What's the (brass?) stud for on the Atkins?

I got this Richardson Brothers 14" backsaw off of SteveF about a year ago and I just finished it last night

I wish I had some more detailed "before" photos. But I must have misplaced them.

Cleaned up spine


Test fit:



Installing a new saw plate



Cleaning up the handle




Finished Product:








The handle was stripped then finished with some dark aniline dye followed by several coats of TruOil.

The new saw plat it 14ppi Rip with an 8 deg Rake. The saw plate was sanded to about 1500 and then polished with aluminum foil and Durosol.

I've seen a few approaches to doing this. I'm going to use the Lee Valley lifetime screwdriver shanks (shafts), and I'd like to use brass compression fittings for the ferrules. I have some nice Macassar ebony and Cocobolo that I think would make nice handles. Turning the handle itself seems a no brainer to me. The questions I have are about the other parts.

1. Do you drill the hole for the shaft before or after you've turned the handle?

2. Kerf or no kerf in the tenon for the wings on the shaft?

3. If using a brass compression fitting for the ferrule, what tool do you use to round it off, and what speed?

4. When parting off the handle, do you turn it back around and turn the very tip (top) or do you just hand sand it?

5. Glue or no glue on the shaft?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Very sound logic behind the method you chose to proceed forward with Isaac. I like the way you are able to analysis a solution.

Stewie;

"Great American" tooth pattern crosscut saw, cuts on the push and pull. Sharpen just like a one or two man crosscut saw.

Wow, nice work!!

I think I speak for the rest of the Forum when I say I'd like to see some more photos.

Every one is outstanding Iassc, but the one in stainless gets my vote... because I know first hand the difficulty working it and how well it turned out....I can't get over the detail you put into those handles!!! The crispy lines and edges are beautiful!!!!!!!

Belt sanders are great for fixing boo-boo'd bevels. Not so much for boo-boo'd fingers.

Took a pretty good chunk from my left middle finger once on a freshly sharpened blade. Didn't feel a thing, just wondered where all the blood on the bench was coming from!

Very nice set up! Thanks for sharing.

I think you enhanced your work with the used of the doubled feather boards to keep the stock against the fence.

I have the Delta 14" as well. For re-saw, I use a 3/8" blade, which allows me to gain some more tension. I'll keep an eye open for a replacement spring to gat a bit more tension--though I've had great success with the stock spring up to 6" white oak stock----haven't had to get wider as I'm mostly resawing to get 1/2" thickness stock for small projects.

Not sure I'm the one to answer your questions but that's a very nice bookshelf you built. Short of a fire he should be able to hand it down to his kids at some point. You already know how to build that one. Even with the new time constraints I would seriously consider building the same thing again. The second should go faster due to less time spent head scratching.
Rodney