Tag: handtools

Repairing a Saw Handle

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Antique Tools4 Comments

I bought a Disston D8 Thumb Hole Rip Saw and wanted to restore it. The saw was in pretty good condition when I bought it. The only issue it had was that the back of the handle was broken with a chip missing from it.  It’s a pretty common issue as that is where your thumb and index finger ride when sawing, so it’s under a lot of friction.

I wanted to repair it, so I carefully carved out an area to glue a new piece of apple wood in its place.

After the glue dried, I shaped and sanded the wood to match the rest of the handle. It came out well , it just needed a little bit of wood putty to close up the gaps between the new wood and handle.

After the putty dried, I sanded the whole handle and applied a few coats of shellac to it. The handle looked nice, but the putty stood out like a sore thumb.

This is where I put my artistic hat on. Playing with a paint kit, I mixed up a few colors of red, brown, and yellow, mixing them around to get the best matching shade I could create. It wasn’t about creating the perfect color but laying three different colors down so that it would blend with the rest of the handle.

After a few minutes of painting, I was happy with how it turned out, so I let it dry.

The saw came out nice, and the broken end of the handle won’t dig into my skin when I’m using it. Now that is all left to do is to sharpen the blade and put it to use.

Another saw saved from the scrap heap.

Making a Brass Fence

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn WorkshopLeave a comment

I’ve owned this Ohio Tool Co Moving Fillister Plane for a while now. It was missing its fence and screw when I bought it, so I decided it was time to make a new one for it.

I started by cutting a blank from some brass stock I bought on eBay. The blank I cut out was 3/8″ x 2″ x 3″.

Luckily, I have another fence off another moving fillister plane I could use as a template. While the dimensions weren’t the same, I custom drew what the fence should look like on the brass stock.

After I cut out the shape on the band saw, I punched a spot where my 3/8″ drill bit will drill a hole for the center on the fence. Then I kept moving down the fence drilling holes in the center.

I needed to remove some of the back of the fence, so I went back to the band saw to do the job.

Then, I cut off some of the face of the fence to thin it up and shaped the bottom of it with my files.

In the end, I was happy with my results. Not too shabby, as this was the first thing I have ever fabricated out of brass.

Now I needed to make the screw to hold it in place. Again, I had a screw from another plane that I could use to find something similar at the hardware store. I ended up buying a 5/16″ x 1″ screw from Home Depot, but I had to grind it round on my belt sander. 

I then filed the top to a dome shape and used a hacksaw to file a slot in the top.

I polished the screw up, cleaned the body of the plane, and put everything together. The plane came out really nice and performs well after I sharpened the blade.

Another plane has been saved from the garbage bin of life and is back to use for the next hundred years. 

Replacing my Tormek Sharpening Stone

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Workshop2 Comments

After using my Tormek sharpening machine for the past twenty years, it was time for a new stone. When I researched replacement wheels, I read all about the new CBN wheels on the market that stay flat and don’t require water to use. The one disadvantage I saw with these wheels, is that the side of the stones are prettty narrow. When I sharpen old plane blades, I like to flatten the back of them as well, so I often grind the back of the blade with the side of the stone. I was afraid that the narrowness of the CBN stones wouldn’t do the job as well as my original stone. I’ve been happy with the stone that came with the machine so, if it ain’t broke, dont fix it.

I knew the hard part of replacing the stone would be taking the old one off. I grabbed a 3/4″ wrench and tried like hell to unscrew the nut. I whacked on the wrench with a hammer as hard as I could hoping not to bend the shaft of the machine. It was so tough to get off, my stone cracked and fell apart.

After about twenty minutes of cussing and using a half of a can of PB Blaster, the nut finally freed itself. Once I took the remainder of the stone off, I tried to put the new stone on, but the shaft was so rusted and corroded, I had to sand the shaft smooth in order for the new stone to slide on.

I slipped on the new stone and noticed that it moved up and down just a little bit. Curious, I removed it from the machine and also removed the stropping wheel on the other side so I could remove the shaft in order to get a better look at what was going on.

Sure enough, the plastic gasket that was next to the stone had wore a larger hole in it from use over the past twenty years. Not having a replacement gasket on hand, I simply switched the gaskets from eachother sides hoping they will still work.

Now with a “new” gasket in place, the shaft wouldn’t fit into the hole because of all the corrosion on it so, I carefully filed and sanded the rust away. After a few minutes, I was able to get the shaft nicely seated in the machine.

I checked the squareness of the stone to my crossbar and it looked much better than before. For years when I used the Tormek, it would cut slightly heavier on one side of the blade. I would compensate for this error by tilting the angle of my blade in the jig just a smudge. After messing around with the machine this afternoon, I finally understand why it would cut heavier on one side.

I turned the machine on and checked how everything was running. The stone wobbles just a touch but, from how hard I was hitting the wrench with a hammer in order to get that nut off, I’m not surprised. As long as the machine sharpens blades fine, I’m happy with it.