$6 Folding Buck Saw
I made a folding buck saw out of some oak flooring strips salvaged from a construction dumpster. I only had to buy the blade, 2 bolts and 2 nuts.
Sure, you can buy a bow saw for $10 that will cut as good as this one, but this one folds up, looks cooler, and has an awesome old school vibe. The inspiration for this project was an article on Paul Kirtley's blog, titled "How to Make a Folding Bucksaw."
Materials:
scraps of hardwood flooring
24" Fiskars bow saw blade
2 1/4 x 1" stainless bolts
2 1/4" stainless lock nuts
about 5' of paracord
The first thing I did was run the flooring strips through the table saw to remove the tongue and groove. Then I ran them through a planer to remove the grooves on the bottom. This left them at 5/8" thickness. They were originally 3/4" thick.
The windlass (stick for tightening paracord) is 3/8" thick and 7" long. I ripped it to thickness on the table saw. It is 1.25" wide at the top and 1/2" wide at the bottom. I used a 1.25" hole saw as a pattern to mark the curve on the top. I cut it out on the band saw. The hole was drilled 1" on center from the top with a 1/2" forstner bit. I removed the bearing from a 45 deg chamfer router bit, chucked it in the drill press, and used it to chamfer the inside if the hole. The outer edge was rounded off on a belt sander.
The 2 vertical blade supports are 5/8" thick, 1.5" wide and 12" long. I used a thin pull saw to cut a slot in the end that is centered and 1" deep. The mortise starts 6" up from the bottom and is 1.75" long by 1/4" wide. I used a 7/32" brad point bit on the drill press to drill a series of holes for the mortise.
Then I used a Dremel with the wood carving bit shown below to connect all the holes.
Next I alternated between a chisel and Dremel until the mortise was complete.
I am not a master craftsman when it comes to mortises, but it works.
The next step was to cut a slot on the saw support along the length of the outside. This is what the saw folds into when in storage. I used a 1/8" wide table saw blade to cut the slot 1" deep and centered.
Then I used a 1/4" brad point bit on the drill press to drill the holes for the paracord and the bolts. If I had it to do over again, I would have drilled the holes before cutting the slot. As I started to drill the first hole, I could feel the wood flexing, so I had to put a shim in the slot for drilling. The paracord holes are centered 1/2" down from the top, and 1/2" in from the outer edge. The bolt holes are centered at 3/8" from the bottom and 3/8" in from the outer edge. The placement of the paracord holes is not critical, but placing them too close to the inner edge might cause the wood to crack. The placement of the bolt holes is important, because the saw needs to be able to rotate into the slot when folded.
The horizontal main support starts off 5/8" thick, 1.75" wide and 22" long. There is a 1/2" long tenon that is 1/4" thick and 1.75" tall on either end. To make the tenons, I set the table saw fence at 3/8". That plus the 1/8" width of the saw blade will give you a 1/2" long tenon. I used the miter gauge to push the piece through the saw at 90 deg. I started with the blade very low, and cranking it up a 1/4 turn of the crank each time until I got a tenon that almost fit the mortise. Then I used a rasp for the final for rounding the top and bottom of the tenon and final fitting. I didn't square off the ends of my mortise, because that would have been a lot of effort, so I had to round the ends of the tenon.
I left 2" (not including tenon) on either end of the main support at full width. I used a bandsaw to reduce the width to 1.25", with a 45" transition at either end. An elegant curve would have been another option.
I rounded all the square edges with a 1/4" roundover bit on the router table, then sanded everything down. Here is the result prior to applying some boiled linseed oil:
And here it is folded up:
The image at the top of the page shows what it looks like after a coat of boiled linseed oil. By the way, the paracord is tied with a square knot.
Here is a close up of how the paracord threads through the windlass hole:
Sure, you can buy a bow saw for $10 that will cut as good as this one, but this one folds up, looks cooler, and has an awesome old school vibe. The inspiration for this project was an article on Paul Kirtley's blog, titled "How to Make a Folding Bucksaw."
Materials:
scraps of hardwood flooring
24" Fiskars bow saw blade
2 1/4 x 1" stainless bolts
2 1/4" stainless lock nuts
about 5' of paracord
The first thing I did was run the flooring strips through the table saw to remove the tongue and groove. Then I ran them through a planer to remove the grooves on the bottom. This left them at 5/8" thickness. They were originally 3/4" thick.
The windlass (stick for tightening paracord) is 3/8" thick and 7" long. I ripped it to thickness on the table saw. It is 1.25" wide at the top and 1/2" wide at the bottom. I used a 1.25" hole saw as a pattern to mark the curve on the top. I cut it out on the band saw. The hole was drilled 1" on center from the top with a 1/2" forstner bit. I removed the bearing from a 45 deg chamfer router bit, chucked it in the drill press, and used it to chamfer the inside if the hole. The outer edge was rounded off on a belt sander.
The 2 vertical blade supports are 5/8" thick, 1.5" wide and 12" long. I used a thin pull saw to cut a slot in the end that is centered and 1" deep. The mortise starts 6" up from the bottom and is 1.75" long by 1/4" wide. I used a 7/32" brad point bit on the drill press to drill a series of holes for the mortise.
Then I used a Dremel with the wood carving bit shown below to connect all the holes.
Next I alternated between a chisel and Dremel until the mortise was complete.
I am not a master craftsman when it comes to mortises, but it works.
The next step was to cut a slot on the saw support along the length of the outside. This is what the saw folds into when in storage. I used a 1/8" wide table saw blade to cut the slot 1" deep and centered.
Then I used a 1/4" brad point bit on the drill press to drill the holes for the paracord and the bolts. If I had it to do over again, I would have drilled the holes before cutting the slot. As I started to drill the first hole, I could feel the wood flexing, so I had to put a shim in the slot for drilling. The paracord holes are centered 1/2" down from the top, and 1/2" in from the outer edge. The bolt holes are centered at 3/8" from the bottom and 3/8" in from the outer edge. The placement of the paracord holes is not critical, but placing them too close to the inner edge might cause the wood to crack. The placement of the bolt holes is important, because the saw needs to be able to rotate into the slot when folded.
The horizontal main support starts off 5/8" thick, 1.75" wide and 22" long. There is a 1/2" long tenon that is 1/4" thick and 1.75" tall on either end. To make the tenons, I set the table saw fence at 3/8". That plus the 1/8" width of the saw blade will give you a 1/2" long tenon. I used the miter gauge to push the piece through the saw at 90 deg. I started with the blade very low, and cranking it up a 1/4 turn of the crank each time until I got a tenon that almost fit the mortise. Then I used a rasp for the final for rounding the top and bottom of the tenon and final fitting. I didn't square off the ends of my mortise, because that would have been a lot of effort, so I had to round the ends of the tenon.
I left 2" (not including tenon) on either end of the main support at full width. I used a bandsaw to reduce the width to 1.25", with a 45" transition at either end. An elegant curve would have been another option.
I rounded all the square edges with a 1/4" roundover bit on the router table, then sanded everything down. Here is the result prior to applying some boiled linseed oil:
And here it is folded up:
The image at the top of the page shows what it looks like after a coat of boiled linseed oil. By the way, the paracord is tied with a square knot.
Here is a close up of how the paracord threads through the windlass hole:
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