Very ott welded saw back for a back saw.
Very OTT welded saw back for a back saw.
Now ,say that fast, after a couple of dirty grannies(there a cider ,get your mind out of the gutter)
Non welders will possibly start dropping off from this thread about now.
Spending considerable time away from ones creative zone(that's fancy for shed) gives one ,one the ability to come up with the most inmagntive ideas.
My latest hair brain Idea, is yes welding some steel pieces together to form a steel back for a back saw.
Now among the saw purists ,it seems the norm is for shinny brass,either traditional folded or slotted.
For me ,this posses a slight problem,
I like a bit of bling in my tools ,but not of the gold brassy look.
More along the lines of shiny silver polished steel look.
Sterling silver is out of the my price range at present,tho ,I have asked the better half to look into that[emoji849].
So my rumbling thoughts so far .
Two identical pieces of steel ,ruffly 200/300 mm long ,say 15/20 mm deep and about 2/3 mm thick.
I haven't actively gone looking for steel stock yet ,but will obviously use what is readily available stock.
So ,don't take these measurements as gospel.
The two pieces will receive the exact same treatment ,so I will just talk about one for now.
The steel on one face is smoothed off ,either using some wet and dry attached to float glass or in my case my small surface plate.
Taken to I think ,240 grit would be more than enough possibly even 180 would be fine.
Some might even stop at 120.
The purpose of this if you haven't clued up on my grand scheme.
Is to face the saw plate tightly.(struggling here with the right big words lol).
Or this could also be done with steel held down on a know flat surface and smoothed with a diamond or water stone.
Or even draw filed with marking blue!
Being careful of course to flatten the steel and not make it convex.
The goal is really just to give us two flat faces on the steel.
Unless you want to use some of the exotic stuff A2 O1 for instance which generally comes very nicely smooth all ready.(Of which tho I have definitely considered)
My choice of plain Jane mild steel is I'm quite comfortable welding mild steel in the said thickness.
I've never welded the other stuff or even know if it can be welded?.
Once this is done the edge of the steel on one edge will be slightly beveled maybe four five degrees at the max.
This is to enable a good penetration of the weld to come.
Now ,once this is all done ,to now both pieces of stock.
The two pieces are placed together spaced out with the required saw plate.
Noting the saw plate to be position suitable far enough away from the weld fillet ,but not far enough away letting the two halfs of the saw titl back to come together.
I'm working on the theory here that saw plate say for argument sack is .6mm(0.025")
That's not to bad a gap to weld up, some would say even advantages.
Now before those start yelling at me ,that this will warp and bend all over the place the two backs of the saw back plus the spacer plate(saw plate)
Are all sandwiched between to big heavy pieces of angle iron,say approximately 50 mm deep 3/4 mm wall thickness and placed in my old machinest vice and clamped down hard.
To one,stop the whole sandwich becoming a donut by acting as a heat sink.
Plus a few G clamps at each end that hang out of the sides of vice.
As I think the vice jaws from memory are only about 150 mm long.
Then for the main event weld the plates up to become one whole glories steel saw back.
This might actually take two complete passes.
But the bonus off this is because I intend to do this in winter I may enjoy some warmth for about ten min fantastic.
Of course once the weld has cooled it will need dressing up with some filing.
I'm thinking of oxy welding this as the weld is generally easier to file or grind then a mig weld.
A short re cap, grab some steel sandwich a piece of saw plate between them weld it up nice and tight!!!
Then grind file it smooth.
So to all the budding saw builders,have I just come up with the most fantastic idea ever to grace these pages? or massively over thought the idea?
All comments and encouragement taken on board.
Including the well try and tell us how it turns out.
Note point this is all theory though up while I should possibly be doing other more productive life matters[emoji849].
Cheers Matt
Apologies if you have read this and now feel sick[emoji41].
Very ott welded saw back for a back saw.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Pagie
What about going to a market and buying an old saw and using the back off that.
We’re would the pain be in doing that !!
The older saws mostly have folded steel backs which have a curvature to the top of the back due to the nature of bending the steel.
The outside must stretch the inside must shrink
I’m wanting a more squared back look.
Does that make sense?
Cheers Matt