loose saw nuts

[Marc Casebolt]

Gentlemen (persons?),

I am rehabing an old hand saw. It has a Warranted Superior medalion, a Diston etch, a nib, an 18 inch long blade, and about 14 tpi. I picked it up for $3.00 at a swap meet because it was such a cool looking little saw.

When I got it the handle was loose so I took it apart to clean everything up (very little rust), threw a sharp on it, (getting better at that), and now for re assembly. I cannot get the saw nuts tight so that the handle doesn't move on the plate.

I'm not sure if its just a matter of getting enough tork on them, if that's the case then how do I grab hold of the 'nut' side to tighten the 'screw' side.

Or perhaps I need to modify them so that they will clamp down on the now slightly shrunken handle. I can see how that would be done, but looking for a better way. I still need a good way to grab the 'nut'.

I'm still pretty new to this and want to avoid screwing this little saw up.

Thanks for being here,

Marc

[Jim Koepke]

Usually the nuts should grab the wood in the handle with a square boss on the bolt side of the saw nut. This is some what like a carriage bolt.

If the holes are worn, you may need to glue some pieces of wood inside the hole to reestablish the grip.

You may also have a saw plate in a handle that was meant for a different saw. If this is the case, you may have to shim it with paper or some other material to make it a little tighter.

jim

[Peter Evans]

Need photos, and depends on whether the screws are split nut or not. If an old saw there is a good chance the holes the screws go through have enlarged over time. Not much you can do about that (I have a 200 year old English London saw with that problem, however I do not plan to use it). This is easy to check for.

From your description this is likely a modern screw (post c 1890); could be that the wood has shrunk and the screw is bottoming in the nut. You can check for this by using washers under the screw ends. Also you did record which screws came out of which holes didn't you? Also if the screws have been removed before, the countersink may have reamed out too big.

The quickest way to tighten the screw that keeps on revolving is to clamp a piece of wood on top of the screw using 2 clamps; if necessary placing a piece of router mat (carpet underlay) between the clamping wood and the screw, you can also use sandpaper. There are other methods requiring more work, but the above usually works. DO NOT DO THIS to split nuts, the brass is likely too week to take the strain, and the screw is flush with the handle anyway.

There was also a period (between the wars) when some English makers used rivets made to look like saw screws on their cheap saws. These are almost impossible to remove without damaging the handle, you need to dig the rivets out.

Cheers
Peter in very wet Sydney

[harry strasil]

all of the above plus, if the wood has shrunk, and the bolt is bottoming out inside the nut, you may need to file a bit off the end of the bolt off, if the nut then won't go on far enough you have run out of threads on the bolt and need to shorten the inside end of the nut up a tad.

[harry strasil]

and I have one similar with 14 ppi, that has no set, that is a nail saw, made to saw thru the ocassional nail in flooring etc

[Marc Casebolt]

Thanks for the replies,

There are no square bosses on the screws, they are round all the way along thier length. I'm pretty sure that this handle is origional to the plate, it's much smaller than a normal handle which maches the saw plate size,and the holes match up perfectly.

Not split nuts, and I did keep track of where they came from, and put back accordingly.

I'll try clamping the nut side as Peter said, and if needed I'll file down the screws. If there are any other ideas out there, please jump in.

Marc

[Ray Gardiner]

Hi Marc,

As Harry (and Peter) have already said, the handle has probably shrunk and the screw is bottoming out. A few swipes of a file should fix it, also you might try linseed oil on the handle, sometimes that swells the wood sufficiently.

Regards
Ray

[Marc Casebolt]

Here is the saw with a #12 that I got at the same time (paid $6.00 for them both).

I was able to tighten the nuts by filing the ends of the screws, and taking some off the inside end of the nuts. Once they were the right length there was no problem getting them nice and tight. I cleaned the handle with mineral spirits, then hit it with BLO. Will wax it in a week or so.

The saw is now pretty sharp (crosscut) with just a tiny bit of set, and cuts straight.

I'll probably just keep it around for kids to use, or if there is a tight place to get to. Thanks for your input.

Marc

[Phillip Pattee]

$6.00? For both? You suck. Nice gloat.

[Jim Koepke]

$6.00? For both? You suck. Nice gloat.

+1 on that, good score.

jim