Lead Tools

I stumbled across this trio of tools the other day.
Lead beating tools I made back in 2005.

Homemade lead working tools

I made these so I could work on fitting lead roll mops to a flat roof on an old property we were working on in the Teme Valley.

Somehow buying these tools didn't enter my head. Instead I found some beech I had in my store and knocked them up in a night so they were ready for the next day. The bossing mallet was a little big (I only had a picture to go on) but it was still useful to "pull" the lead round corners, whereas the chasing chisel was great to get the lead tight into corners and edges - the ferule is a bit of 28m copper pipe to save the end from splitting.

How To Make A Thermalite Saw

Brick layers are always trying to nab carpenters old saws to cut Thermalite block with. I've managed to make the bricklayer on site a little happier by making the saw cut a little better for them. I know it works as they asked me to alter another saw for them yesterday!

Saw Set

All you need is an old panel saw and a saw set.

Adjust the saw set so it's altering the teeth of the saw to the maximum (in this case it's to 4 teeth per inch) and work your way along the saw, setting every other tooth. When you've finished one way turn the saw around and set all the teeth you missed out. The saw set is basically pushing over each tooth making the kerf wider and therefore the cut more aggressive.

The Set in clamping mode

The "tooth" that pushes over the teeth on the saw giving it's "set"

A much more aggressive saw

Doing this isn't as good as buying a proper Thermalite saw but it is much cheaper and it works pretty well. It makes the cut much more aggressive and faster as well as clearing out the waste better, stopping the saw from binding which can be a problem when using an old wood saw. I also used it on cutting kingspan and it cut much faster than a normal saw would.