New Scrapers and Fixed Pax Rip Saw Handle

Another item on my "to-do" list was to make some new scrapers from the blade of a horribly crappy Craftsman dovetail saw that I had gotten some years ago.  I had taken the saw apart a few months ago and it has been sitting in a drawer since then.

Dovetail saw parts

I filed off the teeth with the saw tooth jointing jig, holding the blade in the vise.

Filing off the teeth

After measuring about halfway along the length and marking a line, I sandwiched the blade between two pieces of scrap wood and used a hacksaw to cut it in two.

Sawing the blade in two

After that I cleaned up the edges with files and sharpened as I would any scraper.  I didn't have high hopes about this steel and how good of a scraper it would make, but I got a decent edge and some nice shavings.

Using the new scraper

Time will tell whether these scrapers hold up.  Maybe I'll shape them further and used them for curved work.


Last Friday I wrote about the loose handle of my Pax 26" rip saw.  "Loose" is a bit unclear - it took some force to move it, but it would move in use, which was quite annoying.  Here's the problem: the holes in the plate are 5/16" diameter, the holes in the handle are just under that at 19/64" and the saw bolts thread major diameter is 3/16".  So there is almost 1/16" play between the bolts and the holes in all directions.

Wanted to shim the bolts to fit the holes better

I ended up getting some nylon spacers from McMaster-Carr that were 5/16" OD, 3/16" ID and 1 3/16" long.  Each piece could make two shims.

Nylon spacer

I knew when I got these that they would fit the saw plate holes and that the bolts would fit in the ID (and they did), but I also knew they would not quite fit the handle holes.  So I had to modify the OD slightly and I did this using the scrapers I had just made.  I have a fixture with a V-groove that I use when planing square stock into round stock and that worked well to hold the spacer while scraping.

Scraping the spacer to reduce the outer diameter

Once the diameter was reduced enough, I fit the spacers into the handle holes.

Four of five spacers fit into the holes

Realistically, two or three well-placed shims would have been enough, but I decided to go for all five.  Knowing that today's saws are produced with CNC mills, I was sure the handle holes and plate holes would line up perfectly.  If not, it might have been more challenging to put the saw back together with all five holes shimmed.

Putting it back together

All that was left was to screw the handle back on.  One thing I know for sure, now - that handle is not going to move at all ever again!