The following job has been done by Stewie S., from Australia. Stewie is passionate about making saws and wooden planes. He authorized me to publish his pics in order to collaborate to blog and increase content availability. Thank you Stewie!

After 12 months of making backsaws as well as trialing different saw handles it was time for me to consolidate my restrict my work to 3 to 4 designs only. This following handle shape is for backsaws 12" and above. I have attached photos that show you each of the important steps involved from start to finish.
I hope you find the following information of some help especially to those who may have considered giving backsaw making a go. Here you can view the handle as its shaped to design paper template. Some rounding to the handle as well as the inside of the finger hole has also been completed. I prefer to drill and fit the saw screws very early into the work. The 12" x 3" saw plate shaped and fitted within the handle. To help me mark the harback mortise within the handle I prefer to use a spare length of hardback which is fitted to the toothline. The use of upper and lower hardbacks locks the external saw plate in the same parrallel alignment to that within the handle. A good method to use if you want to keep the saw plate nice and straight along the toothline. To clean out the hardback mortise on the handle I like to use a variety of hand tools that also include planemaker floats. In this photo you can see that the brassback has been cut to length, rounded off at the toe, and secured to the handle. The bottom line of the saw plate is also nice and straight. The shaping of the handle is also nearly completed. Hear you can see the final stages of sharpening the saw teeth. I chose to go for a 12 tpi. rip tooth for this backsaw. The saw vise clamping length was modified from its original 9 " to a new 23.5 " The final look of the backsaw. The Tas.Tiger Myrtle chosen for the handle came up a treat. I only use 0000 steel wool between each coat of wood sealer and shellac. Another unique saw to add to my collection. Regards; Stewie 

 

Read More..

Stanley 75

There are not many positive reviews on this little rabbet plane, even anything! Today I decided to examine it more closely and verify  its performances. Although a simple structure, it has an adjusting mouth. The bullnose structure, with the front part of the sole very narrow, allows the plane for using it in special situations, such as finishing a blind rabbet or working close to the intersection of stiles and rails.

 

The  body plane consists of two sliding parts; a screw allows to lock the parts into position and set the opening  mouth to the desired width. Unfortunately, every time you  perform this operation, you have to reset the blade (troublesome without a blade adjusting wheel),  for which can be certainly convenient to adjust the mouth in an intermediate position  and avoid too many changes. Another weak point is the lever cap; it holds the blade in its position by a thumb screw. It has little contact surface with the blade and it is quite thin and induces apprehension when the screw is tightly closed. The  iron sits at 45°, bevel down, what that preferably addresses this plane for using it with the grain.

The sides were square with the sole.

I run a plane tune up. With the blade in  working position, but retracted so that it cannot cut, I lapped  the sole using glass plate attached sandpaper. The blade was sharpened with a   30° bevel. For this iron type I used the Stanley sharpening guide. In these blades its very important to obtain the cutting edge perfectly square with the sides. The lever cap was in contact with iron only to one side, making the plane practically unusable. I accurately smoothed this zone and in order to ensure a good contact I had to make a slight correction (I used a file) to the protrusions that form the lever fulcrum. The iron bedded satisfactorily.

The  final result is quite good and the plane proved to be accurate in finishing rabbets. More than one doubt remains, particularly regarding a good blade grip.

Read More..