Another Parts Saw - Last of the Apple

[David Weaver]

Finished another parts saw tonight.

While there are pros like George and K&P who make saws from raw bits (and do a professional job, too), someone has to pull up the rear for us pikers.

I got these parts from Wenzloff earlier this year (last year?). I don't remember when. I don't like building saws a whole lot, but I like having the saws. When you get parts, the backs are a bit rough and you have to do some finishing to them - clean them up, bevel them, etc.

This one is a 10" dovetail saw with a pretty good bit under the spine (i kind of like a little extra plate), and I can't remember if it's .018 or .015, but it's something thin and IIRC 15 tpi.

Quartersawn apple from Mike (Walnuts over on WN) that I got years ago - man do I wish I could find another couple of chunks of that. Second nicest wood (to a chunk of bois de rose) that I have ever gotten.

Plenty of things to my eyes to improve on (really should've left a bit more cheek on the handle with a plate that big, rear horns are a little funny, thickness comment below, etc)...., but it's a saw and buying the parts like this, it's cheap, and I didn't spend a horrible amount of time on it like the last one.

After this one, I will probably stop with the rabid hand tool use for these. I used a drill press to drill the small holes for the screws (a brace for the outer diameter then), but that was pretty much it. It really costs me a lot of time cleaning up after coping out the blank - there's no good reason to not use a bandsaw to do that part of the work (that's my suggestion to anyone who goes to cope out something hard - you'll never cope it square all the way around, and that really adds a lot of complexity to shaping everything that you really don't need to deal with. You lose a little material sometimes where you didn't want to - which forced me to leave this one a bit flat and with big facets on it instead of narrower and smaller ones. It is still comfortable to hold, there are no sharp edges at the facets. Anyway, unless you're a savant, if you did it 25 times, you could probably cope it dead square, but you have to live with the other ones.

I'll get a few more pictures once it's really done, there's a tiny bit of cleanup work to do on it, i need to sharpen it, and I need to figure out if the handle will get more than oil and wax, as it's only got the first oil coat in the picture. Excuse the odd background, I sat it on the step under the light on the way up from the shop.

198752198753

[Leigh Betsch]

I ain't see'n much

[george wilson]

Looks very nice to me,David. My only suggestion,looking at the 2nd. picture,is where the round grip tapers into the top horn,it doesn't taper quite evenly,but becomes flat about 3/4" from the tip. I'd re file that to make the taper continue getting thinner instead of flattening out. Would take just a little filing to do that. Sometimes(often,for me) a picture will show up stuff you don't see on the object in person. The bottom horn where the round tapers out could use a little more filing too,to make the termination a bit more delicate. Never the less,a very good job on that handle,especially one that you sawed out by hand.

Like my sculpture teacher said: "The willingness to cut back into a finished surface is difficult,but can make all the difference."

Very nice wood. You got that from Mike?

[Salem Ganzhorn]

I don't know who designed the first handle like this but I love the form. Great looking saw!
How do you guys hold your work when doing all that rasp/filing work? I have made one tote for an old #5 and had the hardest time with a shoulder vise...
Thanks!
Salem

[Jonathan McCullough]

I think that's really very nice. Much better than my first effort. One of the nice things about making your own saw handles is that if it doesn't feel right, you can keep finessing it until it does. Well done.

[Klaus Kretschmar]

Another very beautiful saw, David. The handle belongs another time to the best shop made handles I've seen, no doubt. George has a keen eye for sure. There aren't many people who would have seen this little break of the flowing line on the top horn. But as he wrote already, that's to be redone in a minute if you want.

You amaze me. On one hand you do very beautiful work, on the other hand you are referring a lot of weaknesses of the shown work which nobody can see! There are no issues, it's hand work! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished saw.

Klaus

[David Weaver]

I don't know who designed the first handle like this but I love the form. Great looking saw!
How do you guys hold your work when doing all that rasp/filing work? I have made one tote for an old #5 and had the hardest time with a shoulder vise...
Thanks!
Salem

A machinist vise with a set of aluminum jaws for most of the work, and then by hand and in a bench vise with beech jaws for some of the final touch up and for drilling with the brace bit.

