Introduction: Custom Saw Blade Handle Made With Moldable Plastic

By My Comedy Website

For this Intractable, I turned to my Dad for inspiration and implementation. Last week I bought some InstaMorph moldable plastic on Amazon and have been searching for things to make with it. I made a couple of cute functional art things with it, but gave the rest to my dad to see if he had any ideas. Immediately he came up with this one. Apparently he had been waiting to do something with this saw blade he had lying around and was going to fashion something out of wood. He tried InstaMorph instead and was pretty happy with the results. The rest are in his words. :

Step 1: Find a Saw Blade or Tool Missing a Handle

I trim my trees with a tree limb saw on a long pole. Once in a while I can reach a branch or I am on a ladder and I wanted the same saw blade in a “hand-held” model. I had an extra saw blade, so I thought I would use InstaMorph to make a new handle for the blade.

Step 2: Shape Basic Handle Shape

So I poured a bunch of InstaMorph in some hot water until it turned clear. I pulled it out with some kitchen tongs and formed a rough saw blade handle that was approximately what I wanted. It fit my hand pretty well and matched some of the other handles that I like on other tools that I have.

Step 3: Cut Slot for Blade and Hole for Screw


Once the basic form was set, I took the handle out to my band say and cut a slot for the blade.

Since this type of plastic becomes moldable at higher temperatures, I made sure to go slow here so it didn’t become too soft as I was cutting the slot for the blade. I then went to the drill press to drill a screw hole to attach the blade to my new handle. The same concern here for being careful when drilling the hole. I didn’t have problems with either situation, but wanted to point them out as it is a unique property of the material.

Step 4: Attach Blade and Add Final Shape to Handle

As you can see, it was pretty easy and it worked out really well.

In the first step I was mostly concerned with the overall handle shape. To make sure the handle was comfortable to use, I re-heated the handle one more time in some hot water just until the outside became soft and slightly squeezed it. This left a custom imprint in the material which fits the contours of my hand exactly. This allows me to get a really great grip on the handle without a lot of strain on my hand.

So, for the cost of a couple of dollars worth of InstaMorph, I have a saw handle the is a perfect fit to my hand, and allows me to trim all those low branches. Problem solved!

If you want to buy some InstaMorph and try this yourself on a tool lying around the house, order it off their website at http://www.InstaMorph.com or just search “instamorph” on Amazon.