whats the L shaped thingy?

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>whats the L shaped thingy?<p><hr></blockquote><p><br><br>A blade guard - reduces opportunities for me to split my thumb or nick my index finger.<br><br>Before sharpening the back of the hacksaw blade I simulated using the blade and tried out the saw to make a trigger notch in a seasoned stick. There was a high probability of a minor slip onto the blade with my thumb when using the saw - I made it push cut on purpose to reduce likelyhood of pulling the blade out of the handle. There was no problem with my index finger wielding the blade, but being tired/cold/under stress could change that.<br><br>BTW, it's an 18t/inch blade and it worked great in a seasoned piece of hackberry. However, since I made it a push blade, I believe that a 24t/inch blade might be a little better in hardwoods - neither one is going to be a wizard at pruning. ( I have no idea how to refer to saw blades in SI - 18tpi would be about 7 teeth/cm and 24tpi roughly 10t/cm if that helps)<br><br>So I made a small blade guard - look at the first two pictures in sequence. It is very secure and adds to the clamping friction retaining the blade. Took less than ten minutes work with a hack saw and a bastard file - mostly file and try the fit. It may not be obvious in the pics, but the shank is half a cylinder - look at the business end of an X-acto knife handle with a blade mounted. It's made from a very high-strength aluminium alloy and I will not bend or break it easily - I tried and could not budge it. Would be faster to make 2 at a time on the lathe but I only needed one and didn't feel like mounting the 4 jaw chuck for a part I can make with a file.<br><br>I've had a lathe for less than two years but I've had a file for my whole life <grin> - patience and a file can turn out lots of useful things.<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Tom