I'd use leather jaws on the machinist vise for the final work, but that vise sees a lot of metal work and filing, so it's too dirty.

There are nice small vises for pattern work, but I don't have any of them and at the volume of handles that I make in a year (maybe 5?) I don't really need to look too hard.

[David Weaver]

Very nice wood. You got that from Mike?

Mike Hendershott. I don't know if he's still selling much wood or not. This was a one-off request, he had said that he found an apple tree that was abandoned and cut it down, but it was going to be a lot of work to quarter it. I asked him if he would, and said I'd buy what he came up with. There was some others, I don't know where it went, but I bought a box with two blanks in - I'm pretty sure you're familiar with what they look like size wise since you're in possession of the balance of what I had left :) they were about 3 or 3 1/2 inches thick, 5 or 6 inches wide and what...11 inches long? Maybe 12? All heart and very little discoloration.

Having the right wood really makes it easier to do the work.

You are exactly right about the horns. The top horn, I didn't notice until I took the picture, but I will put them back to the rasp and files quickly, they only have one coat of oil. The bottom front horn is a bit funny, too, but I want it to be tough, so I might not do much to it, maybe clean it up a little bit from the bottom side.

I had sanded the pattern off the blank pretty early, but didn't do a good enough job on those horns to be a bit quick, I guess.

Fortunately for those of us who are a bit green and who don't have lots of handles sitting around, Mike has a bunch of patterns on his site, including this one

http://www.wenzloffandsons.com/images/patterns/backsaws/moulson_dt.pdf

I have no idea how he makes saws for what he makes them for. I'm sure he's gotten faster over the years and was already a professional craftsman, but wow.

[David Weaver]

Another very beautiful saw, David. The handle belongs another time to the best shop made handles I've seen, no doubt. George has a keen eye for sure. There aren't many people who would have seen this little break of the flowing line on the top horn. But as he wrote already, that's to be redone in a minute if you want.

You amaze me. On one hand you do very beautiful work, on the other hand you are referring a lot of weaknesses of the shown work which nobody can see! There are no issues, it's hand work! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished saw.

Klaus

Klaus, thanks for the nice comments, the boogers are there, trust me! You know how it is when you have something in mind, and a few things get away a little bit. When you back away, they are never as big of a deal as you thought, but in my case, they are all the consequence of doing the work by hand (tiny gap in the top of the mortise on the spine on one side, bungled the split nuts a little and will need to take them out and clean up the grooves, still a tiny bit rough around the edges of the nuts on the face side toward the picture, and the fit was so tight that I waxed them to get them in, and the wax really showed that up... and the other problems mentioned). None are a big deal, and since it will be my saw, i'm sure I will ding up the handle in use, anyway, and I will forget what it looks like or is supposed to look like as long as it cuts well.

(George can find anything! I'm convinced of it. I'm sure you can, too, or your handles would not be the models of perfection that they are).

[Derek Cohen]

Hi David

That is a handsome, strong-looking saw. It has a sense of solidarity about it, in contrast to some delicate and gentle dovetail saws (such as the Gramercy).

George has an Eagle Eye. I didn't pick up on the curves until they were pointed out. But I agree - fair curves are needed. Nevertheless, this does not detract from the great saw you have built.

Did you file the teeth?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[David Weaver]

Derek, I ordered the plate from mike with punched teeth. I filed a few bare plates last year when I got into saws (including a couple of small saws that instead of correcting the teeth, I just jointed them off completely and went from bare), and though I would sort of like to keep doing it just to say I'm doing it, I can't resist mike's very cheap charge to punch the teeth ($5) as it does take over an hour for me to file in new teeth, and I usually go through an entire file when I cut teeth in (which is right about the cost of punching the teeth).

