chris carter
05-16-2018, 8:12 AM
For the last week I’ve been eating away at a turning saw. This is part of my overall strategy to make all of my power tools superfluous so as to keep all of my fingers intact – and next on the chopping block was my band saw. I made it out of a cutoff of red oak, a pair of ¼” bolts and 4d nails (for the hardware), a scrap of veg-tan leather (washers), and bought a ¼” 14tpi band saw blade to cut down for the blade. I don’t have a lathe (a spring pole lathe is on my to-do list), so I had to do the handles with a coping saw and spokeshave so they are not machine smooth and round, but I do like the character they have in my hands. The cord is jute twine.
I used the Gramercy turning saw pattern for all the parts. I watched a ton of youtube videos to see how people hold these things and although the TFWW website says to hold it with your pointer finger extended, that didn’t work at all for me because the arms would flop a bit too much, particularly when leaning hard to the left (I’m right handed). After scouring youtube for videos of people using them I noticed most used some sort of pinch grip which worked wonders for me. More control, more comfortable, no floppiness. I just filed away where my thumb and forefinger grabbed the arm until it felt comfortable.
I used two wraps of jute twine. I’ll see how that goes for a while, but it’s holding right now with enough tension after 30 minutes of practice cuts. A single wrap broke the string. I want the minimum number of wraps so that if anything breaks, it’s the string and not the arms. I can laugh if I break the string and tie a new one on in 30 seconds; I’ll cry if I break an arm!
The finish is just boiled linseed oil.
385899
I used the Gramercy turning saw pattern for all the parts. I watched a ton of youtube videos to see how people hold these things and although the TFWW website says to hold it with your pointer finger extended, that didn’t work at all for me because the arms would flop a bit too much, particularly when leaning hard to the left (I’m right handed). After scouring youtube for videos of people using them I noticed most used some sort of pinch grip which worked wonders for me. More control, more comfortable, no floppiness. I just filed away where my thumb and forefinger grabbed the arm until it felt comfortable.
I used two wraps of jute twine. I’ll see how that goes for a while, but it’s holding right now with enough tension after 30 minutes of practice cuts. A single wrap broke the string. I want the minimum number of wraps so that if anything breaks, it’s the string and not the arms. I can laugh if I break the string and tie a new one on in 30 seconds; I’ll cry if I break an arm!
The finish is just boiled linseed oil.
385899