New Saw Tote

I got it into my head to try and make a new saw tote for a cheap rip saw I've had for 20 years or so. Not because the handle that came with it was damaged, but because it was so ugly and uncomfortable to use. It was also missing one of the three saw bolts, and was loose. Frankly, the saw is probably not worth the effort, but the process looked intriguing so I gave it a go. This saw, by the way, is a Stanley 26-inch, 7ppi rip saw with what appears to be hardened teeth. I was able to sharpen this saw however, so I'm not sure.

I started by making a pattern for the new tote. The existing handle was plastic, so no help there. I wanted an old timey look and feel, so I did a little online research and found this huge community of saw lovers, and an amazing amount of great information available about fixing, restoring, and making hand saws. This convinced me of two things: I can definitely do this, and this is definitely a worthless saw to try this with. I figured my efforts were never going to improve the saw itself, but what I would learn would be worth it, and I was going to have some fun. click on the pictures to enlarge

Drawing the tote pattern in CAD

I pulled the old handle off and scanned the blade. Then I imported the scanned blade, along with the tote patterns and images I liked best for this saw. You can see in the picture above that I used a tote pattern from Two Guys in a Garage Tool Works thanks guys! and a great photo of a late 18th century panel saw posted in an article by Matthew Cianci over at WK Fine Tools. thanks to Matthew Cianti I also got some great advise on sizing the tote to fit my hand over at Blackburn Tools. and thanks to Isaac Smith There were some other resources I used for inspiration as well, but these were the main ones.

The tote after roughing

Most totes are just about 1-inch thick or a little thinner, down to 7/8-inch. I had some 5/4 black walnut and decided to make my tote a little thicker, and not plane off too much stock. I figured that chunky feel would make holding the saw easier on the hands. So I scoffed at a few hundred years of tote making and I guess I'll find out. The finished tote is just about 1 1/8-inch.

The new tote and the plastic one its replacing

Lamb's tongue detail

I used a small round over bit in the router to hit the hard edges, and then took it to the vice and did the rough shaping with a rasp, and then cleaned it up with a small file. You can just see it beyond the totes in the picture above. I don't have a handle for this file, as I normally don't use it for hours at a time. You can see that I added a wire nut to the tang to keep it from digging a hole in my hand. Worked like a charm!

Countersinking for saw nuts

I drilled out the holes for the saw nuts with a pilot hole first to make sure I was aligned with the holes in the blade, and then used the pilot hole to guide the spade bit I used to countersink for the saw bolts. I then went back and enlarged the holes, larger on the right side for the female portion of the sex bolts.

Slot cutting rig. Blocks hold the tote from wiggling around.

To cut the slot for the blade, I hunted around for the right-sized saw and they were all too wide until I ran across this old Disston panel saw I have that I haven't used because its so dull, and its also missing a saw bolt, as you can see in the photo. So I sharpened the saw up a little and then tapped out the set on the teeth. This rig I set up to cut the slot is a piece of plywood that the saw bade rides on to get it to the center of the tote. It wasn't exact so I used a few sheets of paper to bring the tote into alignment and then clamped everything to my drill press table. Its at the perfect height.

Cutting the slot with my no-set Disston panel saw

Once the slot was cut and checked, it was only a matter of sanding, finishing with some shellac I mixed up and attaching the bolts. I had a heck of a time finding saw bolts! No one carries them, I even went to Stanley tools on-line, they have three kinds, which are all listed as 'not available.' There are some folks offering beautiful brass bolts for way more money than my crummy saw is worth, so I finally found some by Great Neck and bought two packages of ten from Amazon. A package of ten is less than a single custom brass unit from some of the saw manufacturer's out there. They're nickle plated steel, so they may rust, but I've got spares! Throw in a few books, including "Hand Tools: Their Ways and Workings", by Aldren A. Watson, which I'll tell you all about later, and the shipping is free. Now, free, I can afford.

Shellacking the tote

I mixed up a 2# cut of shellac so I could lay on multiple thin coats. I've had these shellac flakes in my shop for something like 25 or 30 years, maybe longer than I've had this saw, and this is the first time I've used them. After the first coat dried and the grain raised, I sanded it out with 320 grit paper and added a few more coats, then touched it up with the sandpaper again, before finishing it with a few more coats. I though about adding the traditional wheat pattern to the handle, or even my initials to the cheeks, but was undecided, so I figured I could add them later. That's what I did on my mallet.

The finished tote attached to the cleaned and sharpened saw

I cleaned the rust off the blade using scouring powder, a scotch brite pad and really hot water. Yes, water. Especially when its really hot, as soon as you dry the blade the heat evaporates off any remaining water. Then I sanded off what was left with 220, then 320 paper and tried my hand at sharpening. The teeth are hardened, but not too much, so I was able to get a nice edge on the teeth. All that was left was putting it all together. With the teeth nice and sharp and the rust taken off the blade, it cuts a lot better than it used to, and boy is it better looking.