The punched teeth are so clean that it only takes a few minutes to touch them up with a file. 15 maybe if you decide to be anal about it, which I haven't found to be necessary on these saws with smaller teeth (as long as a light touch is used).

You are exactly right about the chubbiness (for lack of a better word) of the handle. I kind of like handles with a little more thickness on saws bigger than the very smallest dovetail saws, and deliberately marked the blank to be a bit thicker than the "bought" dovetail saw that I have (an old nurse). It is about a tenth of an inch thicker, which is miles on handles this small.

To my eye, I think it would look better with a thinner handle and a shorter plate, unfortunately what I want to have to use and what looks best do not always match.

[george wilson]

David,your handle is still a very great handle,and you will continue to do better because you take good advice and use it. Getting the counter bores for the saw screws as neat as you do with a brace and bit,is a real feat in itself. That is VERY difficult to pull off with a slow,wobbly auger bit,and I think you have shown GREAT skill in doing it so neatly.

I have developed a sharp eye,it is true. The customer I am always working for has an amazing eye,though she is not a woodworker or metal worker herself. That is the primary tool one must develop in order to do superior work. I have a student who constantly beats himself up over his work,which he can see the small imperfections in. I keep telling him that the fact that he CAN see what is wrong is the very thing that will enable him to do better work. This guy lives about 50 miles away,and has no facilities of his own,and doesn't come up here that often. What he manages to do between his infrequent visits is pretty remarkable in itself.

I wish you lived close to me,and you could work here in my shop(except you can't use everything for a hammer(as you mentioned in the tool abuse thread!).

Photos really do magnify things that are there,but not easily spotted until a picture is taken. I see that in my own work all the time.

[Peter Pedisich]

David,

That is my kind of saw. Love the defined lines on the hand grip and the color of the apple is terrific.
Thanks for sharing.

Pete

[george wilson]

Now I'm under even more pressure to come up with something extra good to do with that apple. I really am! I have been mulling over what I could do to make saws distinctive,and not just traditional, without making them look stupid. That is the hard part. Especially since I like traditional handles so much,and have been working in museum design constraints for so long.

On the other hand,I feel a strong moral imperative to only use apple for a traditional handle. Blue sparks may start buzzing around my head,and suddenly all goes dark,and there is no further movement!!

[Chris Griggs]

I ordered the plate from mike with punched teeth.

David, I'm planning on ordering a plate with punched teeth and some saw nuts from Mike when he get the .018 plates back in. When you file freshly punched teeth do you still do a light jointing just to have some flats to file to or do you just take a swipe or 2 with the file on teeth? It's kind of funny, I've only filled starting from horribly misshapen teeth, and don't know where to start on teeth that are actually in good shape already. Also, just out of curiosity, what geometry (rake and fleam, if any) did you use?

Great work on the saw and the handle by the way. I don't have a bandsaw so its good to know that such a good job can be done by coping out the shape.

[David Weaver]

I would say a perfectly executed traditional handle and a perfectly executed saw with a nice faceted back and a dark plate would be great. As the back was already bent, and I don't have a proper setup to grind on the bevels, I didn't do it along the bottom of the spine but having clean facets would've improved the back a lot. I just had no way to hold on to it and be sure that I didn't bend it at all working it by hand.

Probably the easiest place to separate yourself from the peanut gallery would've been the lamb's tongue, the carving around it and making it sharp and defined. There's not as much room for that display of skill on the dovetail handles without making them fragile. You could always make a 14" tenon saw or something that would afford freedom with a larger handle.

It would be hard to come up with a design that is better than a lot of the traditional designs done perfectly, maybe with details a little more crisp than the originals. You have a better sense of what liberties you can get away with, I did not take many - really only increased the size of the facets on the cheek because I thought the original pattern was a bit blunt.

[David Weaver]

David, I'm planning on ordering a plate with punched teeth and some saw nuts from Mike when he get the .018 plates back in. When you file freshly punched teeth do you still do a light jointing just to have some flats to file to or do you just take a swipe or 2 with the file on teeth? It's kind of funny, I've only filled starting from horribly misshapen teeth, and don't know where to start on teeth that are actually in good shape already. Also, just out of curiosity, what geometry (rake and fleam, if any) did you use?

