Now, this post is a further example of why I MUST continue to hang out
with you guys!!!! MOST Fabulous insight, and timely, too. This has
halted my planes to do a little rehab on an old but needy saw with
split nuts.

Many, many thanks...

Archie

--- On Mon, 8/2/10, dynnyrne@n...t.au  wrote:

> From: dynnyrne@n...u  Subject: Re: [OldTools] Spear &
> Jackson split nuts backsaw question To: "oldtools oldtools"
>  Date: Monday, August 2, 2010, 1:00 AM
> Friends,
>
> Darren asked re his keenly priced Spear & Jackson 14" backsaw
>
> > In searching through the archives I found a post by
> Pete Taran asking
> > someone to not mess with their split-nutted Disston as
> odds are that
> > it wouldn't end well. I suppose the same can be said
> for the S&J?
>
> Hi Harrison,
>
> Don't often get a chance to respond to you!=A0
>
> I won't limit my comments to Disston and/or S&J.=A0 Before I knew
> better I had a few experiences trying to remove and/or tighten old
> split nuts on old saws.=A0 I don't do it any more.=A0 I either pack
> the handle slot, or live with the handle being a little loose or put
> the saw in the till and reflect on how maybe the loose handle is the
> reason it was still there for me to find.
>
> My experiences were as follows:
>
> Old yellow metal bolts and split nuts are usually (if not invariably)
> seized into the wood of the handle.=A0 I guess that as the handle has
> dried out it has shrunk. Or the handle was finished before assembly
> and the old finish coat has hold of the head or the nut or the shank
> or all three.
>
> If the bolts and nuts aren't seized to the handle one or more will be
> corroded to each other
>
> Split nut bolts are made out of soft and weak metal and the bolt shank
> is small in diameter compared to the bolt and nut head diameter
> (sometimes even a square section)ie extra weak.
>
> That in turn leads to the discovery that there are as many nut and
> bolt sizes as there are saw makers, and few if any are
> interchangeable, even within different saws by the same maker.
>
> My experiences have ended in frustration with one or more of the
> following: broken bolt shank or chipped handle (chip lifted out by nut
> or bolt head).
>
> The one occasion I managed to get everything apart without tears I
> found it impossible to get everything back together with the bolt and
> nut sitting flush and flat.
>
>
> So, for what its worth my advice is that you leave the split nuts well
> alone, unless they are loose in the handle and the nuts are loose on
> the bolts.=A0 If you decide to try and tighten them go gently, its
> easier to break the bolt shank or strip the thread than it is to draw
> in the handle cheeks.
>
> My experiences wasn't expensive to gain, but it was immensely
> frustrating in the gaining and caused me considerable grief and
> regret.
>
> YMMV, but as Mr Eastwood was wont to ask: "You feeling lucky?"
>
> Regards,
>
> Tony B Hobart, Tasmania
>
>
>
>
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