Making handsaws.....

[Kalimna]

Greetings Folks,

Following on from a comment on another current thread regarding handsaws, and a notion I've had for a while (yet another potential 'project' to occupy whatever free time I have left...), could anyone point me in the direction of how to go about building a handsaw?

There seems to be a considerable amount of interest in making wooden (and infill, for those of a terminaly insane nature ) planes in the hobby workshop, so why not for saws? Obviously there are different considerations, and a few more specialised tools, but surely it can't be that tricky to make something that can cut wood? Ok, so I'm not aiming to topple the Wenzloffs/Bad Axes/Medallion/Paxs of the world, but then neither has my planemaking been an attempt to worry Mr Philly

So, how do I go about building a saw? What type of metal for the blade? Sourcing the nuts? How to fold the brass for the spine? How do you go about cutting the teeth in the blade blank accurately and repeatedly?

Making the handle is well served by t'internet tutorials, as is the matter of sharpening saws. So that should be explainable, if not exactly a walk in the park...

Anyway, I look forward to any advice from you folks with this,
Cheers,

Adam

 

[big soft moose]

i understand that workshop heaven sell kits that you can handle yourself as a starting point.

 

[Aled Dafis]

This is a pretty comprehensive article on the subject. Happy reading.

http://norsewoodsmith.com/content/backsaw-project

Cheers

Aled

 

[pedder]

Hi Adam,

if you want to make saws the first place to start is
Leif Hanson's Norse Woodsmith.
http://norsewoodsmith.com/content/backsaw-project

2nd is backsaw.net by Ray Gardiner
http://backsaw.net/

And I really like Alan DuBoff's Page: http://traditionaltoolworks.com/making-saws/

There more links, many more on my blog.

The steel: You are looking for some 1095
http://hs-folien.de/english/alloys.html

To cut teeth evenly I use cheap saws. But you can use paper patterns or even screws.

Saw nuts are available from many places, nearest to you should be workshopheaven. http://workshopheaven.com/cgi-bin/cp-ap ... t=&catstr=

Hope that helps.

Cheers Pedder

 

[Auguste Gusteau]

You could start here: http://norsewoodsmith.com/content/backsaw-project
For your convenience, you can also download the pdf here: http://www.norsewoodsmith.com/files/ima ... roject.pdf

Wishes,

Auguste

 

[Vann]

So, how do I go about building a saw? What type of metal for the blade? Sourcing the nuts? How to fold the brass for the spine? How do you go about cutting the teeth in the blade blank accurately and repeatedly?

The Aussie forum www.woodworkforums.com (look in handtools - unpowered) is currently running a thread on building backsaws. This could be a source for split nuts, blade steel and slotted brass, as they are engaging various companies to supply these components - if you don't mind having them sent halfway 'round the world..... (and then you have to turn them up the right way when you get them :lol: ).

Cheers, Vann.

 

[jimi43]

The Norse Woodsmith article is fascinating...but infuriating as I can't seem to see the pictures nor download the PDF...is it only me?

Sounds like another slippery slope I would want to get into!!

:wink: 8)

Jim

 

[studders]

infuriating as I can't seem to see the pictures nor download the PDF...is it only me?


Jim

Nope, me neither, tried it in three different browsers, all same problem???

 

[bugbear]

There's been several threads over on woodnet.

Forums seem to be prone to trends, and the trend on woodnet a year ago was building saws.

BugBear

 

[chingerspy]

ooooo...

Have opened all the links for reading at lunchtime... oh look at that its 12noon

 

[Kalimna]

Wow... I wasn't expecting quite so much info so quickly
Thank you to all who have posted - I havent had time to look through all the links yet, but a good shufty at most of them...

From what I can gather, getting the brass back slotted is the tricksiest bit. The only metalworking equipment I have consists of hammers of various weight. And a hacksaw. Not really up to the task there without some specialist tooling... Folded backs seem a little less complicated, but not without pitfalls... I did come across a bolted-through-the-blade back, but a further comment suggested that this was a less than ideal solution. It may, however, be the easiest for me to start with.