Great work on the saw and the handle by the way. I don't have a bandsaw so its good to know that such a good job can be done by coping out the shape.

I don't remember what I did last time, I probably jointed the plate. I'm not going to joint this one, the teeth are already the same height. It's up to you, as long as the joint is very light, it won't add a lot of time to sharpening and I guess it's the safety play if you use marking fluid when you do it.

I don't recall what the rake is on this plate, I might've requested 5. It's either 5 or zero. No fleam, it's a rip saw only. Any more rake than 5 and to my senses, a saw starts to get sluggish in the cut in some woods (but in others, like walnut, even a crosscut saw will cut dovetails nicely).

Cope away! I didn't feel like changing the blade (from a resaw blade) on the bandsaw and resetting the guides. It would've been the smart thing to do.

You'll feel like someone gave you a mercedes the first time you file those perfectly punched teeth.

[john brenton]

Nice, David. I really enjoy your work, I wish you would post more of it...although I think you could have spiced it up by etching a rainbow pony on the saw plate, IMHO.

[Chris Griggs]

You'll feel like someone gave you a mercedes the first time you file those perfectly punched teeth.

I just hope I don't mess them up. When I rehab a saw there's no where to go but up. That said I'm getting more and more confident with my filing. The initial learning curve seems so steep, but it levels out surprisingly quickly. Of course, some days are better then othesr, when it comes to filing.

Anyway, I agree with the aggressive rake. As I've learned more about filing and saws in general, I've come to realize that my LN DT saw has way too relaxed of a rake. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but my best estimate is 15 degrees from zero (someone correct me if they know otherwise). One of these days I'll probably put a more aggressive rake to it (or just sell it after I make a few of my own saws).

Regarding cutting dovetails with crosscut saws. Just to experiment, I recently filed a small 10 inch 12ppi backsaw that I rehabbed with 10 degrees of rake and 10 degrees of fleam, making sort of a hyrbid. People seem to like the hybrid Gramercy sash and the Bad Axe hybrids so I gave it a try. Since I already had a dedicated rip dovetail and crosscut carcass saw, I figured the hybird filed saw might be useful for less precise trimming jobs at the bench and if I didn't like it I could always refile it. However, I was really suprised at how nice this filing was for both rips and cross cuts. Even with the fleam it cuts dovetails very nicely in the wood I work (tame domestics like walnut and cherry). I'm actually starting to prefer it to my LN for dovetails despite the fact that it has somewhat thick plate and course teeth for a DT saw.

[David Weaver]

A couple of years ago, I picked up a crosscut backsaw and cut something rip with it, wondering why it wasn't "grabbing", but I was cutting walnut. It went through it fine, and I noticed how much cleaner the back of the cut was.

I asked mike wenzloff if they had ever filed some fleam onto the dovetail saws to clean up the back of the cut, and i can no longer recall the exact response other than that they do (sometimes?) file a few degrees of fleam on some of their rip saws.

The smaller the saw, the more leeway you have in playing around with the teeth and still getting something to doesn't leave a bad cut.

first filing on a thin plate saw, one light pass down the saw once for each tooth to see how much effect. That is my advice since I haven't been filing saws that long and the mistakes are all still familiar. Once you do that, you can see how much you need to do to finish the job. It might not be much.

It's the handles that are a problem. I threw away two blanks on my first saw before I made a handle, and even then, what I made was a bit doggish. I should've made a dovetail saw first since the mortise is fairly short and the cheeks aren't that big (which is a consideration if you are cutting the slot for the plate by hand)

[Chris Griggs]

A couple of years ago, I picked up a crosscut backsaw and cut something rip with it, wondering why it wasn't "grabbing", but I was cutting walnut. It went through it fine, and I noticed how much cleaner the back of the cut was.

