An Axe Man’s Bucksaw Part 3

The entire build, in order, more or less; 🙂

I could go through everything I did here in long descriptions, and pictures, but it’s not really necessary, and probably not that interesting either. But here is a general run through. 🙂

• Pick out a piece of 1″x8″ x 5′ oak
• cut out the pattern

• trace it on the wood
• Jig saw one upright
• Sand the contour
• Trace #1 to get #2 the same
• Cut, sand #2
• Measure and mark for the mortises
• Round the edges with a router
• Cut pilot groove on blade end to guide cutting the blade slots
• Locate blade mount holes, drill
• Cut blade slots
• Cut the mortise on #1
• Rip the cross bar from the board
• Square and measure it all for proper cross bar length vs blade length mounted (crucial for proper end angles when blade under tension, and good looks)
• Cut and fit the tenon on #1 end
• Cut #2 mortise and tenon
• Test assemble
• Find cord for windlass(I was out of 550! Finally found some heavy clothes line cord..)
• Trim scrap to use as temporary windlass bar
• Tighten it all up and do a test cut(worked!)
• Cut thinning profile on cross bar
• Sand cross bar, and route edges
• Re-assemble
• Discover binding in tenon joints, trim
• Re-trim/fine tune joints
• Assemble and do a test cut again
• Find that I over trimmed the joints, it will now start to slip from a H to a parallelogram-ed H under tension. (Rounded the wrong corners too much; you need the Top corners of the bar end and tenon tips rounded for slip, but the bottom corners left square for rigid support, so the can only pivot in at the top, but not out at the top!)
• Discover that if it slips, the windlass slips down the bars, loses tension and it falls apart.
• Discover, by clamping the cord in place under tension, that, thankfully, If the windlass doesn’t slip down when it flexes out of H shape, it doesn’t collapse!
• Locate for windlass cord supports
• Cut pins from 1/4″ copper rod,
• Drill and press fit copper as cord supports.
• Re-assemble, tighten, test cut 7″ birch log.
• Success! (With one about 1/8″ of flex at the joints out of square- good enough)
• Decide the scrap your using as a windlass bar works great, no use to make another one
• Trim, round, sand the windlass bar.
• Disassemble, wood burn the saws name, and my product line name on the side.(not selling it, but figured, meh, why not? )
• Also burn in witness marks to identify/match mortise and tenon joints in their matched pairs for proper future assembly.
• 2 day break to get stain and oil finish.
• Counterbore for recessed T nuts
• Install T nuts, pin in place with tiny Brad nails
• Install keeper ring on windlass bar
• Turn down bolt heads, and threads to fit in wingnuts, making wing bolts.
• Test the stain, find it won’t penetrate the oak dark enough, skip using it.

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Part 4 coming soo. 🙂