Old Saw Handle Repair

[Jim Koepke]

This saw came to me from a friend's estate. I have been using it with the broken handle though it is a bit awkward.

So with a little lull between projects I thought it was time to fix it up.

The pieces of apple came from a neighbor who lost an apple tree in a storm a few years ago. The thinner pieces are starting to get dry enough to work. Some of the bigger pieces will have to wait a few more seasons.

It is a nice wood to work.

Here is how the handle looked before repair. The handle was half way off before it came to me to take some pictures.

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This is with the chunks of wood glued on. Epoxy was used for this since clamping would have been difficult at best.

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This is a shot of another old D-8 handle that was used as a template.

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This is the finished handle.

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This is the handle back on the saw.

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As was my hope, the saw is much easier to use and control.

It ain't real pretty, but it works.

jtk

[Joe Fabbri]

Looks pretty good to me, Jim.

All it needs is a little grime and some scuffs and the repair should fit right in.

Nice job.

Joe

[Paul Incognito]

I'll second Joe's comments.
The important thing is that it works.
Paul

[Lornie McCullough]

Very nicely done.

Lornie

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Nice job! Thanks for sharing. It looks nice to me; and the most important thing is that it feels well in the hands. I'd rather have a ugly saw handle (which this is far from) that felt nice than a gorgeous one that left me blistered. . . The only issue I see is the top horn - I feel like if it curved down a hair more, it'd flow a little nicer. But it still looks great.

I was going to share pictures of my last handle repair; but I didn't take any in progress shots, and I totally butchered the color matching of the repair. . .

[Jim Foster]

Nice Job! Looks well worth doing.

[Paul Incognito]

and I totally butchered the color matching of the repair. . .

That sounds like all of my repairs.

Paul

[Paul Saffold]

Nice repair, Jim.It sure makes sawing a lot more comfortable with both horns. That apple will blend in before long.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

That sounds like all of my repairs.

Paul

It was pretty well matched if I wet the wood first - I think if I had put a coat of BLO on it first, it would have matched, but somehow I forgot to do that, despite my plan, and put a thin coat of film finish on it first. Sometime I'll sand that off and re-finish.

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks for all the kind comments.

I forgot to include one photo of paring the saw handle to fit the new wood:

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The piece of wood in the picture is the piece from which the replacement pieces came.

I went to get the mail and my neighbor offered me a beer and that turned into a long visit.

jtk

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Nice photo. Kind of jealous of the chisel. I've repaired two saw handles now, and even when the cut clears the rest of the handle, I haven't found a better tool for the job.

[Brent VanFossen]

Nice work. The color match looks good to me, short of some time to blend in. And I'm intrigued by the little wooden mallet.

[Jonathan McCullough]

As was my hope, the saw is much easier to use and control.


There's a lot to be said for horns; they increase the amount of feedback you get from the saw and the wood.

[Mike Holbrook]

Nice work Jim!

I am working on a few saw handle problems myself. I am on hold on mine until I get an order placed with West Systems. West Systems makes great epoxy and they also make fillers & color you can place in their epoxy to build up areas. I have used it for boat repair and my cousin uses it extensively in his boat repair business. Bob Smalser is a big fan of the West System products and reminded me about it in a post I made about handle repair. I had used it in fiberglass repair but did not think about it for wood repair. It might come in handy for you too.

[Jim Koepke]

I'm intrigued by the little wooden mallet.

That is my plane adjusting hammer. I use it on the #102 that is also in the picture. The plane was used to bring down the sides of the horns a bit. The blade was sharpened during use so the blade had to be readjusted.


Bob Smalser is a big fan of the West System products and reminded me about it in a post I made about handle repair. I had used it in fiberglass repair but did not think about it for wood repair. It might come in handy for you too.

I think it was Bob's comment on that one that convinced me to use epoxy instead of my usual wood glue. When trying to set it up with clamps in a pre-run I was convinced. I have a lot of epoxy to use up before I buy any new, but the West System product sounds like it is worth a try.

I have used wood dust in epoxy when fixing plane totes with good results.

My interest were more to make the tote comfortable in my hand more than to make it a perfect reproduction of the original. Though I did try to keep it in the general ball park of the original.

jtk

[Mike Holbrook]

I understand Jim "don't try to make a silk purse out of a Sow's ear".

My worst problem is a saw that has the wood down in the bolt holes all torn up to the point the bolts want hold. Kinda hard to do a glue up down in a bolt hole, so I will have to build those areas back up if I want to save a handle that other than the bolt hole damage is in decent shape.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16891057@N05/6436261925/in/photostream

[Stewie Simpson]

Nice work Jim.