I asked mike wenzloff if they had ever filed some fleam onto the dovetail saws to clean up the back of the cut, and i can no longer recall the exact response other than that they do (sometimes?) file a few degrees of fleam on some of their rip saws.

The smaller the saw, the more leeway you have in playing around with the teeth and still getting something to doesn't leave a bad cut.

first filing on a thin plate saw, one light pass down the saw once for each tooth to see how much effect. That is my advice since I haven't been filing saws that long and the mistakes are all still familiar. Once you do that, you can see how much you need to do to finish the job. It might not be much.

It's the handles that are a problem. I threw away two blanks on my first saw before I made a handle, and even then, what I made was a bit doggish. I should've made a dovetail saw first since the mortise is fairly short and the cheeks aren't that big (which is a consideration if you are cutting the slot for the plate by hand)

I think Mark Harrell files all his rips with a small amount of fleam and slope to give a cleaner cut. This isn't something I plan to start doing regularly since I am also pretty new to filing and still am prone to making mistakes, especially when filing fleam. I also am of the opinion that finish on the back of the cut doesn't really matter, when dovetailing, as long as it's not a total mess, which it won't be with any decently sharpened fine toothed saw. As long as you orient your board properly when sawing, the back of the cut is going to be hidden in the socket anyway, so at this point complicating things for myself by adding a touch of fleam or slope doesn't seem worth it.

The hybrid filing was however cool, to do it once, just to see how it worked. May experiment with it more in the future, but for a dedicated dovetail saw, I will stick with a straighjt forward rip.

[Chris Griggs]

A couple of years ago, I picked up a crosscut backsaw and cut something rip with it, wondering why it wasn't "grabbing", but I was cutting walnut. It went through it fine, and I noticed how much cleaner the back of the cut was.

I asked mike wenzloff if they had ever filed some fleam onto the dovetail saws to clean up the back of the cut, and i can no longer recall the exact response other than that they do (sometimes?) file a few degrees of fleam on some of their rip saws.

The smaller the saw, the more leeway you have in playing around with the teeth and still getting something to doesn't leave a bad cut.

first filing on a thin plate saw, one light pass down the saw once for each tooth to see how much effect. That is my advice since I haven't been filing saws that long and the mistakes are all still familiar. Once you do that, you can see how much you need to do to finish the job. It might not be much.

It's the handles that are a problem. I threw away two blanks on my first saw before I made a handle, and even then, what I made was a bit doggish. I should've made a dovetail saw first since the mortise is fairly short and the cheeks aren't that big (which is a consideration if you are cutting the slot for the plate by hand)

Yes, the handle will definitely be the hardest part. I've made a couple on some spare pieces of wood just to practice, and let's just say I'm going to need to make a couple more practice handles before I get one that I like.

[Pam Niedermayer]

Now I'm under even more pressure to come up with something extra good to do with that apple. I really am! I have been mulling over what I could do to make saws distinctive,and not just traditional, without making them look stupid. That is the hard part. Especially since I like traditional handles so much,and have been working in museum design constraints for so long...

Just saw the St. Roy show on veneering again today, on which your veneer resaw was used, pretty amazing that it took and held a 1/16 cutoff line. This saw looked a little out there, but it works like a champ.

Pam

[george wilson]

Which veneer saw do you mean,Pam? And what does "a little out there" mean? I made Marc Hansen a special thin(.030") saw,actually for sawing between the keys of harpsichords. I have seen Roy's show about the inlaid tool chest Marcus and Ed Wright were making. Marcus did some thin sawing of mahogany with that saw. Is that the show?

In the 18th.C. and earlier,harpsichord keyboards were sawn out of a single,wide,glued up panel of lime or basswood. These were pre mortised to the keyboard frame,so that each key had its mortises cut. Then,the keys were separated by sawing them apart. You had to have room left over for planing away the saw cuts without leaving too wide a gap between the keys. The .030" saw with minimal set to the teeth,if used accurately,gave a teeny bit more wood to work with. The blade on that saw was a little floppy at that thickness,but Marcus was well trained,and could saw very accurately.

