Making a classic Saw handle

After recently purchasing a used, 40 year old Stanley #60 Miter box for a great price, I noticed afterwards that it also came with saw.  I quickly thought to myself, this would be not be a saw of any real value to me.

After making a couple of cuts with it, I was astounded with the speed and quality of the cut.  The cross grain was amazingly smooth.  It had no name on it and is about .032 thick, 26" long.  A little on the heavy side, but then again its a 26" long, plate steel backed miter saw.  

The original ash handle was from the seventies and fairly generic is design.  I much prefer the saw designs of the 1920's and earlier. So I thought, this saw is certainly deserving of a nicer handle.

I have long had a piece of quarter sawn Paduak that was 2" thick and 8" x 8".  You would never want to make a saw handle out of flat sawn wood.  Grain direction is definitely a critical aspect of a saw handle, especially on a heavy saw. 

So step one was to rip the blank in half with a good rip saw at the bench.  Carefully cutting 1/2" kerfs in all four sides helped keep the saw following the desired cut line.

As this is a backsaw with 4 bolts, I used this layout from Two Guys in a Garage

 Here ripping the blank in half.

 You'll want to do some research on saw handle size to determine your hand size, This is one one of the prime reasons for making a saw handle, so you may want to make a test blank, just to be sure.  Then simply trace the design with carbon paper.

 Bore the required hole sizes on the drill press with forsner bits. Or for the old timey traditionalist, with a brace and auger bits.

 Cut out opening with a coping saw.  A fret saw would be too slow.

 It is best to cut out only portions of the saw to allow for the rasp and fill work in the bench vice.  The majority of the work is on the handle so start on that end first.  Don't do any shaping at this stage.  You might mess up on the fitting to the saw and all the shaping work would have been in vane.

 This is the cut out handle after fitting it to the saw.

Shape with rasp and files to ensure you have complete comfort for your hand.  Move you hand grip around and you'll know where to trim.  You must take care not to drop this handle while shaping or sanding.  Just as on the originals from the 20's these delicate handle wings will break if impacted.

 The Paduak grain color comes to life with a little tung oil. As for myself, I used three coats of polyurethane due the quick darkening of Paduak if not sealed.  Although it will eventually darken significantly.
Be careful if you use this wood as it's rich red pigment will actually stain your cloths as you work on it.

Thanks for checking out.