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Saw Handle Repair
by James Brown |
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I recently purchased an
old 17 inch panel handsaw with, as is so often the
case, a badly broken handle.
It was in three pieces,
one of which had a poorly aligned glue joint.
It was also minus any medallion, so its pedigree was
unknown. Any decision to repair the handle was
delayed until the blade could be cleaned to see if
that revealed anything. Electrolytic
de-rusting and subsequent cleanup revealed the saw
to be a "Browns" No. 3, with a Keystone Saw Works
etch.
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James Brown |
I decided that in this case, the blade was of sufficient
interest to warrant repair of the handle rather than looking for
a replacement.
Besides, I do antique repair and restoration for a living, so
I like the process of trying to restore structural integrity
while maintaining as much of the character as possible. The
steps I used in the repair of this handle are described below.
The first thing I had to do was to undo the bad glue joint in
the grip area, done by some previous owner. I soaked the grip in
water overnight, which allowed me to carefully break the joint.
The overnight soaking had resulted in darkening of the wood,
so I applied oxalic acid wood bleaching solution. I left
this only long enough to lighten the water-darkened areas,
then rinsed it off to minimize any loss of original patina.
