I got some shop time this weekend and decided to work on the pair of tenon saws again. Unfortunately, I only had time to work on one of the saws, but the procedure is the same for the other one so it doesn’t really matter.

I left off last time with the handles roughed out and rounded over from the router. Next step was finishing shaping the horns of the handle.

I used a combination of this curved-tooth file that I picked up at an antique store, a Nicholson file/rasp combo thing, and a round file. The next couple pictures show the progression of shaping the horns.

Next was shaping the chamfers around the part with the saw nuts. This was done with that curved-tooth file.

The shaping was followed by sanding. I wiped everything off with mineral spirits, and this is what it looked like.

I decided to use Australian Timber Oil to finish the handle. This decision was mostly based on the fact that my dad had a gallon of it in the shop that he had been using on some molding for the upstairs. The stuff is a combination of boiled linseed oil, tung oil, and alkyd, and is supposedly fairly wear-resistant. I guess I’ll see how it holds up in the long run.

I also polished up the saw nuts for both saws. For this, I hooked a buffing wheel up to the drill press at 1000 rpm and polished them up with Brasso. Unbeknownst to me, Brasso has ammonia in it, which was a bit of a surprise when I got a whiff. In any case, the saw nuts cleaned up pretty well.

The saw plate was pretty rusted. I tried the tinfoil trick for scrubbing it off and the rust laughed at it. Tried Rustoleum rust stripper, nothing doing. I ended up just using the random orbit sander with 150, 180, and 220 grits to get the worst of it off. There was some pitting that I couldn’t get rid of, but oh well. I don’t expect these to look brand new. I have the one I sanded next to the original of the other half for comparison.

After that, I gave the saw a light coating of oil and assembled everything. The timber oil really brought out a nice, rich brown in the mesquite. Some glamor shots of the saw are below.

For the next step, which will be in the next blog entry, I will remove the old teeth and retooth it. I can’t wait to get this and its sibling sharpened and back to work again.

The handle material I chose to use was mesquite, which I bought from fellow LJ BlueStingrayBoots a while back. One of the pieces he sent me was about 5/4 thick. I decided to use the Marshall & Cheetham backsaw handle template available at the TGIAG website for these saws. I printed off two of the templates and laid them out on the mesquite to get an idea of roughly how much material I needed.

Then I clamped the hunk of mesquite in the leg vise and went to town with my Disston 7tpi saw (the teeth look like they’re rip-filed, but it cuts pretty well cross-cut, so who knows).

After that I ran the piece through the planer to trim it down to a more comfortable 7/8” thickness. That’s how thick my Veritas 20tpi dovetail saw handle is, and that handle fits like a glove for my hands.

I found the spray adhesive my dad has, but of course the tip was all gummed up and unusable. Had to use some normal PVA glue and spread it out to lay the templates down.

At this point, my dad had about 250lbs of plywood and drywall leaning against the band saw, making it unreachable. So I used the coping saw to separate the two handle blanks.

The TGIAG templates have markings for different size bits to make cutting out easier, so I chucked up the various Forstner bits into the drill press and drilled those out. Saved the shavings for the smoker later too!

If you recall the first image, one of the blade blanks already has holes drilled in it from the original handle. I figured it would be best to reuse those in the new handle, though one of the holes is just there, unused. The other blade I could do what I wanted with the holes, so I used the spacing shown on the template.

A while back I won an ebay auction for ~100 saw nuts that some guy took off a bunch of old saws. They’re all the domed-head ones you see with Disston-type saws, unfortunately, and not the nice all-brass split nuts like Wenzloff & Sons sells. Ah, oh well, at least I have enough to last me through at least 30 saws. The saw nuts from the original Disston handle had a head about 9/16” in diameter. I did not have a 9/16” Forstner bit, so I use my bit brace for those. I found a pair of nuts with 1/2” diameter heads and used that on the other handle. The drilling sequence for the saw nuts was exactly like what Gramercy shows in their instructions making the handle to their 12” carcase saw.

Also at this point, my dad finally came in and helped me move all of the plywood/drywall off the band saw, so I used that to rough out the rest of the handles.

With the handles roughed out and the holes drilled, I could cut the kerf for the blades on each handle. I used my ryoba saw for the first kerf.

After that, I discovered that I can’t cut a straight line with that (my fault, not the saw’s), so I used my Veritas 20tpi dovetail saw to clean up the first one and to cut the second one. That worked a little better.

