Manually folding A Saw Back

**Simplicity** · 17th August 2021, 07:11 PM

Or for the more Linguistically challenged amongst us,bashing the S… out of some steel.

So due to being in lockdown again and not wanting to be told to shut the fridge your bored again.

I decided I would make yet another saw, with no time frame involved,for those eagerly a waiting the completion of my Gents saw.
Good news is, I too am waiting for its completion, the bad news I have been restricted from visiting my other work bench were my Lathe calls home[emoji17].

So that is on the back burner so to speak.

So with a lovely pice of Mild steel 800 mm long 49 mm wide and importantly only 2.49 mm on the thickness scale.

This was cut down to 175 mm in length,an what would be come the inside face of the folded back was given a quick clean with some 80 grit paper followed by a rub with a small fine Indian oil stone.

Then flipped over and made Purple for the purpose of marking the centre .

Finally after all that,approximately 6 an half minutes I was able to commence bashing, ya.
Into the vice in the Melbourne shed were the bashing got started.

I should have taken more shots but basically using the engineers hammer in the right foreground,I tap the edge over working from one end to other, only tipping the edge by about 2/3 mm at a time till I’m at roughly 90 degrees.

So we are now at the end of big bashing an I now start to close the 90 degrees folded steel up to the required 180 degrees,this was done using the vice as a press.

Again its more about moving the metal a little bit all over, then trying to move one section a lot,you don’t want too create a crease, as moving a crease out of 2.5 mm steel will not be an enjoyable activity.
But after a little bit of patience, I was left with a piece of steel starting to resemble a folded saw back if you squint a bit.

This was followed by more squeezing using the vice along the open edge of the back, not the folded zone.

Unfortunately I forgot to load film into my IPad and got a bit a head of myself.

But we are now getting closer but still more Hamer and vice squeezing to come.

This may look close, and it is if you wanted to just bend it this way or that you could walk away with a very suitable saw back that will hold the saw plate straight an true,unfortunately I can be a fussy bugger an wanted the back to be tight along the saw plate and also not have the more traditional folded back look of saws of old.
I wanted a more truer square look to it.
So this now involved planshing with the engineering hammer up and down on very thick chunk of steel(Make shift Anvil) and more carefully squeezing with a piece of saw plate in place.

Now I’m starting to get a tighter grip,an the square look I’m after,still few small bends to work out,an as in a lot of pursuits the last mile is the longest stretch.

But that was a happy moment,

The plate was then given some tiny little bit more squeezing using my engineers vice,an finally followed up by some filing on the outside to true it up and start to make it look”pretty”.

Now for those of you with a keen eye,or who were taking notes,yes the saw back is only now approximately 260 mm long 20 mm deep,but I will not have you socially labelling and singular out minority groups like the current mainstream media want too,there is room in the world for short little saw backs,I also was acutely aware that I did not have a larger Anvil which I would need to accomplish a “longer back”[emoji6]

Cheers Matt
PS it took about 3/4 lazy hours to complete!!!

**Chief Tiff** · 17th August 2021, 07:42 PM

No pictures = didn’t happen!

**Simplicity** · 17th August 2021, 07:53 PM

Originally Posted by Chief Tiff

No pictures = didn’t happen!

I’m only still having driving issues on the IPad [emoji6] just fixed it.

**Simplicity** · 17th August 2021, 07:56 PM

Sorry pics seem to be out of order arrr.

Cheers Matt.

**aldav** · 17th August 2021, 09:59 PM

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Sorry pics seem to be out of order arrr.

Cheers Matt.

Yeah, you had me going. Even the hammer moved from the foreground to the background.

I'd be pretty pleased to get an outcome like you've achieved.

You must be a very accurate hammerer, I'd have ended up with scrap metal.

**Mountain Ash** · 18th August 2021, 07:59 AM

Nice work Matt. And nice little saw hanging up in the background, short brass back and curved end on the saw plate. Another Simplicity production?

**Simplicity** · 18th August 2021, 08:15 AM

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Nice work Matt. And nice little saw hanging up in the background, short brass back and curved end on the saw plate. Another Simplicity production?

What’s with you guys an these roaming eyes,[emoji6].

