Make a Shapely Bowsaw the Maker of This Arm Just Drilled a Straight Hole for the Handle
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to match the taper of the brass pin. The other arm is a replacement, less well-shaped but precise in its joinery. Make a Shapely Bowsaw The maker of this arm just drilled a straight hole for the handle. The saw frame shows evidence of the shaping BY WILLARD ANDERSON process in various drill, rasp, carving gouge and saw marks. The shoulders for the mortise-and- tenon joinery for the arm and stretcher were radiused to a 21⁄4" circle and the Proper, tapered handle tenon corners were relieved. The joinery keeps the shoulders tight as the handles holes make this piece seat more deeply with wear, or where there is variation in blade length. The period-correct. mortise for the original arm was drilled with a 5⁄16" bit in three steps, then it was squared. The mortise in the replacement A special find. This bowsaw, which was probably made in the mid-1800s, was discovered at a arm was just chopped out. Mid-West Tool Collectors Association meeting. The rectangular mortise in the whorl he bowsaw is an ancient tool appears to have been cut with a mortis- and a member of a class of saws ing machine in two steps, halfway from during use, which may happen once a T called frame saws, in which ten- either side of the whorl, based on the straight hole is worn slightly. sion from the frame is designed to hold appearance of rub marks on the inside I do not know if the blade is original the blade taut. Also sometimes called of the mortise. Because this mortise to the saw or not. It does not appear to a “turning saw,” the bowsaw features may have been cut on a machine as be a band saw blade. The 15" blade is 9 a very narrow and thin blade with opposed to by hand, it is possible that points per inch (8 teeth per inch), filed handles that turn in the frame – that the maker purchased this part of the to a rip cut with the blade oriented to makes it particularly useful for cutting bowsaw from a vendor who special- cut on the push stroke. The rake is on curves and fretwork. Because the blade ized in this type of work. The groove average about 17°, which seems high for is attached by means of loose pins that for the cord in the whorl appears to have a ripsaw. The included angle is around X-ray view. This X-ray of the long handle of the are inserted in holes at each end of the been cut to depth with a crosscut saw, a 70° or more, indicating that as the bowsaw reveals the depth of the hardware hole in the handle and the taper of the brass blade, it is easy for a blade to be removed conclusion based on saw marks in the pin at each end. from the frame and slipped through a bottom of the groove. pilot hole in the stock, then remounted The brass pin holding the saw blade is Add tension. This picture shows on the frame for cutting. tapered through the original arm. A local the detail of the windlass, which is Bowsaws range in size from 6" (about veterinarian friend of mine kindly took used to apply tension to the bow- the size of a modern coping saw, which an X-ray of the handle area, which veri- saw blade. is also a frame saw) to about 15" in over- Curvaceous. This bowsaw, a reproduction of a mid-19th-century example with exuberantly fied that the brass hardware was tapered all length. The bowsaw contrasts with curved arms, features traditional tapered pins – unlike modern commercial bowsaws. into the handle as well. The holes in the other frame saws, such as veneer and handles were drilled very deep – much felloe saws, which feature wider blades longer than the pins required. There are fixed in the center of the frame and are purchase, then asked the owner to lend 1835 and 1863. The handles were made grooves on the pin inside the handle, typically used for ripping or cutting it to me so that I could make a reproduc- in the earlier years of the James How- indicating that the pin was probably stock lengthwise. tion. He generously gave his consent. arth firm, based on the stamp details. glued in place initially. Later, a steel I spied the antique bowsaw shown in Here’s irony: The cost of reproducing But if the handles were sold separately, cross pin was inserted through the the top right photo on the facing page this bowsaw exceeded the original’s then it is hard to say when the complete minor diameter of the handle to lock Period marks. Note the crossed at a tool sale, judged it too expensive to price. However, what I got for my extra bowsaw was actually made. the handle in place on the brass pin. scribe marks on the stretcher made money was an invaluable lesson in the The feature of this saw that appealed All of the modern bowsaws I’ve by the original maker and used design and construction of the form. to me most was the delicate windlass looked at have straight handle pins, and to lay out the arc of the tenon used to tension the blade. The toggle all of the antique bowsaws I’ve looked shoulder. “Men admire the man who can About the Saw of the windlass is neatly tenoned into at have tapered pins. Tapering the pins organizetheir wishes and thoughts The history of the bowsaw I used as the stretcher’s mortise, and is tenoned through the bowsaw arms locks the in stone and wood and steel and a model is interesting. Although the through a mortise in the whorl. One of handles in place by the wedging action maker of this saw is unknown, we do the saw’s arms is shaped very gracefully of the taper, as well as by the tension brass.” know that the boxwood handles were and was likely the original construc- from the windlass. This is an excellent Maker’s — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) made by James Howarth, a toolmaker in tion, because the brass blade hardware mechanical method to ensure that the scribe marks American philosopher and essayist Sheffield, England, who worked between is fitted into a tapered hole in the arm saw does not rotate about the handles 44 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING MAGAZINE November 2011 LEAD PHOTO BY AL paRRisH; stEP PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR; ILLUstRatiOns BY LinDA Watts FROM THE AUTHOR’S DRAWinGS popularwoodworking.com ■ 45 user refiled the blade, he focused the NOTE: These illustrations are not drawn to relative scale. file on the leading edge of each tooth, 1∕2" which would explain why the rake was so high. The teeth have a heavy set: 6 thousandths on each side. 5⁄8" 1" For the following reasons, this bow- 11∕2" saw was probably made by a user. First, 13⁄8" manufacturers often stamped their 4" work but this saw has no stamp on the Ream. Before turning each handle to its final body. Second, the curvature of the arms dimensions, use a hand reamer to ream the 9⁄ is exuberant. In commercial bowsaws, Pin hole. Drill a 32" hole in one end of each holes so that the brass pin is just shy of fully 13⁄8" the handle, the mortise shoulders and handle blank. seating. the finial are usually in a line, which 23⁄4" allows all of the joinery and the holes to be cut from straight and square stock. is often used. I cut my boxwood log to but many other options are possible. This particular bowsaw had to be par- length and cut the handle blanks from The weakest part of the arm is at the HANDLE LAYOUts tially shaped in order to get access to the the log just shy of the pith. Drill one end finial, so orient the template to give the 137⁄8" joinery surfaces for drilling the holes of the blanks to 9⁄32" (the small diameter longest grain in this region. Saw two and cutting the mortise. And third, of the brass pins). parallel cuts to define the front and back the degree of shaping of the bowsaw While the blanks are in the rough, of the arms as much as possible. Plane arms and stretcher is quite refined and ream the holes using a hand reamer until and spokeshave these two surfaces flat 1⁄16" required a lot of handwork – which the pins are just shy of seating completely. and square. 3⁄8 1 " 3 1 ⁄4" 1∕4 would likely not have been economi- Turn the handles to their final dimen- I inserted a 3⁄8"-thick spline into a ⁄4" 1 " 5 cal in production. sions. The handles are then carefully 3⁄4"-deep slot into the end of each arm, ⁄16" 5 reamed for the final snug fit of the pin. at right angles to the face of the arm. The ⁄16" Gather Your Materials Coat the pins with hide glue and tap them 3 1∕2" 3 ⁄8" I generally cut my blades from band into place. Because the hole in the small saw blades but you can find 15" 9 ppi handle is so much shorter than in the 1 11∕2" 1 pinless blades (note that these are only long handle, two reamers will be needed, ∕2" ∕2" 1 3 14 ⁄2" hole to hole) at traditionalwood one cut to length for the small handle.