[Salem Ganzhorn]

You made that saw?!? I was drooling when I saw that episode. Nice one!
Salem

[Pam Niedermayer]

Which veneer saw do you mean,Pam? And what does "a little out there" mean? I made Marc Hansen a special thin(.030") saw,actually for sawing between the keys of harpsichords. I have seen Roy's show about the inlaid tool chest Marcus and Ed Wright were making. Marcus did some thin sawing of mahogany with that saw. Is that the show?...

Yes, I think so, although I thought he was sawing walnut on the show (where they plane veneer with a boxwood coffin and two coffin planes with toothed blades). It's a big saw with a curved front top, blue blade, very light colored handle. By "out there" I meant it clearly looked like a special saw, not normal use.

I was paying more attention to the boxwood coffin, trying to figure out why Marc(?) made a point of its being boxwood; but the saw just bulled its way into my consciousness.

Pam

[george wilson]

I don't recall the boxwood plane. Marc was probably mentioning it because boxwood planes are pretty scarce,requiring large boxwood to make such a plane. I had gotten a boxwood plane years ago. That may have been the one. There was a certain type smooth plane intended for boat work that was box,if I recall correctly.

[David Weaver]

A couple of quick corrections, took a little off of the top horn and a little off of the bottom (from the bottom). Afraid if I move the bottom horn from up on the grip that the bump in the middle in my palm will be off center. I guess I could add a second notch on the bottom to remove a little more without affecting the grip, but this is as far as my skill level goes, I think.

Thanks for the help and criticism, guys/girls.

198834

[Chris Griggs]

That looks great David! I certainly wouldn't have noticed anything wrong in the original pic, but looking at it before and after, the adjustments are definitely a visual improvement. Great work. I'm inspired.

[Ray Gardiner]

Nice work David, that's a saw to be proud of, and I'm sure will be used for many years to come. :cool:

Regards
Ray

[george wilson]

It looks great,David. You take information given in a helpful way,and put it to good use. The saw now looks in the very top layer of saw handles posted here. And,it was certainly very nice before,too.

[george wilson]

Pam,as luck would have it,that Roy episode was on tonight. I don't know if the saw was a standard .042" or the special .030". It looked(behaved) like a standard .042" saw. The boxwood plane is not one I recall. I THINK I have a boxwood boat plane without an iron in my shop(too much stuff!). But IIRC,mine is the typical boat plane with a much lower blade angle. It may have a crack in it,I can't recall. That could be why I didn't fix it up. I left a lot of my own tools in the Musical Instrument Shop when I became toolmaker,and they never bothered to get their own tools. Now,it's too late for me to retrieve them. I don't really need them,but several were nice tools I had made.

[Pam Niedermayer]

The only reason I'd ever buy boxwood planes is to cut them up and use to make very small planes, Japanese white and red oak and live oak are quite suitable for full size planes. Now for chisel handles and the like, boxwood and Japanese gumi (their boxwood) are outstanding.

Anyhow, it was a very interesting saw.

Pam

[Klaus Kretschmar]

The saw turned out very beautiful, great saw!

Klaus

[george wilson]

I hope you won't cut up any boxwood planes to use the wood!! You would be ruining an antique,and wouldn't get much usable boxwood anyway.

[Pam Niedermayer]

I hope you won't cut up any boxwood planes to use the wood!! You would be ruining an antique,and wouldn't get much usable boxwood anyway.

Certainly not from a coffin, but a jointer would be a pretty good supply. Generally I don't treat all old tools as sacred, they're tools.

Pam

[george wilson]

I have never seen a boxwood jointer. THAT would indeed be a big piece of boxwood. I could make some,but would not use my large boxwood for such a purpose. I want to get more mileage out of it. Think Holtey might have made such a plane,but don't know how long it is. If you buy it,you can cut it up.:)

I am surprised that with your bent for far Eastern philosophy,you don't consider old tools as special.

