I spent about a million years applying varnish to the handle, and despite many distractions, I finished and rubbed it out today:
Since I was on a roll, I decided to finish the job today, too. First, I cut off the old handle, filed out the notch where the back fits into the handle, and drilled the holes:
Finally, I filed off the rough edges, put the blade into the saw, and inserted the mounting hardware.
I haven’t had time to really test it out yet, but it seems to feel okay in the hand.
Though I did this a couple of weeks ago, I haven’t had a chance to post it until now. I managed to acquire a small bench vise for metalworking, and bolted it to a board, which I then, in turn, clamp to the bench when needed.
This was necessary to cut the saw screw/nut hardware for the new saw handle:
I used a mini hacksaw to cut these “furniture joiners” down to size, and then a file to smooth them. Then I used a brace to bore the holes in the handle (holes not shown here, but I think you know what holes in a handle look like).
The handle is now in the finishing stage. I’m using a clear satin varnish. It’s almost done; I screwed up the last thick coat, so I’ll need to sand that level and apply one more, but I should have the end product ready next week.
I suppose that I owe you some photos of the current stage of the apple handle. Here it is with the shape outlines, but before I started shaping:
And here it is with the shaping mostly done, and the blade kerf cut:
That applewood, yum.
I decided that since I had the momentum, and that since I had the drawing ready, that I would start a new saw handle, this time in apple. It will be for one of my small tenon/carcase saws, but I’m not sure which one yet.
[Update: The template is now available on the Plans and Guides page.]
First, I cut a piece of the board and fit the pattern:
Then I milled the board. Here’s one face flattened:
The entire board is mostly clear, but the pith runs near the center. So when I cut the piece out, the pith is on one side. This is, in theory, not a problem.
At this stage, it was evident that apple is unlike any wood I’ve worked with in the past. The grain is kind of wavy, but it’s not a problem with sharp tools. The grain is also very fine, and when planed, it is very smooth.
It was also unusual because I did not mill the board four-square. Rather, I made the faces trapezoidal, just taking care to get the edges square to the faces, and that the thing was of course of uniform thickness. Once that was done, it was easy to transfer the pattern to the wood.
I still used a coping saw to cut out the pattern, but I used a few other saws to mark out sections. This made sawing easier.
It still wasn’t super-fast, but again, I don’t have power tools. But I did finish sawing today.