Never having bought stock steel/brass previously, I imagine it's not too hard to get hold of from metal merchants?
Does the sawplate (1095 steel? 0.02" thick or thereabouts) need any further treatment as plane blade material does, before it can be used?

I had a good nosey around the Aussie woodforum, and whilst it sounds like a great idea, doing a forum group-buy, it might be easier for me to go straight to the source (Mr Wenzloff, again) as I have a couple of saws on order anyway....

I had thought about kits, but I like the idea of doing as much as possible from scratch - as it happens I have a couple of my dads tenon saws (nothing exciting - probably from B&Q or somewhere equivalent from 30 years ago) that would be a good place to start with a new handle....

Thanks for all the input so far....

Just out of interest, is there anyone else who, like the Aussie forum, might be interested in a group buy? Especially if they already have some experience in knowing what to ask for?

Cheers.
Adam

 

[Racers]

Hi, Kalimna

Have a look here for spring steel http://www.collegeengineering.co.uk/Mat ... spring.htm it is the stuff I was thinking of making a saw from.


Pete

 

[pedder]

Hi Adam,

If You order from Mike Wenzloff i would ask him to put some steel on top.

Another source in Europe is Dick: http://www.dick.biz/dick/product/703523/detail.jsf?lang=en

Cheers Pedder

 

[Trizza]

Has anyone tried making a panel saw? I'm in need of a coarse rip saw, currently leaning towards a frame saw with a bandsaw blade.

 

[pedder]

Has anyone tried making a panel saw? I'm in need of a coarse rip saw, currently leaning towards a frame saw with a bandsaw blade.

That is the current project.

http://pedder-altedamenauskiel.blogspot ... pline.html

Cheers
Pedder

 

[Trizza]

Has anyone tried making a panel saw? I'm in need of a coarse rip saw, currently leaning towards a frame saw with a bandsaw blade.

That is the current project.

http://pedder-altedamenauskiel.blogspot ... pline.html

Cheers
Pedder

Thats really cool! What size is it? Where did you get your saw plate - the link you posted earlier? The impression I've always had is that the bigger saws really need to be taper ground for best performance, so I wasn't sure how practical it was to make your own.

On the backsaw front, one of the toolmaking books I have includes a chapter on making small backsaws from normal scraper blades. The author really liked the size for cutting small stuff like dovetails.

 

[pedder]

Thats really cool! What size is it? Where did you get your saw plate - the link you posted earlier? The impression I've always had is that the bigger saws really need to be taper ground for best performance, so I wasn't sure how practical it was to make your own.

On the backsaw front, one of the toolmaking books I have includes a chapter on making small backsaws from normal scraper blades. The author really liked the size for cutting small stuff like dovetails.

Hi Trizza,

this is a small panel saw with an 0,8 mm thick blade. Its about 60 cm long. I get the saw plates from http://hs-folien.de/english/feeler-gage-stock.html

At the moment this saw plate arrives at my friend Klaus who will try to taper it. Adam Cerubini has some interesting points why tapering and skew back could be a bad thing.

http://www.adamcherubini.com/Long_Saws.html

I cannot say that I have a strong opinion yet.

Scrapers will work for sure. My first saw was made from a scraper:

My first Saw

Cheers Pedder

 

[Norse Woodsmith]

infuriating as I can't seem to see the pictures nor download the PDF...is it only me?


Jim

Nope, me neither, tried it in three different browsers, all same problem???

Sorry about that - it should be fixed now... There's a pdf of it available at this link as well:

norsewoodsmith DOT com/files/image/backsaws/pdf/Backsaw_Project.pdf

Leif
wwwDOTnorsewoodsmithDOTcom

 

[pedder]

Hi Leif,

glad to see you here!
You're caught by the spam trap.

http://norsewoodsmith.com/files/image/b ... roject.pdf

Cheers Pedder

 

[xy mosian]

Thanks for the link to that very good description of making backsaws. Rarely have I been so engrossed in reading anything! Reading it almost made me want to make a backsaw myself. There must have been a tremendous amount of time preparing for, and writing, the article.

Thank you again.


xy