[David Weaver]

Holtey does and there's an old knotty french one (jointer, not infill) on bode's page, but at the price that an old boxwood plane commands, I would sell it and find something else for handles.

New boxwood handles can be gotten from Iles for about $15 each. If you got the large london pattern handles, you'd have quite a bit of wood to work with.

I haven't seen too much new boxwood stuff as large as large plane infills that doesn't include the core of the tree/bush/whatever, there just isn't much that big around now. The largest piece I saw at hearne was not very big around, maybe 3 or 4 inches, and the guy there (Hearne, I always go on the day before holidays and he's pretty much the only one there) said that's about as big as he finds. I didn't ask a price, I'm sure I didn't want to know what it was.

[Ray Gardiner]

Now I'm under even more pressure to come up with something extra good to do with that apple. I really am! I have been mulling over what I could do to make saws distinctive,and not just traditional, without making them look stupid. That is the hard part. Especially since I like traditional handles so much,and have been working in museum design constraints for so long.

On the other hand,I feel a strong moral imperative to only use apple for a traditional handle. Blue sparks may start buzzing around my head,and suddenly all goes dark,and there is no further movement!!

Hi George,

Inspiration strikes in strange ways, blue sparks buzzing around would be very impressive! :)

I'm in the camp that likes the traditional designs, the main reason, is that the shape of a saw handle is derives directly from the shape of the hand and the way the saw is gripped and applied, I was showing someone a traditional dovetail saw handle a while back, ( might have been an early taylor bros I think), they thought the general shape looked overly decorative, that is until I showed them how the saw was held, and how the shape of the top and bottom horns fitted the hand, and the penny dropped... the basics of the shape are not decorative at all, it's pure function at it's finest.

The subtle differences of shapes and chamfers can make or break a design, it's very easy to lose that elegance and lightness. Like the difference between David's first pictures and the most recent. Makers like Klaus and Pedder have that artistic eye and attention to detail that makes the difference.

Your saws, (if I might be so bold as to suggest) should reflect your taste, and i'm sure if you are happy with it, then others will be too.

Apologies David for the hijack. I've had the blue sparks buzzing around since George's earlier post.

Regards
Ray

[george wilson]

Obviously I was kidding about cutting up a Holtey!:) The wood would cost,what? $4000.00 bd.ft.? More,probably. I WILL be happy to sell boxwood for a LITTLE less than that. No,I am not looking to sell my large boxwood logs 10" dia..

[David Weaver]

Apologies David for the hijack. I've had the blue sparks buzzing around since George's earlier post.

Regards
Ray

No matter at all, I don't mind. I got what I wanted (needed maybe) out of this thread, good guidance from people who have been there and done that and can describe to me why things look wrong when I only know they look wrong but not what to fix.

Hijack away anyone who wants to, some other interesting discussions have come up, if they're productive, that's good -some of the best material comes from thread tangents.

[David Weaver]

No,I am not looking to sell my large boxwood logs 10" dia..

I'll give you $3 per for them, I think I could swing them around to hit things. I never turn down the chance to use anything as a hammer or a screwdriver.

:)

[george wilson]

I am amazed at how at least 1/2 of the molding planes have their wedges stuck in upside down.

[Pam Niedermayer]

I have never seen a boxwood jointer. THAT would indeed be a big piece of boxwood. I could make some,but would not use my large boxwood for such a purpose. I want to get more mileage out of it. Think Holtey might have made such a plane,but don't know how long it is. If you buy it,you can cut it up.:)

I am surprised that with your bent for far Eastern philosophy,you don't consider old tools as special.

Jim Bode (2lshark on ebay) has two listed on ebay even as we speak. Easy to see, query on the "Carpentry,Woodworking" category within "Tools", ask about "boxwood".

It's not that I don't appreciate old tools, but not by virtue of their being old alone. Also, I'm not so sure that I have a bent for eastern philosophy; although I have to admit that if I were to adhere to any religion, it would be zen. I do like eastern tools for their supreme functionality and appearance within that.

Pam