My dovetail saw

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I got a bug to make my own DT saw.
I made it but not till I had first solved for my lack of hand filing skills by building the machine that tooths and sharpens the saw blanks.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...hlight=toother

OK great.
But I wanted more. I wanted my saw to have a nice brass back instead of that ugly aluminum rig with the holes in it that came with it as it started life as a Sheet-Rock joint compound spreader.

So I got some brass and cut it to the right size and applied it to the saw using epoxy the same way Vlad Spehar does it.

Well apparently what I did is not exactly the same way. I glued up my saw and brass last night and clamped it together.
Preparation before gluing was done using dry abrasives and naphtha to clean the metal surfaces.
Today I un-clamped it and it looked Great~!! Nice and stiff.
I cleaned it up and proceeded to mount my shiny new brass backed blade in my handle. After I got it all snugly settled in and was tightening the nuts down I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye that should not have been. It was sort of like catching the shadow of a rat scurrying.

The bloody brass had come away from the steel. Both brass pieced came away. The epoxy just let go almost as if I had pre-treated the metal with a mold release. It was that bizarre. Some epoxy film was on the brass and some on the steel.

Any clues what caused this?

As an aside: this batch of epoxy wasn't old and I've used it before with success.

[Julian Nicks]

Cliff, your original post is what inspired me to make a small jig to hold the file and helped me to cut teeth on my newly refurbished 1917 disston backsaw. Thanks for the inspiring post.

I'm not sure what caused the problem with the epoxy. What temp did the saw cure at? Is it fully cured where it stuck to the blade? Was the catalyst mixed at the proper ratio? These are just the first things off the top of my head that could affect the bonding.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Cliff, your original post is what inspired me to make a small jig to hold the file and helped me to cut teeth on my newly refurbished 1917 disston backsaw. Thanks for the inspiring post.

I'm blushing. How'd that rig work out for ya. I tried a couple and just never got it to work the way I wanted.

I'm not sure what caused the problem with the epoxy. What temp did the saw cure at? Is it fully cured where it stuck to the blade? Was the catalyst mixed at the proper ratio? These are just the first things off the top of my head that could affect the bonding.

temp of cure: Room temperature. Circa 70 Deg F

fully cured where stuck to blade: Yipper.

mixed ratio: VIA dispenser in equal parts.

It was epoxy from the tube: Ace Hardware: 2 Ton.

I should try another batch.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I wonder if this will make a difference:
http://www.drillspot.com/products/32...Epoxy_Adhesive'

[Al Biggles]

I cleaned it up and proceeded to mount my shiny new brass backed blade in my handle.
The bloody brass had come away from the steel. Both brass pieced came away. The epoxy just let go almost as if I had pre-treated the metal with a mold release. It was that bizarre. Some epoxy film was on the brass and some on the steel.

Any clues what caused this?

Did you use power to do the clean up? The epoxy I use takes a surprisingly low temp to completely let go - making a cut in a brass/wood/brass sandwich with a power hacksaw causes complete delamination.

[George Moore]

Cliff,

Try JB Weld. It will do the job of epoxying the brass to the metal and it will be there when you wear the saw out.

Have a Blessed day.
George

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Did you use power to do the clean up? The epoxy I use takes a surprisingly low temp to completely let go -

Why, yes I did. I took the back to a belt sander. And indeed it got a tad warm but not above 200. Most epoxies start to break down about 250 F.

making a cut in a brass/wood/brass sandwich with a power hacksaw causes complete delamination.

And I did use a whacker on the ends while re-seating it in the handle too.

By Jove you may have hit it spot on. I busted my own work.
Heat and violence.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Try JB Weld.

I was thinking of that.

[Julian Nicks]

Cliff, I wanted to get elaborate like you did, but I didn't have the time(patience) to go to the local borg and get some threaded rod. I did however make a small holder for the file and made a small t square to run the file holder against. If I was to make another blade, I would try the threaded rod trick.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

success. New batch of glue no power in the finish no whacking with any whackers.
Finished using files and progressive 3-M Tri-M-Ite 180 then 320 then 420 grit it looks nice all the grain going the same way.

Pic - - well when the film is developed. I have a nearly full roll of Black and White in the camera.