Greetings, Thought I'd post something about WW. I've recently completed a turning saw and a frame resaw.
Started a turning saw a while back, based on the "bug saw" plans at
Used an old oak table leg. I pried apart the lamination to yield a
3.5 x 1.5 inch chunk. I resawed that with a CS. (Posted here regarding that cut.) OK, stock prepared.Moved the pdf file into Adobe Illustrator and created my own outline art. Printed that and rubber-cemented the cut-outs to the stock. (Viz another thread.) Cut with a coping saw (cuz I didn't have a turning saw, natch), #63 spokeshave, and a half-round file. (#49 patternmaker's rasp is on my wishlist.)
Shaved and turned the handles on my drill press. (Posted about that, too.) The pins are a couple of decapitated lag screws, hacksawed and filed to shape. Cut leather washers from the same belt that provided my bench strop. [Can you believe what the catalogs charge for a chunk of leather glued to a board!]
Waited over a month for the backordered blade to arrive from woodworker.com. Then I cut the crossbar and put in the tenons. Smart, huh?
Scraped with a Clifton 0.8 mm scraper. Finished by rubbing orange shellac. I used canned Bull's Eye. I'm new to shellac, started with a small can before someday taking the plunge for a bag of flakes.
Was too cheap to pay 5 bucks shipping for a 2.50 roll of waxed linen sailmaker's cord. Popped the recycling twine. Found a spare pack of bootlaces. Perfect. Threw clove hitches around the lace instead of the handle because the lace, at 60", is a wee bit shorter than I'd like. Nevertheless, it works like a charm.
The Resaw: I was inspired by the plans at
Some insensitive clod bought the piece of hickory I wanted at Woodcraft, so I settled for a chunk of ash from Rockler up the road. It looked mostly straight in the store. Oh my. Anyway, it had a 30" long straight place, so I was in business. I got two of the frame saw blades from Woodcraft: the stagger tooth and the tenon. Someday I might get a bandsaw blade to cut down...
The long dimension was determined by the blade; I sized the short dimension to make a Golden Rectangle. Traced my hands onto the frame and shaved and filed to fit. The feel of a custom handle is just unbelievable. Finished this one with rubbed shellac too. Waiting a few days before waxing, but it works just fine. Not as narrow a kerf as might be possible, but it feels fine.
The "Should I build this" thread reminded me of my old Jr High footstool. It's gotten pretty beaten up in 26 years. Yesterday and today I whipped out a copy. No power tools. Better tolerances, too. Just for grins I used my #62 folding ruler and a couple of old rosewood squares for layout. (Ebay is $o much fun to brow$e.)
Have fun, and...