Next I rounded over the hand hold part of the handle. Probably should have waited until I did the recess for the spine, but oh well. For this, I just put a 3/8” roundover bit in the router and crept up on it.

They’re starting to look good now! Next was taking out the recess for the spine. For this, I found an appropriately-sized brad point bit and roughed it out on the drill press. Then I cleaned everything up with a 3/16” mortise chisel and a couple bevel-edged chisels.

And now for a test fit.

This is as far as I got over the weekend. Hopefully I can make it back to my parents’ house soon and finish these guys up.

Of course, if the saw knew what I was planning to do to it, it might not have agreed to follow me out of the store. Since I already have a Disston miter very similar to this one, I decided to put it to good use by chopping it in half and making a pair of tenon saws – one rip, one cross-cut.

First things first, gotta remove the handle and tuck the saw nuts away for later.

Next I used a white metal marker as a makeshift layout fluid and scribed my cutting line. The saw plate was about 24” overall, so I cut it in half for two 12” saws. Maybe a little short for a tenon saw, but oh well.

Next came the cutting. I put a metal cutting bit on my Dremel and went to work. I stopped every so often to cool the metal with a water-soaked rag. Don’t want to ruin the temper on the blade steel. I started with the blade clamped in my leg vise to cut through the back spine.

Cutting with the blade oriented that way was awkward, so I switched it so that the saw was held in place with my newly-available holdfasts. That worked a lot better.

I discovered that I could cut partway through the blade then bend it to snap it off. To remove the sharp edges from cutting, I used one of the small sanding drums on the Dremel.

The saw is now in two pieces. The old handle was put back on just to see what it might look like.

Next I cut out a matching notch in the heel of the “new” blade so that it is similar to the heel from the existing blade. In retrospect, I probably should have omitted this step to keep the blade as long as possible. Oh well.

And this is where this blog post will leave off. The saw plates are cut to size and all sharp edges (save the teeth, of course) are removed. Making the handle will come next.

Finally got a chance to go back to my parents’ house for the weekend (i.e., the location of my shop). Went into the shop and this is what my bench looked like:

Looks like my dad has been at work in the 2.5 months I’ve been away. No surprises there.

I made a pair of holdfasts in a blacksmithing class last fall. When I made them, I tried to round them down to about 3/4”. Since they aren’t necessarily a standard size shaft, I had to do some experimenting to see what size hole I needed. Luckily I had a hunk of cutoff from when I made the bench that I could drill some holes in.

Turns out that 3/4” holes were the right size. I think the shafts are somewhere around 5/8”-3/4” round, but pretty irregular since I rounded down some 5/8” square stock. They hold pretty well.

I decided to drill the holes in the top using a bit brace instead of a power drill. I had bought a nice 3/4” Bosch auger bit for the task a while ago but decided against it. I figured I could get better control with the hand tool.

Once I got down to the bottom of the hole, I clamped a backer board underneath so the bottom of the hole didn’t tear out.

The first hole worked, on to the others.

Still going through. Luckily my 3/4” brace bit was sharp, the drilling went pretty fast.

And now the finished product. I think it took about 1.5 hours to do all the drilling and testing of the holes. Finally, I can use those holdfasts I made last year!

A quick volume estimate puts the total amount of wood at ~5 cubic feet. Considering an average specific gravity of about 0.60 (range for SYP is 0.54 – 0.65, and the hickory is more than that), the weight is:

(5 cu. ft.)(62.4 lbs/cu. ft.)(0.60) = 187 lbs

So, the wood alone is about 190 lbs. Factor in the weight of the vise hardware and the many metal planes I store belowdecks, I would guess it’s at least 260 lbs as it stands in the shop.

As far as costs go, I have pasted a screenshot from my Excel table below.

Tax is a low-end average value for all the purchases (~5% in WI and ~9% in IL). These prices reflect buying the SYP in November 2012 in Burlington, WI and the rest of the stuff (including hickory) in the west Chicagoland area not long after. The Lee Valley vises were bought on their website.

Personally, I think this price is well within the budget of the average woodworker. Heck, $60 of my cost was hickory for the end caps and leg vise, which could easily have been replaced by $5 of SYP. It is possible to build this bench with a very limited set of hand tools, but there’s no way I could have done so in the time it took me. The planing and jointing of the top laminates was very time consuming, and I can only imagine how long it would have taken with a #5 and a #7.