Yep that one(Saw in the background)was made many Years ago MA.

Cheers Matt.

**Mountain Ash** · 18th August 2021, 07:23 PM

Any posts on that one? Or at least a photo?

**Simplicity** · 18th August 2021, 07:37 PM

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Any posts on that one? Or at least a photo?

MA,
Sorry I just went looking can’t find it now [emoji854].

Cheers Matt.

**Bushmiller** · 19th August 2021, 01:31 AM

Matt

Speaking as one who has had disastrous and soul destroying results folding metal you have done very well with limited resources.

I know you are aiming to replicate a folded back, but to my mind it really resembles a slotted back. The folded backs tend to have a kerf that "pinches" the saw at the lower edge whereas your version has an equal kerf through the height. Initially as as I was going through the pix I thought it would have too much friction and grip the saw plate too firmly, but then I realised that you had already fitted the plate and all was working well. Therefore please disregard my doubts!

Just returning to my disasters in folding I found that even the mild steel developed a split down the fold: I was most unimpressed (that's my euphemism to get past the saw cursing police). Why did your 180° fold not split? I suspected I would have had to heat the steel, but you make no mention of that so I am guessing that flame throwers were forbidden in the house.

Regards
Paul

**Simplicity** · 19th August 2021, 08:07 AM

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Matt

I know you are aiming to replicate a folded back, but to my mind it really resembles a slotted back. The folded backs tend to have a kerf that "pinches" the saw at the lower edge whereas your version has an equal kerf through the height. Initially as as I was going through the pix I thought it would have too much friction and grip the saw plate too firmly, but then I realised that you had already fitted the plate and all was working well. Therefore please disregard my doubts!

Just returning to my disasters in folding I found that even the mild steel developed a split down the fold: I was most unimpressed (that's my euphemism to get past the saw cursing police). Why did your 180° fold not split? I suspected I would have had to heat the steel, but you make no mention of that so I am guessing that flame throwers were forbidden in the house.

Regards
Paul

Paul,

No I was actually not wanting my folded back to look like a traditional folded back with its pinched appearance.
I did want mine to look more like a slotted back.

I’m not sure why your effort split, it maybe due to how you folded the back, it maybe due to having a cranky piece of steel.

An Ye unfortunately no heat of any significant value was available, I do know we’re there is a lovely oxy acetylene setup but I don’t want to go there [emoji20].

Cheers Matt.

**Pagie** · 19th August 2021, 09:14 AM

The back looks great, I also have an oxy setup. A bit hard for you to get to at the moment. What are you going to use for a handle?

**Simplicity** · 19th August 2021, 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by Pagie

The back looks great, I also have an oxy setup. A bit hard for you to get to at the moment. What are you going to use for a handle?

Paige,
Nice too see you down in these back waters of the forum,
To be perfectly honest, I’m not Hundred percent sure what I will do for a handle.
I have some vague ideas [emoji6].
It was more just wanting to prove a point to my self, tho it is good to have a stock pile of saw backs , aiiint lol.

Cheers Matt.

**Simplicity** · 25th August 2021, 06:02 PM

The folded back saw has morphed into a Lady’s Saw,
Sally has taken ownership of the saw and is very happy with it,I still have a few small things to finish off,the Red Gum handle has been sanded to 2000 grit,but no finish applied as I don’t have any on hand.
The Bull nosing at the front top of the saw before it enters the saw plate. I’m not happy with it, to my eye it looks a bit clunky, so that’s going to get some attention.

The plate thickness is 0.5 mm filed 12 TPI for cross cutting, NOW the big question, how much Rake and Fleam should I Use,bearing in mind Sally will be using this saw the most, and due to having arthritis her hand strength is not the best.
I’m considering 15 degrees Rake,20/25 degrees of Fleam but I’m happy to be guided by more experienced filers here?.
Sally will probably only be cutting up mostly Timber Pen blanks.

Cheers Matt.

**Cklett** · 25th August 2021, 07:07 PM

Looks good so far. Looking forward to the finished one.

Quick question. How is the saw plate secured? Are you purely relying on having it pinched in the folded back or is there something which is escaping my eyes?

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