Another old saw clean up.

[Shaggy]

An elderly neighbour has give me a couple of old saws (she thinks they are about 30-40 years old) she had in her shed from when her husband was alive. They are old Spear &Jackson but the handles seem to be riveted on rather than bolted/screwed, to get the handle off to clean will I have to drill the rivets out or is there an alternative?
If I have to drill them out where could I get some brass screws/bolts to put it back together?

I'm not going to be using them but I'm going hang them up in my shed above the door as ornaments.

Glen.

 

[D_W]

Drill them out. They're probably common friction rivets (not sure what the appropriate name is for them) like you'd see used in knives, etc.

 

[deema]

The saws I’ve revitalised that had rivets I’ve always managed to prise off and reuse. A very thin piece of metal under the Tool your using avoids nasty digins to the wooden handle. I’d have a go before resorting to the drill.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

It's quite possible to clean up a backsaw (and even easier with a handsaw or panel saw) without taking the handle off. Indeed, it saves bother. Especially as the cleaning is cosmetic only.

If you do destroy the rivets, try these as replacements; http://www.flinn-garlick-saws.co.uk/aca ... rews_.html

 

[D_W]

By the way, finding good period replacements can be a rubbish shoot, because they're all different sizes.

Not knowing what your saw originally had, if it was split nuts, you can get various replacement split nuts, but there's a million types of those just like everything else.

Those together would explain why you have rivets in your saw instead of screws (because the last person may have wanted to just get on with it and use the saw rather than restoring it to prized condition).

I have always kept a supply of nuts from saws that I thought were saveable, but turned out not to be. The only suggestion I have is to figure out what was in the saw originally and see if you can find something suitable online (ebay, etc). Perfect fit may require a few purchases...unfortunately.

A more economical option may be to haunt boot sales and find beater saws that are a quid until you find the screws that you need for the saw.