Assembly Instructions for Pattern Makers Saw Kit - Part II

Posted by Robert Streeper on Jun 15, 2015

2.10 Once you have the blade fitted up you can set up your rivet holes. Here is an important point. I use what is called a piloted counterbore for drilling the recesses for the rivet heads. If you do not have a ¼” piloted counterbore start your rivet holes by first drilling a recess for the rivet head using a ¼” drill bit. Drill a shallow ¼” diameter recess about 0.050” deep to take the rivet head, no deeper. Don’t forget to drill both sides of the handle. Next or if you do use a counterbore use a 3/16” drill bit, preferably in a drill press to drill the holes. Put a piece of scrap under the handle to minimize splitting of the wood when the bit penetrates the off-side. If you have the counterbore use it now to drill the recesses for the rivet heads.

2.11 Now it’s time to start shaping the handle. Set it up in a vise, hopefully a good one with a strip of leather to prevent the vise jaws marring the sides of the handle. Starting with a coarse rasp or file begin shaping the edges of the grip.

Note, it’s not necessary to use rasps and files for shaping the saw handle. I’ve seen people do this part using chisels and sandpaper, scrapers, belt sanders, you name it. Use whatever works best for you.

2.12 Once you have your handle shaped, rivet holes drilled and recesses for the rivet heads formed it’s time to mount the blade. First you need to make holes in the blade. I use a 5/32” tungsten carbide spade bit. You can use a regular HSS bit but it’s going to squeal and smoke and it may burn up your bit if you push it too hard – go slow and let the blade slowly work through the steel. You can also punch the holes if you have sheet metal punch. Fit the blade into the blade slot and hold it tightly in place. Then drill your rivet holes in the blade making sure that the holes in the blade line up well with the holes in the handle.

2.13 With riveted mountings I like to use two part epoxy to ensure a good fit up. If you’ve got a good fit of your blade to the handle slot the epoxy is not really needed. I do it just to be extra safe, don’t want the blade flopping around after the rivets are set.

2.14 After you have the blade in the handle slot it’s time to set the rivets. Insert the female half of each rivet into it’s hole in the handle and push it through the hole in the blade. Then take the male half of that rivet, insert the tapered end into the female half and press the two halves together. I did this using an arbor press but you can also use your vise if you’re careful to keep your rivets straight.

You can wipe away un-cured epoxy using acetone or lacquer thinner.

2.15 After the rivets are set you can now finish your saw. I like to use beeswax and shellac over boiled linseed oil. Here is the saw with it’s first coat of linseed oil.

Hope your saw comes out at least as good as this one! Thanks again for your purchase!

-Rob

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