If you've been reading my blog for any length of time you know that I like making and using my own tools. However, up until now, most of the tools I've made were mostly made of wood or at least mostly wood. But for some time, I've wanted to replace a couple of my saws with something better. I was just never really happy with them the way they were. As much as I would like one, my tool budget doesn't allow the purchase of a premium saw. I also didn't want to go majorly modifying my current saws. My dovetail saw was shorter than I wanted anyway so modifying it still wouldn't get me what I wanted. So I did what any good Yankee would do, I made them.
The first challenge was the back of the saw. I had never made one before but I did know what I wanted. I didn't want a milled back, I wanted a folded back. While milled backs are very beautiful and function as good if not better than a traditional folded back, they just aren't very traditional and I like the traditional styled tools. The problem was that I had no specialized tools for bending metal. I had read the Norse Woodsmith's article on making saws in which he makes a bending brake for folding brass backs but I didn't want to go through so much expense and trouble to find that I really didn't like making saws. I wanted to do this as inexpensively as possible and with as few specialized tools as possible.
The solution came to me one day when I was in Lowes looking for some supplies for some home improvement projects. In one of their hardware isles they have mild steel stock. It comes in flat, round and angle. When I looked at the 14 gauge angle stock, the idea hit me. See, most angle stock I've seen looks like it was extruded from a die and has a thick sharp outside corner. Indeed this is exactly how the 12 gauge stuff was at Lowes. However the 14 gauge stock was bent into a 90 degree angle from a flat piece of steel. They had made the first bend of a folded saw back for me! I picked up some 3/4" angle and some 1" angle. The 3/4" would be for smaller saws like dovetail and carcass saws and the 1" would be for larger back saws like sash and tenon saws.
The next thing I had to figure out was how to finish bending this stuff into a folded saw back. At first I tried to play blacksmith and cold forge it with a 3 lb. hammer on the anvil of my machinist vise. After all, this is likely how saw backs were originally made in the 18th century. It worked eventually and I did build my first saw that way but the process of folding the back was slow and inacurate. I ended up with a lot of bends and twists in the back that I spent a lot of time and effort removing. In the end, removing the bends and twists resulted in a lot of dents and dings in the steel back that just would have taken too long to remove. I had to find a better way to bend the back for my second saw.
The solution came to me after an email exchange with Adam Cherubini. On his web site, he currently sells brass backed saws. However, he mentions that he wants to offer more traditional steel backed saws in the future after he works out a better process for folding the backs. I let him know of my experiences and he mentioned that the tool smiths in Colonial Williamsburg use some sort of press (hydraulic or otherwise, he wasn't sure) to fold backs. When I read this email, the light went on again.
Pictured is the setup I came up with. I had an old metal woodworking face vise that I removed from my bench when I built my wooden twin screw vise. My plan was to use it as a press to close the fold of the pre-bent steel angle. I just clamped the vise upside down to the bench because I didn't want to re-bolt it to the bench but if your vise is already attached to your bench you can of course use it as is.
So I started by cutting a piece of the steel angle to just slightly longer than the length I would need for the back of the saw. Leaving it a little long would allow for some filing to clean it up later. I placed the steel angle in the vise with the open part of the angle right down against the guide bars of the vise. I slowly applied pressure and began closing the bend. After just a little bending, I opened the vise, shifted the piece down and did the same on the part of the steel that extended outside of the vise jaws. I continued this process of bending and shifting the steel back and fourth to make sure I closed the bend evenly. Trying to close one end too much more than the other results in twisting and bending in ways that you don't want a saw back to twist and bend.
After doing this about four or five times, I had the bend about half way closed. I had to move my clamps to keep the vise from shifting under the extreme tourque being applied but after moving the clamps everything seemed to work ok. I removed the piece from the vise often to make sure I was not introducing unwanted bends and twists like I had done with my forging attempt. Everything looked to be going well so I continued onward. I flipped the back over and finished closing the fold with the open end facing the top of the vise (which would actually be the floor in my setup. My vise had a small recess at the bottom that helped to finish closing the fold. Again, I worked slowly to close the fold evenly. Don't want to mess it up now.
