How to tighten a saw handle?

[Greg Crawford]

I have several old handsaws with loose handles. Is there a way to tighten them besides tightening the snot out of the screws? Cranking hard on those screws just doesn't seem to be a good thing to me.

[Dave Matson]

The screw might be too long and bottoming out in the barrel nut. You could try filing the end of the screw to give it more room to snug down.

[Johnny Kleso]

Best way might be to jam a sector of copper tubing ( 1/2 a curve) in between the screw and the blade hole..

Most any thin piece of metal would work I think but what you want is a tiny bushing of metal to fill the gap between the screw, blade holes and handle holes..

[Greg Crawford]

These are two ideas I hadn't thought about. I was wondering if the loose fit had to do with how the steel fit into the handle. For instance, did the slot become too wide over time for the thickness of the blade, or did the top or heel of the blade work against the wood. I didn't know if trying shims between the blade and the handle would do any good.

I will definitely investigate these options. I have some shims stock I can make bushings from, and I'll see if the screws are bottoming out.

Thanks Dave and Johnny

[dan grant]

use a clamp(with appropriate protection) on the handle then tighten the nuts