience with was a largefc in a pub at lunchtime.

That is what the spring steel with the hole in it is for to stop the marking of the surface. I must have a gentle touch or be lucky, so far I haven't needed it.

Originally Posted by DSEL74

Planemaker got a few in maybe send him a PM to see if he still has any, maybe he'll can sell you one. I got mine from him and very happy with it. Even came with an in depth tips & instruction sheet personally written up.

Hi Dale. Yes. I still have 5 available that come with depth collar, 3/16 drill bit, & 3/16 pilot shafts. I have been too busy on saw making projects to bother about letting it be known. The type of pilot counterbore I am talking about is shown on the right hand side next to the saw bolts.



These counterbore pilots suit saw bolts that have a 1/2 inch head and nut assembly. Such as those sold by TFW. The 7/8s they refer to on their site references the distance from the front face of the saw bolt to the end length of the stem shaft. http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/s...tem/GT-CKIT.XX

Stewie;

These Zobo bits were what I was talking about on Sunday
unfortunately don't seem to have the size you're after they start at 1/2"
you were after 7/16"?

zobo.jpg

Yeah 7/16 is the size.

So after looking around at various saw threads I have the piloted counterbore issue sorted in my mind.
It seems that 50 mm slitting saws are recommended for their stability. Not sure if TPI or type matter. Perhaps the Mcjing ones would be ok?

I am pretty sure my slitting blades are 72tpi. A lesser tpi might even be better to keep the blade cooler when doing the saw plate slit in the handle. You just need to make sure you match your slitting blade thickness to the saw plate your using.

Stewie;

Originally Posted by Pac man

....
1. If you use a counterbore and depth gauge where do you purchase them from?
2. If you use a slitting saw to start the slot which one would you recommend?

Hi Pacman,
1. I don't use a counterbore, I clamp my handles in a home-made vise on the DP, drill the head size with a Forstner, then switch to the bolt size & drill that, flip the handle, re-align the bolt hole with the bolt-sized, drill, switch back to the Forstner & drill the second countersink. I judge the depth of the countersink from the body of the Forstner bit, and deliberately make it a teeny bit shallower than I need, then adjust it by taking a few more shavings with the Forstner in the battery drill during the final fitting of the handle & blade.

It sounds cumbersome when I type it all out, but it takes me very little time, and is highly accurate (so far!). I make my bolts in batches and I always seem to make the bolt heads & nuts a different thickness - don't know why, because I always mean to make them the same, but it never ends up that way..

2. I sometimes use the slitting saw, sometimes don't. Depends mainly on whether I have it set up at the time. Now I have some decent saws () it's almost as easy to just saw the slots by hand & not bother with slitting saws. You can't do the whole slot with the slitting saw anyway, because they won't reach far enough in except on very small-cheeked handles, so you have to finish the slot with a handsaw of some description.

My slitting saws & arbor came from McJings. The saw are 75mm diameter and come in the right thicknesses for most of the saw plate I use. The arbour is about 30mm diameter where it receives the blade, so you can't cut very deep with them. It's also a bit hairy cutting deep slots because the slitting blades have no set, so tend to grab if you are not super careful. My fingers whizzed by the spinning blade one day when I didn't let go quickly enough . No contact occurred, fortunately, & the blade was spinning at fairly low revs, but it would still have drawn a fair bit of blood, I reckon, so do be careful if you use slitting saws for slotting blades!!

Cheers,