Success! The fold closed evenly and the back stayed straight. I ended up with a very nice saw back without all the cussing and fussing of the first one. Another benefit was that the steel was relatively unmarked on the sides. On my first attempt of cold forging a back, I did a lot of damage to the back that I just was not able to remove from the finished back without removing way too much metal. So I left it in. This back came out amazingly smooth and free of blemishes. Bonus!
So I had one nice, straight, practically blemish free saw back. This picture was taken before I did any filing of chamfers or sanding to clean up the back itself. All that was left to do was tap in a piece of spring steel saw plate, fit a handle and some split nuts and file in some teeth. The back was the hard part and now it wasn't so hard anymore! Sweet! I was so thrilled I tried it again with some 1", 14 gauge stock I was planning to use for some larger tenon saws. The process worked equally well for a 16" and a 19" piece of 1" steel angle. Excellent!
So here's the final result. A pair of matching saws. The handles are made from the last of a piece of bubinga that I had. The split nuts are built using the Norse Woodsmith "Poor Boy Split Nuts" method with a minor modification. Since I don't have the ability to silver solder or braze the brass, I used cyanoacrylate glue to attach the bolt head to the threaded brass rod. I also stole an idea from the Grammercy saws kits and used a lock washer under the bolt head to keep it from spinning instead of the traditional square shaft with matching mortise. Much less work and you can't tell the difference until you remove the bolts.
You can see in this picture the difference in the resulting backs from the cold forging and the vise method. The smaller dovetail saw back was cold forged. You can see the dings and dents I couldn't remove. The larger carcass saw back was folded in the vise and is much cleaner.
Both saws have 0.020" thick saw plates. The small dovetail saw has a 9" plate and 17 PPI (16 TPI) filed rip with 5 degrees of rake. I built this saw for dovetailing thin stock like drawers and small boxes. The larger carcass saw has an 11" plate and 15 PPI (14 TPI) filed rip with 5 degrees of rake. I built this one for dovetailing thicker material like 7/8" thick carcass sides and the like. It could also be used for cutting small tenon cheeks, however, I have a pair of rip filed tenon saws in the plans for the future to replace my not so fun to use tenon saw. The best thing about building a saw this way is that I think just about anyone can do it. No special tools required. Mucho fun!
Well I've taken the first step toward learning my new skill for 2009. The lathe is done. After 2 weekends and a few hours a few nights during the week, I have a very servicable spring pole lathe.
The bulk of the lathe was built from a single 2 x 12 x 16' piece of construction lumber. I was able to find a knot free piece in the 16' length so it was fairly easy to work. The remainder of the parts, the upper lever and the treadle boards were made from a piece of 1 x 6 pine. The poles are two 1-1/4" yellow pine poles meant for closet rods. These are usually found in the molding isle of the big box store. The collar around the two poles to adjust the tension is made from a half of a length of 1/2" copper pipe hammered flat, wrapped around the poles and then riveted together. The dead centers and axle for the upper lever were cut from a piece of 1/2" round mild steel bar. The tool rest is adjustable using a 1/2" carraige bolt. Everything required to build this lathe was purchased from the home center for a total of about $50. I think this lathe will be just the ticket for turning furniture parts and chair legs.
Now I just need to learn to turn!
Recently I've read a lot of posts on the forums I frequent asking for recommendations for where to send a hand saw to be sharpened. In fact, there have been so many in the last few weeks that I think it's time for a blog about it. You see, I find it interesting that there is so much talk about the best waterstones and diamond stones and lapping compound, etc. but little talk about sharpening saws yourself. Why?!
Honestly, would you send your plane irons and chisels out every time they needd to be sharpened? I would hope not as that would mean you'd be without your tools a whole lot more that you had them in your shop. You probably wouldn't get too much work done. Or worse, you'd work with dull tools because you put off sending them off to get sharpened. Yet it seems like this is exactly what most folks are doing with their hand saws.
