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.

Disston #8 Handle.jpg

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

Glued Up.jpg

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

Old Handle Template.jpg

This is the finished handle.

After Shaping.jpg

This is the handle back on the saw.

On The Saw Again.jpg

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:

Paring Saw Handle.jpg

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