Saw handle

This occurred back on November 8th, but I'm only now writing about it.


My brother-in-law (next door) was cutting down his old banana tree. (For a boy from Seattle, this still seems extremely exotic.) The plastic handle on his pruning saw was pretty cracked, so he mentioned to me that he was thinking about throwing the saw away and buying a new one.

"Noooooo!!!!", I cried. (Well, mentally.) I hate waste, and the blade was still perfectly good.

Instead, I offered to just make him a new saw handle.


I have a few large branches from a lagistromia(sp?) tree that used to be in his grandmother's front yard. It's an oddly slow-growing tree: this gives it a very tight grain pattern.


I cut a curved section from one of the branches, of the same length and general shape as the original plastic handle. The original handle had a hole in the end, presumably for hanging (either on a nail, or putting a cord through it). To approximate this, I left a branch stub on the end. It also would prevent his hand from sliding off the end if his hand got sweaty, much like the bulge at the end of the original handle.

I re-used the same bolts, nuts, and washers from the original handle.

I tried to finish this mini-project pretty quickly, as I have several half-finished projects and didn't need another. So, I took the "quick and functional" approach, rather than trying to make it look pretty. The end result is therefore at the "folk craft" end of the scale, rather than "fine craftsmanship".

Except for wood rasping away a ridge from the side of the branch (to make it more comfortable to grab), it was just sawcuts and drilling some holes. I don't think I even bothered putting boiled linseed oil on the handle.


I used all hand-tools, except for an electric drill for the holes.


Because my workshop doesn't have electric lighting, I was racing darkness to get this done. But I managed to finish just before it got too dark to work. The whole task took about two hours.


--GG