Any tool fails sooner or later. If an electric tool can still be somehow repaired and used for some time, then a thing like a hacksaw, hammer, chisel and other primitive tools is almost impossible to restore. It’s easier to buy new ones due to their cheapness and availability. But some broken tools can be given a second life. For example, a hacksaw.
The metal that makes up the hacksaw blade is very good, and you can use it to make a couple of useful things in everyday life. After going through many possible options for what could be made from debris, I opted for a small saw blade and a mini hacksaw that you can take with you on a hike in the forest. The work ahead is simple, not difficult, and not long.
You will need:
- Broken (or old, unnecessary) hacksaw.
- Aluminum wire 4 mm.
- Cold welding.
- Rope (thin).
- The tube is plastic or metal.
- Emery machine with cutting disc.
- Marker.
- Ruler.
- Drill.
- Drills for 2 and 4 mm.
- Compass with a simple pencil.
- Drill with cutting and grinding discs.
Making mini hacksaws and saw blades
Let's start with a mini hacksaw. Everything is simpler here. Using a ruler and marker, you need to draw the contours of the future product on a piece of canvas. The most important thing is not to forget to leave whole teeth at the bottom of the workpiece, so as not to cut them out yourself later.
We cut out the workpiece along the drawn contours.
Next, you need to drill holes with a drill and a 4 mm drill bit on the base of the future handle, for aluminum rivets.
Now let's move on to the handle. I didn’t bother with cutting it out, but simply took a piece of plastic tube of suitable caliber. So, let's measure the required length of the tube.
We transfer the parameters of the holes, relative to each other, from the workpiece to the pipe section, and drill. 4 mm drill.
We stick an aluminum wire into the hole in the handle, measure the distance required for the rivet, cut the rivets, insert them into the holes, and rivet them. Be careful so that the rivet does not bend inside the tube.
Now we will wrap the handle and make a pommel so that the mini hacksaw has a finished look. For the wrapping I chose a simple coarse rope.
The handle should be wrapped as tightly as possible. Carefully, turn to turn. And preferably in two layers (16). For the pommel I used cold welding.
We knead the glue according to the instructions and fashion the desired shape of the top.
The remaining glue can be used to seal the holes in the handle on the blade side.
All that remains is to sharpen the teeth and polish the blade. For sharpening I used a thin disk on a drill. Although, you can do it with a file.
You can sand the blade with sandpaper or a sanding disc on a drill.
Here's what happened:
Now the saw blade. Everything is even simpler here.On a piece of canvas of the area you need, in the middle, make a mark with a center punch, and drill a hole of the diameter you need along it. I drilled at 2mm.
Be sure to sand the burrs into the holes, otherwise they may later, during operation, cut off the head of the fastening bolt, sending the disk into free flight!
Now, using a compass, draw a full circle along the hole. Cut it out.
Next, on an emery machine, we cut the teeth on the resulting disk in the direction you need.
Now you need to move the teeth in different directions. In one. About half a millimeter relative to each other.
This is necessary so that the disk does not get stuck in wet wood during operation. This disc can be used both on a drill and on a drill.
Although, it will probably be too big for a drill - it doesn’t pull well, it doesn’t have enough power. But if you enlarge the hole for a thicker fastener, you can easily use it on a sanding machine for cutting thin boards, chipboard, fiberboard, and the like... At the end of manufacturing, you can also sand it with sandpaper.
If you have a mini hacksaw, you can sharpen the butt, like a cutting edge, but I didn’t do this. The metal from which the canvas is made has a high content of pure iron, as a result of which it quickly becomes covered with a coating of rust, regardless of humidity. I would not use such a blade to cut food or trim mushrooms. For planing and cutting wood, it will also be inconvenient - the metal is too flexible. But an unsharpened butt, with sharp edges, is just right for striking a spark from a flint. Due to the almost pure iron, the spark produced is rich and long-lasting. It is enough to hit the flint a couple of times to start a fire. As for sawing qualities, watch the video of tests in real conditions at the end of the article.You can saw through a fairly thick branch in less than a minute. Or sawing off a hard, resinous root for kindling is a matter of 20 seconds!
