Category: hand tools

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Turkish Knife and Saw Handles

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a small serrated folding knife. I wasn’t able to figure out what it was used for–the serrations are very fine. As you can see in the photo, the sides are ground slightly and taper towards the cutting edge. The back of the blade is about .020″, and it tapers towards the cutting edge which is a very thin .010-.007″. The shape is similar to a modern pruning saw which also has a pistol type handle. It was made in Bursa, Turkey, which is the center for metal working– like Sheffield in England, or Solingen in Germany.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I find the handle the most interesting feature since it fits comfortably into the heel of the hand. It cuts, Eastern style saw, on the pull stroke. It cost $4.00 and was quickly made- note the crude ferrule and pivot pin, however the complex curves on the handle must have taken some time. But it feels surprisingly solid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This illustration is from a Ward and Payne Ltd., Sheffield catalog, circa 1910’s. This is called a Turkish Saw (aka. Monkey saw) According to Salaman’s Dictionary of woodworking tools, they are common in Greece, Crete and Turkey and are used as a dovetail or small tenon saw. Again, it cuts eastern style on the pull stroke, so the blade can be made thinner. And like the knife above, the handle looks very comfortable, since it extends near to the wrist at the very end.

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The Book is Like a Hammer

James Gleick wrote a op-ed about books, physicality  and publishing in the New York Times.   He writes, “As a technology, the book is like a hammer. That is to say, it is perfect: a tool ideally suited to its task. Hammers can be tweaked and varied but will never go obsolete.”  This succinctly sums up the relationship between two of my passions- books and tools.  He ends with a charge to those who make books, “Go back to an old-fashioned idea: that a book, printed in ink on durable paper, acid-free for longevity, is a thing of beauty. Make it as well as you can. People want to cherish it.”

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Shoulder Plane

shoulder-plane

 

I made this shoulder plane a couple of years ago because I was too cheap to purchase a lee valley shoulder plane as an experiment.  I ended up making a set of different sizes, partly due to the thrill of rapid learning when you step out of your area of expertise.  Although it looks complex, it is only marginally more difficult than making a knife, since a plane is basically a jigged knife.  According to Salamon’s Dictionary of Woodworking Tools, shoulder planes appeared in the 19th century, and were only made of metal.  “Their purpose is to clean rebates, shoulders of tenons, etc. across the grain.”

This one is made up of a rosewood core, brass sides and a dovetailed steel sole and has a three quarter inch cutting width. The blade is advanced by tapping on it’s end, which is hidden under the handle in this image, and released by tapping on the back of the plane.  I made this only using hand tools- hacksaw, files, jeweler’s saw, tap and a drill.  The sides were tapped then threaded with 8/32 stainless steel rod.  I find metal dovetails almost easier to make than wood ones- the angle of the dovetail is 60 degrees, which is the same as a three sided file.  If you leave the pins and tails slightly proud, they can be hammered slightly to fill small gaps.  Since the bed of the plane can be easily filed, the fine tuning can take place after the sides are assembled.  I was trying to give it a streamlined Deco look, and it works great.