This is not the end of the series. I still have a few more things to accomplish with the bench, but I figured I’d post this now while I’m thinking about it.

Thanks for reading.

This weekend I finally got the time to remedy that situation. I started off by routing the dog holes in one of the boards, then gluing up the leg vise block. The dog holes are spaced at 3” for versatility.

Then I needed to figure out what to remove for the various pieces of the vise hardware. Some time was spent with the adjustable square to figure out the recess locations. Note: the measurements shown below are the depths of the recess, not the width.

The drill press and I spent some quality time boring out the recesses. Then I used a mortising chisel and a bevel-edged chisel to clean things up.

The groove for the sliding rail was done with a plunge router and a fence.

Since I mounted the attachment plate flush to the face, I had to route out a wide, shallow recess for that as well on the router table.

With that done, it was time to add the end piece to the tail vise. I used hickory again. I suppose a dovetail would have been better than a tongue/groove, but I don’t trust myself with accurate dovetails yet.

The dry fit worked out nicely.

Next I had to attach the sliding rails to the block. This proved to be an exercise in frustration. I had to shim the bottom rail since the block isn’t thick enough. Then I bored holes for the connecting bolts, which I had to ream out with a file to get the bolts in the right spot. There may have been swearing involved.

Finally, I got the %^&* things to fit. However, I had to take the rails off to get the block mounted on the workbench. Then I had to re-bolt the rails onto the block. Again with the reaming, since things weren’t lining up properly.

Finally it all came together. Here are some money shots of the vise in action (first one is blurry, unfortunately).

I realized too late that I had cut the groove for the end piece along its entire length instead of just for the width of the block. I’ll have to come back later and glue in a piece to fill that so that it works properly as a face vise. After that, I’ll pad both the end piece and the front of the vise with leather like I did with the leg vise.

The first addition was a guide wheel on the underside of the parallel guide. I bought another plastic wheel from Woodcraft and mounted it below the guide. It looks like it could become an ankle biter, but I haven’t run into any problems yet.

It’s only pocket-screwed into the leg, so it may have to be replaced after a while. For the time being though, it works.

The next was to make the pin for the parallel guide. I had bought some 3/8” steel rod from the hardware store, and just needed to mount it on a suitable handle. Some of the leftover hickory from the bench was used, along with a brass compression fitting for the ferrule. I had to grind/sand the rod down a little bit since i drilled the parallel guide holes to 3/8” instead of a little bigger (whoops).

I had the chance to actually use the leg vise in making the tail vise. It grips like none other.

Since I’ve been looking for a few things, I figured I might as well make the 1:15 drive from Downers Grove and have a looksee. Five hours and $300 later, I came home with a pretty decent haul (no, the #1 wasn’t included, but we’ll get to that).

To break the ice, I picked up this Siegley No. 4 for $35. Probably a little spendy for the plane, but it caught my eye, and I liked the unique lateral adjuster and the integral frog design.

I passed up a Chaplin’s Patent #1211 Corrugated Jointer, which I’m still kicking myself for letting go for a measly $15. Next were a Stanley #120 and #130 block planes for $20. Again, maybe a little high for these.

I also grabbed a Stanley #97 wheel marking gauge for $20, which I find to be a fair price considering how much a similar Veritas model costs.

After this they auctioned off some antique gasoline torches and other trinkets (yawn). I snagged a nice, heavy leather punch for $17.50, which I’ve been seeking for a while. Serendipity there. There was a big antique vise sold too for $110, which I might have bid on if I hadn’t just built my workbench.

Next up was a later-model black-painted Stanley No. 71 (including all three cutters AND the adjustable fence that always seems to be missing on ebay models). I got that one for $60, and it will be a nice birthday present for my old man.

After this, five of the #113 circular planes were auctioned off. After being outbid on the first three, I finally bit the bullet and grabbed the last one for $80. I think it’s one of the earliest types of that model.

A Goodell-Pratt breast drill ($7.50) and two saw-sets ($5, one a Stanley) came next. Pretty sure those were a steal.

The last two things I picked up were a Disston 1940 Special crosscut saw and a Disston panel saw ($20 and $17.50). Both in great condition, though the 1940 has a bit of a bow to it that I’ll have to straighten out.

