Thread: Fun with Bubinga

nice handle on it

Another beauty Mike!

What's the short inset on the upper edge of the front of the blade for?

Mike

That is simply stunning! Beautiful workmanship and lines.

Are you signing them for generations to come?

Regards from Perth

Derek

Hi Steve,

At the toe? That's a nib. There are near-countless discussions on the Old Tools mailing list as to why saws had nibs. Henry Disston wrote they are simple decoration to break the straight line of the back. As someone on the OTL pointed out, they began putting the nib on saws at least 100 years prior to Disston making that comment, so no one really knows their original purpose.

I do it because it is traditional.

Thank you all for the kind comments!

Derek, we have settled on using a medallion. I'm in the process of designing one. The medallion is a sunken one as per saws of pre-1880. I need to still have the stamp made and it takes over 20-tons to press it, so I need to resolve that, too.

Here's the latest. John Kenyon made saws at the later part of the 18th century. We are remaking his saws for a couple people as found in the Benjamin Seaton chest from the 1770s. We started with two large tenon saws. 19" length, 10 ppi rip. 4 5/8" usable depth at the toe, rising to about 5 1/8" usable depth at the heel.

2 lbs, 4 ounces of cutting power...



Haven't figured out why the picture had such a golden hue to it, but the saws shipped before I saw the photos and couldn't retake them.

Next up is what was called a panel saw. 16" length...

Nice, as always.

I hope I can do half as well when I get around tuit.

I do like those Seaton handles, might have to try making one of them.

(Also got a mad artist around here on the case for designs. Whatever he comes up with, it should be interesting! )

Mike
they look spectacular.
I like using bubinga and the colour and feel is great.

Any hints on how you make the handles.

Hi Scally--thank you for the compliment!

No secret in making handles. Decide on the shape, make a pattern, trace it onto a pice of wood large enough to orient the handle properly, cut it out--I use a bandsaw with an 1/8" blade. If it is a closed-tote like those above, I use an appropriately sized forstner bit to drill out the place the fingers go, cut it out using a cheap coping saw.

Then the fun begins. One needs to cut the slot for the blade. So you need a way to cut the correct thickness of slot. Holes located for the saw bolts drilled, if the saw has a brass or steel back, the mortise gets drilled out to near size and then pared to fit. Then a whole lot of rasping and filing and sanding.

This can all be done using hand tools or a mix of hand and power tool. Here's a brief pictorial of making a handle for a Disston D-8:
http://wenzloffandsons.com/temp/saws/D-8/index.html

For more detail, my friend Leif has a good bunch of information here:
http://www.norsewoodsmith.com/

Just follow the links on his page. He's got great info on steel, handles, and even making one's own split nuts and bolts.

Here's the official photo from Chris Schwarz, one of the owners of the above saws:



Take care, Mike

They're lovely saws Mike.

Originally Posted by MikeW

No secret in making handles.

Just blood, sweat and tears...

Cheers, Alf