How to Make Your Own Handsaws
You have two options if you need a handsaw: buy one at a home improvement store or make one yourself. One type of homemade handsaw for your do-it-yourself projects is a dovetail saw. Create the handsaw by piecing together individual components. The dovetail, also called a DT saw, is an all-purpose tool used for many kinds of precise cuts. For example, cross-cutting small boards, cutting tenons or fine crosscuts for decorative pieces. The handmade dovetail saw has many features, including small teeth which makes it easier to cut through wood.
Things You'll Need
- Saw set pliers
- Block of wood
- Steel blades
- Brass bars
- Screws
- Sand paper
- Drill
- Vise grips
- clamps
- Forstner bits
Instructions
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1
Purchase two blue tempered, spring steel blades and four brass bars. The blades are 8 inches long, 0.18 inches thick and 2.25 inches wide for a small standard dovetail saw. The bars are 1/8 by 3/4 inches.
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2
Make the saw handle. Trace the shape on a block of wood. Use a drill press and forstner bits to cut the curves of your saw handle. At the end of your handle, cut a narrow slot for the steel blade and drill out two holes for the screw nuts.
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3
Cut the side of the blades at a 45-degree angle on one end to fit into the handle slot. Then cut two pieces of brass bar for each blade, then tape them together to drill the holes. Cut a 30-degree angle on one side of your brass bar to accommodate the saw handle.
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4
Drill three holes evenly across the taped brass bars. With a hand puncher, press out three corresponding holes on the top of the brass bars and steel blades. Punch two holes parallel to the blade straight edge for the handle screws.
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5
Sand both blades with grit sand paper. Sanding removes the burrs left by the hole puncher and eliminates the blue color from the steel blades.
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Use a vise grip to hold the brass bars and steel blades together in preparation for tapping the holes for the screws.
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Remove the steel blade and brass bar assembly from the vise grip. Remove the steel blades from the bars. Insert epoxy in the brass bar slot and return the steel blade back in position, keeping the holes for the screws lined up. Clamp to give pressure to the epoxy, steel blades and brass bars.
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8
Place screws in each hole and screw them in securely and clean up any excess epoxy on the steel and brass.
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9
Let the epoxy cure before assembling the handle and setting the teeth in the steel blade. To set the teeth, use a blade set tool or saw set pliers that strike and sharpen the straight edge of the saw.
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References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/BananaStock/Getty Images
