Wenzloff Saw Kit Completed

I finally completed the handle for the Wenzloff tenon saw kit. It's bubinga with some coats of Watco's oil/varnish mixture. I am very pleased with the results. Bob Rozaieski made a great video of making a handle for a Wenzloff kit on his podcast. These kits are a great way to buy quality saws at a great price, provided that you are willing to make the handle.

New Year, New Saws

Recently I bought some saws, a tenon saw and a carcase saw. I also completed the handle for my half-back saw. As you can see, I have polished the saw in the center. The dovetail saw I bought when I first started woodworking. It has a large chip in the blade, but it still works okay. Sometime I'm going to buy the Gramercy dovetail saw kit. Both of the new back saws are Spear and Jackson. The one with the brass back has a leapfrog stamp, and has an etch that says that it was made specially for T E Jay Tool Merchant, Chichester. I'm going to re-handle the carcase saw, but no the tenon saw(the brass-backed one). The carcases' handle it not very comfortable, and plus, I can make a handle that will be like this!

Toolcase Part 2

For the top/sides/bottom of the case, the back sits in a rabbet, so when the case is seen from the side, the sides of the back will not be visible. To make the rabbet, I built a "t" shaped fixture. On one side a peice of 1/2 ply is nailed and a 1/4 ply is on the other side. I simply clamped the fixture to my stock and planed away. When I had established about a 1/16" of shoulder I chiseled out the waste until there was about 1/8" left. I then finished up with the rabbet plane.

With the rabbets cut, I could proceed on to the final length dimensioning. First I cut off as little as possible on one end, with a miter box, or freehand. I then shoot the board with my new shooting board(it's hard to think now how I did without it) until the edge is nice and square. I then mark the desired length cut, and shoot, until the exact length is reached. If the waste is too little to cut, but too much to shoot, you can pare away the waste with a chisel, and then shoot. The length has been reached!

Now, not to gloat too much, but the shooting board really does "walk the talk". This board's edge that is in the foreground was at the exit side of the plane in the shooting board. I did not chamfer or relieve the edge in any way. There is no tearout.

Tool Case: Hand-Sawing

My intention with this project is to document the process of building a small project completely from hand tools. Since my wood supplier sells wood in fairly dry, straight, and smooth, I will not go into how to straighten out boards with hand planes.

Here is how I cut pieces from a board:
After the layout lines are made, I made them easier to see by tracing over them with white pencil. To start sawing, place your thumbnail next to the blade to guide it, and pull the teeth across the wood at a fairly low angle. After the kerf is well established, hold the saw at a steeper angle. Make sure that your dominant arm is in line with the cut, if your arm is not pushing directly forward, if it is not directly lined up with your shoulder, the cut will not be perpendicular. Be sure to not the hand grip as well, I find it to be the most comfortable and efficient.For beginning hand-sawyers, I would recommend cutting about an 1/8" from the line to leave room for mistakes. This excess material can then be scrub planed off later. To correct for wandering, lay the saw down at a lower angle to the wood than normal. This makes the saw go into the already long established cut, and puts it on the right track. Also, if the saw habitually seems to lean to one side of the cut, lightly pass an oil stone across the side that the saw leans to. A properly sharpened and tuned saw will cut quickly, and should produce coarse shavings(on the right in the photo), not fine dust. In my opinion, burning some calories and building my muscles is way better than listening to the racket of my saber saw. A handsaw will make a very enjoyable sound when sharp, and still allow me to listen to my radio.