The Saw Nut Saga From Hell

I just checked and it was back on February 2nd that I received some beautiful saw plates from Bob Roziaeski (Logan Cabinet Shoppe).  I’d rushed down and cut handle blanks from cherry and wrote a blog post about it.  Then I went off looking for my bag of saw nuts.  I’d bought it back around 2000 and had no idea where they were so the shop got turned upside down to find them.  And, I posted, way back when, another post about how disappointed I was with my bag of saw nuts when I found them.  I mentioned then that I ordered shiny new ones from Wenzloff.

This rocky start to my saw handle project must have been a harbinger of how badly this project was to go and now, some 6 weeks later, I’m here to report that I’ve accomplished something that should have taken no more than a couple hours.  Sometimes life serves you lemons and the proverb says you’re supposed to make lemon-aid.  What happens when life repeatedly trips you up?  Build a softer floor?  I wonder.

Saw Nuts Arrive

 

 

 

 

 

It took a while for the saw nuts to arrive as Mike Wenzloff was having some health problems (hope he’s doing ok now).  But they were worth the wait.  On the left are the saw nuts I rejected for use.  On the right are the ones Wenzloff sells.

And as Paul Harvey used to say….the rest of the story

I was excited  to be able to get the handles on the saws so I could try them out, even though the handles wouldn’t be carved.  I ran downstairs, opened my box of Forstner bits, grabbed the 1/2″ bit and the next larger size, and  commenced to drill relief holes for the saw nuts.  This was the result:

Notice the problem?  Yep, the holes for the 9/16″ dia saw nuts are too large.  Guess what?  My Forstner set jumps from 1/2″ to 5/8″ so yeah, if you drill a 10/16″ hole, it’s bigger than a 9/16″ hole.  Woodworking is such a learning experience.  Boy, did I feel dumb.

Quebec City doesn’t provide a lot of choices when it comes to buying bits.  Well, we do have a choice, I guess. I could go to the big-box store owned by people in Quebec or to Home Depot.  The results and choices are pretty much the same.  And those choices didn’t include a 9/16″ Forstner bit.  No problem, says me.  I’ll just order one from my buddies at Lee Valley.  Maybe the most important thing that comes from living in Canada is that shipments from Lee Valley come VERY quickly.  And so I turned off the shop lights and ordered the bit.

The next day I cut a new handle blank so I’d be ready when the bit arrived and when it did I headed for the shop.  I was on a roll now.  The bit showed up and I was back in the shop.  Nothing was going to stand between me and my saws.  Except…

Except that I had eight relief holes to drill with that bit and as I started to drill the fifth one, the bottom of the bit just stopped turning.  Huh?  When I raised the quill on my drill press the top of the bit went with it, leaving the bottom stuck in the wood.  Grrr…grumble…say it ain’t so.

I contacted Lee Valley, explaining the situation, telling them I wanted to buy another bit and wondered if their bits carried any warranty (I didn’t expect they would).  Rather quickly I got an email from their support staff, which is an understatement about what these guys do for their customers.  Rob Lee should be proud.

I was told to pitch the old bit and that they’d put another in the mail to me.  They did.  In fact they expedited that shipment to me so this morning I drilled the rest of the relief holes and this is the result.  Thanks so much to Lee Valley.  It’s so fun to do business with companies that care.

I won’t bore you with the details of my fight to poke holes in sheet steel.  It involved titanium bits, cutting fluid and what seemed to be a stressfilled amount of time.  But I have the handles mounted.

As you can see, I still need to carve and shape the handles but I got to put sawteeth to wood this morning and…   Hey, Bob, can you come in here for a minute?  Yeah…it’ll only take a minute.  Stand right here, Bob and look out at the two people who read this blog.  Folks this is the guy who sharpened these saws and produced the nifty saw nib on each of them.  Take a bow, Bob.

I apologize for not documenting the process better but geez…I was having soooooo much fun.

Cheers — Larry

 

Lee Valley’s New Bester/Imanishi Ceramic Sharpening Stones

Have you noticed that most hand tool woodworkers talk, spend and think more about sharpening their tools than they do about pretty much anything else?  Why not?  Let’s face it, the barriers most face when it comes to hand tools are the skills to use them and the ability to keep them sharp.

On can find all sorts of esoteric discussions about micro-bevels, back bevels, metal crystal structure and thest.  Today, all I want to do is separate sharpening from honing when deciding on a method as I think viewing them separately clarifies the decision-making process.  It might even result in some using two systems, one for each process, like I am doing.