I didn’t take pics, but I also got (4) medium C-clamps ($20) and (3) outside calipers for the lathe. No need for pics on those, I don’t think.

I’m sure some of you would appreciate knowing what the other stuff went for. The owner had planes I hadn’t even heard of before, and some that were in such good condition it’s a shame they only sat on a shelf. For those interested, I’ve compiled a list of various planes and their selling price:

Stanley #1 – $900 (very good condition)
Stanley #2 – $110
Stanley #4 1/2 – $50-60
Stanley #6 – $40-50
Stanley #7 – $60
Stanley #8 – $50-85
Stanley #40 – $50-60 #604 – $85 #606C – $75 #140 (skew block) – $90 #12 scraper – $50-65 #71 & 71 1/2 – $40-60 #113 – $80-95 #39 Dado 1/4” – $110 #39 Dado 1/2” – $80 #39 Dado 5/8” – $80 #45 with all cutters/boxes – $80-110 #55 with all cutters/boxes – $165 & 190

I used southern yellow pine, special ordered from Menards, to build most of the bench. It’s inexpensive, stiff, and I won’t care so much when it gets dinged and banged around during use. The hardware is the Lee Valley Tail Vise and just the plain Tail Vise Screw for the leg vise. The breadboards and leg vise chop are hickory. The parallel guide for the leg vise and the slide rail for the deadman are scrap oak from the shop.

I had originally intended to blog about the construction of my workbench, but considering the frenetic pace of building this thing, it would have gotten in my way. I did all that you see below in the space of a week, and total hours put in was between 40-60. There were some 12+ hour days, and some only 4 hours due to the holiday. I made four big black garbage bags worth of shavings and sawdust, and I’m pretty sure I’m still blowing the finer sawdust from my nose.

Below you can see the wedge ends for the long stretchers, which are dovetailed at the end. They’re nice and easy to whack in with a mallet when the wood inevitably shrinks and expands with the seasons. Also, the back guide wheel for the parallel guide. I’ll have to add one in the front.

The leg vise turned out nicely. Note to all – if you plan on removing the vise hardware from the chop at any point, don’t use the included screws that come with the Lee Valley kit. They stripped out on me pretty quick.

Back view. Easier to see the tool platform and the missing chunk where the tail vise will go.

It was very satisfying to be able to use the workbench even though it’s technically not finished. The thing is rock solid and weighs quite a bit. I’ll have to figure out an estimate once I put together the final SketchUp model.

• Finish the tail vise
• Make the center fill strip for the split
• Add another wheel to the front side of the leg vise
• Make another vise handle on the lathe/finish the leg vise handle
• Drill 3/4-in dog holes
• Re-smith my holdfasts to fit 3/4” dog holes (must’ve measured wrong when I took that blacksmithing class…)
• Make some more dogs for the rectangular dog holes
• Sand/scrape and finish with BLO

That last one I’m reeeeaaaaalllyyyy not looking forward to.

The astute reader will note that the No. 45 cutter boxes had graphics on them displaying the contents of each box. These tend to get destroyed over time and are very rare to be intact on a vintage box. Since I’m fairly well versed in Photoshop, I figured that I could make my own reproduction graphics if I had sufficient starting material.

I started this thread to see if any fellow LJs could post dimensions for the boxes as well as images of the graphics, if they were intact. I was lucky that Gshepherd was kind enough to take some high-res scans of his boxes and email them over, giving me a great starting point (thanks, Gshepherd!). And also thank you Mosquito for posting overall dimensions, though if anyone is willing to take detailed dimensions of each box, I would appreciate that as well.

Anyway, the repro graphics have been uploaded to my Picasa account so that everyone can download them and use them as you will. They are 500ppi in resolution, and formatted as 8×10 images to print off easily with Windows Picture and Fax Viewer or Windows Image Preview (or your favorite Mac/Linux equivalents). I included three choices of background colors to suit the individual – black, grey, and as close to the Stanley green as I could get with the images I could find. If anyone has a better idea what the color actually is, please shoot me a PM.

If you appreciate these, please consider that it took me about 8 hours total to reproduce the graphics. I ask nothing in return except your honest feedback. Also, I was only able to procure images for the Sweetheart versions of these boxes. If anyone has boxes from other vintages that they would like to see reproduced, send a good high-res scan/picture my way with label dimensions, and I’ll do my best to get it done.

To download the pictures, please click on them to be redirected to the Picasa link.