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The plates were screwed to the wooden halves on the open end using flat head, brass wood screws. Using a file the protruding ends of the screws were knocked flush with the wood surface. The remaining plates and the wooden sides were assembled with brass machine screws. Once the machine screws were tightened the threaded ends were filed close to the surface and then peened over. The handle was now assembled. The heads of the screws were filed flat to the surface. The handle assembly was filed and sanded to present a smooth surface. The edges of the handle were gently filed to take the sharp edge off the tool. The blade was sanded with 80 grit sandpaper to give a grained surface often found on old tools. The blade and cheese head screw were assembled into the tool and it was finished. Later on I decided to have my name and the year the tool was finished engraved on the brass.
The slot-less bevel gage. Making the three squares I had enough mahogany to make the smallest and largest square. For the middle-sized one I used some wood sold as “Santos Mahogany”. I am not certain exactly what it is, but it has a pleasant fragrance when cut. The bars were sized first and then slots for the blades were cut in one end using a tenon fixture on a table saw. Once that was done the blades were cut to size. A surface planer was used to get a tight fit in the bar slot. Before gluing them the areas around the joint where no glue was wanted were masked off. Hide glue was applied to the mating surfaces. The blade and bar were assembled and clamped to a framing square. A clamp was then applied to squeeze the joined surfaces. The squares were finished with garnet shellac and then rubbed out with wax using 0000 steel wool.
Gluing one of the squares.
The three squares. The bow saw I wanted the finished bow saw to look as much as possible as the one in the chest. I don’t have a bow saw at this time and planned on using this one in my shop, more on that later. The two uprights and the stretcher were rough cut and thickness planed. While the pieces were still rectangular the mortises and tenons were cut and fit and the holes for the handles bored in the ends. Using the book as a guide the pattern of the uprights and stretcher were traced on the wood and the contours band sawed to shape. Rasps, files, spoke shaves and sandpaper were used to get the final shape. The tension bar was made from a piece of scrap and shaped with spoke shaves, planes and chisels. Again, using the photo in the book the handles were turned on a lathe. The ends of the handles were turned to accept a brass ferrule. Twelve-inch blades were purchased from a supplier. The pins were knocked out and the holes reamed to accept a removable pin. The two uprights had holes drilled in the bottom end to fit the ferrule on each handle. The ferrules were put on the handles and a hole for the pin drilled in each one. A slot was then cut in each end with a ferrule in place at a right angle to the axis of the pin. Linen twine was used for the tension end of the saw. The saw pieces were assembled and tension was applied to the blade. The saw didn’t work well! It turns out the mortise and tenon joints were too loose and the saw flexed along the axis of the blade. I plan to make another saw correcting the problems I have with this one.
The bow saw.
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