Help cutting spring steel for a panel saw

[Regis Deandrade]

Dear Friends,

Everyone here is making their own backsaws, but I am intimidated by the "back" part of it, so I decided to try a panel saw first.
My question is: how do you cut the spring steel to the desired shape? For example, Mike Wenzloff's saws based on the Seaton Chest saws are tapered on its length and round at the toe, plus the nib. Or the old D8 Disston saws, that have a curved taper to it.
I have read about using a file to score the metal and then snapping it, but that would not work for the curved shapes. Any other suggestions?

Thank you,

Regis

[Robert Rozaieski]

Score and snap close to the curve and finish to the line with a file. The steel files very easily. No matter what method you use to cut the steel you are going to have to clean the cut edge up with a file. You are not going to get a finished edge right from your cutting tool.

[Ray Gardiner]

Hi Regis,

For the curves, I would just free hand it with an angle grinder, when cutting the tooth line, and you don't want to destroy the temper, use some 1/8 flat steel clamped either side of the saw plate as cutting guide and heatsink.

As Robert says you will need to clean up with files whatever method you use.

Regards
Ray

[Robert Rozaieski]

I just tried some Wiss tin snips on some 0.025" 1095 and they seemed to cut ok so you might try those as well.

[george wilson]

Snips will most likely cause a deformation in the spring steel plate. I recommend cutting the plate in a sheet metal shear. This is how I always did it. The spring steel cracks off ahead of the cutting edge of the blade,and does the shear no harm. I recommend that the blade you wish to keep from deforming be the part of the sheet that you keep on the table of the shear,and not the part the shear shears off. I have made this recommendation several times before.

[Ray Gardiner]

Hi George, Regis, Robert...

Agreed, a good sheet metal shear is the way to do straight cuts, but Regis was asking how to cut curves in 1095 spring steel. What method would you recommend?

Regards
Ray

[Ron Petley]

If you have one a jig saw with a metal cutting blade would cut it quite well. If not hack saw and files will do the job slower but a lot less noise. Cheers Ron

[george wilson]

I have cut spring steel with a metal cutting bandsaw,though I have been prepared to sacrifice the blade in doing so. When I made the Seaton Chest Kenyon saws,with their stepped down surfaces near the rounded nose,and the round nose,I just used a blachsmith's shear. I kept the parts of the saw I wanted to keep on the side of the lower jaw which remained stationary. The sheared off waste was kept on the side of the upper blade than came down and sheared off the metal I was getting rid of. The round nose was a few quick snips to facet the curve.Then,a few minutes on the belt grinder to complete the nose,and smooth off the burrs left by the shearing. A triangular file did the nib.

[Johnny Kleso]

Best way is with a 10"+ pair of Tin Snips for main cuts then I would use a grinder for final shaping...

Dont let it get to hot and ture blue or you will loose the temper (hardness) of the steel..

If you just cut and shape the top you could use a abrasive cut off wheel and a straight edge but I would not do this on a toothed edge..

[Regis Deandrade]

Thank you everyone for all the great information. A friend of mine has some sheet metal shears, so I will try that.
I tried using the file and the score and snap method, but I must have done something wrong because it didn't work.
The bench grinder and the skill saw sound like the easiest and quickest ways, but I am afraid the heat could be a problem.

George, what do you think about the tin snips? These are cheaper than the bench mounted shears.

Again, thank you everyone for the help. I have just joined the the Carpenter's Shop at Fort Vancouver Historical Site (http://www.nps.gov/fova/planyourvisi...enter-shop.htm) as a volunteer carpenter. With me, now there are 2 carpenter there. We are trying to get more people to volunteer. I plan on making some reproduction tools and furniture from the 1840's, so I will be coming here for help often.

Regis