Sharpening vs honing

Sharpening

Most debates pit sandpaper, water, oil and ceramic stones against one another and talk about the end result of each.  This is a fool’s errand.  All of these systems work and work well.  That is exactly why they exist and form the banter of so many less-filling/tastes-great debates in woodworking forums.

But let’s look at these from the perspective of sharpening only - the process of shaping and creating a basic edge on the tool. The shaping portion of this might be done on your grinder, of course, but it need not involve one.  Coarse versions of other methods can be used equally well so I’m going to skip the electron-burning step in this discussion.

Scary Sharp (sandpaper)

Using rough sandpaper one can shape and sharpen a tool.  The entry cost is very low.  It’s efficient.  I used to use this method but found I was fiddling with replacing sandpaper too often and it ended up not being so cheap in the long run, but it works.  This method is lubricated by spritzing the sandpaper with water.

Oil stones, Water stones, Ceramic stones

I lump these together when it comes to simple sharpening as any of these methods require a low-grit stone.  Even the problem of having to flatten the stones is mostly the same for these three in their low-grit varieties as the stones are so friable, though it is arguable that oil stones win that contest.

But oil stones do have the advantage of using oil that you apply when you need to use them.  Some find this to be their biggest disadvantage as well.  Water and ceramic stones in low-grit forms require submergence for some period of time before use.  This is not a problem for sharpening as you only shape/sharpen a tool infrequently.  Yes, you read this correctly.  Remember, I’ve separated honing from sharpening, though I realize that honing is simply refined sharpening.

In the end, these various methods are pretty much equal when it comes to getting a bit of camber on your plane iron or rolling up that first burr on a blade.  Scary Sharp and maybe oil have an advantage as you don’t have to submerge the stones but submerging your stones, either storing them submerged or submerging them 10-15 minutes before you sharpen which isn’t a big deal due to the infrequent nature of this activity.

Honing

Honing is a process that a hand tool person does ALL THE TIME!  Once you have a basic edge you will return again and again to fine grits to maintain the blade edge as you work.  Thus, convenience is a big deal, as is the result.  In the debates that rage, only results are debated back and forth and, frankly, for most who have been sharpening so we can do woodworking, these debates are little more than dust in the wind as differences, if they exist are insignificant in practice.  I’m sure I’ll get mail over that statement but I’ll make it anyway.  Maybe your wood is different from mine.

But let’s look at the convenience factor.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I have considerable experience honing with scary sharp and water stone methods.  I’ve never gotten my hands on a hard black arkansas stone so my honing experience with oil is minimal.  And I’ve only recently had the pleasure of using ceramic stones on my own tools.  So, let’s get started.

Scary Sharp: Very convenient due to the spritzing of its lubrication system.  The downside is the rapid turnover of the sandpapers, though the high-quality, plastic-backed honing papers are pretty nice if you don’t cut through them.

Oil stones: I have to make assumptions here but given the oil lubricant, applied in small quantities, I’d have to guess this method is convenient as well.  Oil stones also don’t have to be flattened as often as other stones, adding to the convenience factor.

Water stones: This is the method I’ve used for the last 5-6 years I’d guess.  It works well and produces sharp tools.  It’s a very popular method of honing.  And it’s a PAIN IN THE BUTT when it comes to honing for the simple reason that you have to soak the stones before you can use them.  If you don’t, a spritz of water on their surface wicks into the stone and disappears.  Still, it works.  It’s just not convenient for a process that one wants to do in a minute or so and then get back to work.

Ceramic stones: Honing convenience is where these stones shine in my opinion.  They are my motivation for this post.  High-grit ceramic stones require no soaking.  You can spritz them with water, hone, and be back to work in no time.  Little or no clean up necessary.  In my experience, convenience is the difference between continuing to work with a tool that is dulling and always working with sharp tools.  In short, it’s priceless.

So you’d think I would have bought some long ago.  I tried, I really did.  But getting Shapton stones seemed a task better suited to Indiana Jones than an old fart living in Quebec City.  And to think we used to talk about the limited supply of Japanese waterstones.  Anyways, until a few weeks ago, I had continued using my waterstones for honing.

No more.  I now have 4000 and 8000 grit ceramic stones from Lee Valley and I love them.  You gotta love anything that comes in spiffy boxes like these:

I’ve only used them half a dozen times but they are a dream come true.  I can now hone a chisel in less than a minute and not get wet.  Ya gotta love that.