Unfortunately, what this means is that the majority of folks are probably working with saws that aren't really sharp. I really don't understand why there is so much fear of sharpening a saw. It seems like everyone is willing to dive right in and learn to sharpen their plane irons and chisels but very hesitant to consider sharpening their saws. But sharpening saws is so easy! And so much cheaper to get set up than buying yet another set of water stones (which I don't use by the way but everyone else seems to prefer them so that's why I mention them instead of oil stones). For the price of a single water stone you can get everything you need to sharpen your saws.
I'm not going to go into great detail on how to do it here as Pete Taran's saw filing page is a better resource than I could ever put together so no sense reinventing the wheel. Besides being here, the link to his saw sharpening pages is always in the Woodworking Links box at the right. Get yourself a couple of files (a mil file for jointing and a triangular tapered saw file or two depending on the saw[s] you need to sharpen). If your saw needs some set added, also pick up a plier type saw set. That's it for equipment! About $25-$30 worth of sharpening gear. That's about what it would cost to send a saw out for a single sharpening. Pete Taran's instructions will get you the rest of the way.
Make a simple saw vise in your shop with a couple of pieces of wood. I simply used my bench vise with a couple wood scraps to clamp the saw plate for a long time before I got a saw vise. I still do it this way sometimes as I'm not too fond of my current iron saw vise. You could also make a nice vise if you want to and there are plenty of plans for them on the net. Just search for saw vise or saw chops for several very good examples.
So that's my rant for today folks ;). If you read my post from a couple of days ago, maybe you might make saw sharpening your chosen new skill to learn this year. I gaurantee that once you try it and learn it you'll kick yourself for not learning to do it sooner. It really is as easy as I am making it sound. Your saws will thank you too as they will no longer have to suffer being less than optimally sharp. They will perform better for you, and, having sharp saws will improve your woodworking, I gaurantee it :)!
Happy New Year to all! I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday season. I know I enjoyed my 2 week vacation. But now, looking out my window at the freezing rain currently falling here in the East, I'm reminded that the next 2-3 months are likely to be cold and nasty. Time to turn on the heater in the shoppe.
However, this means that there will be more time to spend in the shoppe as well. The holidays are over so there won't be any place to go. It's cold and miserable outside so I won't get much outdoor activity in. What better way to spend a quiet evening after the kids are in bed or an early Saturday morning than in the shoppe.
This year, as in most others, I have resolved to lean a new hand tool skill. In previous years I've tried to take on at least one project a year that will challenge my skills and give me the opportunity to try something I've not done before. After all, this is how we improve. You don't become Stevie Ray Vaughan by playing "Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star" your whole life. You need to constantly push yourself with new and more challenging projects in order to improve your skills.
Last year I did a few things like carve a ball and claw foot, carve an 18th century inspired shell and most recently, make a tombstone raised panel door prototype (I have not done the real ones yet as I'm waiting for the skew chisel I need to arrive). In 2009, I am challenging myself by stepping outside my rectilinear comfort zone. I am planning on learning to turn.
Being an amateur cabinetmaker, I don't have frequent need for round stuff. However, every now and then I wish I had the skill and tools necessary to do so when I do need it. This year I'm making it happen. I'm currently in the finishing stages of building a Roy Underhill designed spring pole lathe to add to my shoppe. You didn't expect me to get something with a tail, did you :)! I'll be sure to post it here when it's done and I've had a chance to try it out.
My main goal for the lathe is to allow me to to try my hand at another new skill I've been chomping at the bit to work on, making chairs. Specifically, Windsors. I love the look of Windsor chairs and have for some time now dreamed of making one and I think this year is the year to have a go at it. Though it may not be until later in the year as I do have other, higher priority pojects to complete first, building this lathe is a step in that direction. I'm very excited about my new challenges this year.
So what about you? What new skill or skills have you challenged yourself to learn this year? If you haven't I really urge you to try just one new skill this year. I think you'll be surprised at how much your other skills improve as well by challenging yourself just beyond your comfort zone. Not to mention, it's just a lot of fun.
Happy 2009!
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