Loose nuts (LN)!

[CONGER]

I have been attending 'school' recently and have had a selection of my tools (yes, I have more than one!) in the boot of my car (OK, 'trunk' to you 'mericns... 'Kofferraum' to my neighbours). Amongst these are two LN saws.

The heat (yes... we are in a truly tropical heatwave here in Munich... I know, because I went sailing yesterday, and I am toasted... alpine lakes are SCARY) has done something to the saws. Whatever it is, the blades are now loose in the handles. It is visible that the the fixing screws need tightening.

LN has used traditional split nuts... and I see that LN offers a suitable screwdriver (http://www.lie-nielsen.com/images/scrset2.jpg)... for gold that I do not have for this. I would prefer to make instead.

If you have such a screwdriver, can you please measure the (4?) dimensions that make up the screwdriver tip and send them to me... either by mail or via this forum. I can not remove the nuts to measure properly... as I do not have a suitable screwdriver!

Thanks... -g-

 

[MarcW]

Hey Gerard,

Wideness of blade at the tip: 11 mm

Thickness of blade at the tip: 1 mm

Diameter of notch at the tip: 4,6 mm

Depth of notch: 3,85 mm

You know Leif Hanson has a how-to-do on his page (www.norsewoodsmith.com).

Have nice day,

Marc

 

[Evergreen]

CONGER

I've got a forked screwdriver bit which is one of the traditional tools used for saw handle nuts. There's a huge thread called "Braces" still running on this very forum discussing such items among many other things. I tried to make the link but couldn't for some reason.

I've just measured the tip of my forked bit and it's 12 mm wide. The gap in the middle is 4mm wide. I'm guessing that these measurements aren't absolutely critical and if you're making your own, it would only take a few more file strokes to open the gap up a bit more if necessary.

Cooked L-N saws? Sounds like a toolhead's delicacy!

Regards.

 

[MarcW]

Gerard,

I forgot mine is a LN, so it will fit if you respect the specs.

Regards,

Marc

 

[bugbear]

The heat (yes... we are in a truly tropical heatwave here in Munich... I know, because I went sailing yesterday, and I am toasted... alpine lakes are SCARY) has done something to the saws. Whatever it is, the blades are now loose in the handles. It is visible that the the fixing screws need tightening.

Be careful. If you tighten the screws with the handle in its dry, shrunken form, when the wood gets back to somewhere damper, the wood will expand back again, and put MASSIVE force into the bolts.

In the USA ISTR that people have to be careful when tightening plane tote bolts for this reason.

BugBear