Tang hole saw

[Greg T. Obach]

Hi all
heres a handy tool that I use for squaring up tang holes after I drill the round holes in the wood handle blank.
I use jig saw blades and old soft iron bolts for the handle....
- the idea is put the bolt in a vice and cut a slot straight down it with a hacksaw.... now lightly tap in the tang of the jig saw blade and tack weld it on the sides... or else pin it in if you don't have a mig

these remove lotsa wood and make tang holes less frustrating

ps. sure you could buy some keyhole saws but this way you can use up some of those useless jigsaw blades... and an added benefit to it is that you can grind the handles super thin..... now you can reach all the way in the hole

enjoy
Greg

[Greg T. Obach]

heres a fancy one ... with removable blades

[Jerry Bennett]

Thanks Greg. A simple tool, that is funtional, and usefull, is a thing of joy.

[Jesse Frank]

I'm gonna make me one

[Greg T. Obach]

its funny but squaring up the hole is alway a pita ... before I used a bunch of square files and gravers.... but this removed wood at a slow pace.

then I tried using jigsaw blades in vicegrips... and that worked a little but was very wishy washy.... so I grabbed the closest metal thing (which was an old carriage bolt ) and tack welded the blade in a little slot.....
- now it'll reach way in there... specially if you grind the sides of the carriage bolt down..... i've seriously cut my time down with this kind of handle
- once you start making your own tools... you can talor the tool to the specific task at hand

it all works out.... since i'm a poor boy, I don't have any keyhole saw's..... the price is right !

anyhow..from the saws I tested out..... they didn't have the profile i wanted nor the gnarly teeth on the saw...

the metal handle adds rigidity

Greg

[Adlai Stein]

That's brilliant.

[Lee Cordochorea]

Originally posted by Greg Thomas
heres a fancy one ... with removable blades

Functional and aesthetic! Well done sir!!

So, you pull the chips toward you - as oppesed to pushing them with a file. Did that take any getting used to?

[justin king]

I'll try to post a pic of my home-made file/rasp/saw thingy that I made for this same purpose. It was originally a test scrap of O-1 that I drew out to a nice, skinny square rod, then annealed (no mean feat with 0-1, I found). Then I cut some rough teeth on the last 2" or so with a hacksaw, cleaned them up with a needle file, and hardened and tempered the area with the teeth. Added a very ugly wood handle and was impressed with myself for most of a day-this tool has changed my life when it comes to slotting out grips. The pics are lousy, though.

[justin king]

Another lousy pic of the whole thing-the business end is a bit over 1/8" wide, so it cuts a slot that usually dosen't need any more opening up or side cutting. Cuts very fast, too-I tried it out on a pair of African ebony grip blanks the other day and fitted them both in about an hour and a half, which is a record for me! The teeth do load up though and have to be cleaned out regularly.

[justin king]

Forgot the damn pic!

[Greg T. Obach]

thanks all

it was real easy to get used to (pulling the cuttings)... and cuts fast too!... specially with the large gnarly teeth... (my fav)

Justin: thats a nice tool .... I think were onto somethin here.... and I really like this idea of effeciency.... and this part of the handle alway takes way too long to do

since i'm a little on the lazy side.... to make a wider saw I was going to mig weld the ends on numerous jigsaw blades in a sandwich.... to get the width your tool has...... then dress it

I alway liked the idea of a drilled tang hole rather than the mortised and glued approach..... even though both are good

if there are anymore time saver tools out there..... come on out !!

thank again
Greg

[Jim Mearkle]

I cut off the tang of an old epee, and filed it into a corner chisel. I'll have to dig it out and take a picture.