Vince Sandy
07-05-2004, 12:06 PM
Hi Folks,
I found an old backsaw/miter box combo at a flea market on Sunday. The miter box is a junker "Great Neck Tools", probably from the 1970's. The back saw is a Disston No. 4 filed crosscut at 14 PPI and is 12" long. The lady had the combo marked $45.00. I asked her best price and she said $25.00. I bought it for $20.00. Not my normal bottom feeder price but the saw is in great condition so I walked away grinning, saw in hand. All teeth are present, blade is straight as an arrow, all three bolts are present and no cracks and very few dings in the applewood handle. According to info found at the Disstonian Institute the saw is probably from the 1930's.
To bring this old gent back to life I did the following:
Removed the handle. Be careful with this because the wood around the bolts will sometimes split off as the bolts are pushed off/out of the handle. The wood shrinks over the years, sometimes enough to close in on the bolts. These came out rather nicely with no loss of wood.
Cleaned the handle. I use a mixture of bees wax, turpentine, and lemon oil. I work lightly with 0000 steel wool. This mixture removes all the grime and does short work for removing paint splatters - which seem to be on about every old tool I find. I finish with a couple of coats of good paste wax, in this case Johnson's.
Cleaned the bolts. I use Semi-Chrome or a similar metal polish. This is applied with a soft rag. In this case I used Blue Magic Metal Polish Cream. It seemed to work more quickly than Semi-Chrome. The Blue Magic label claims that it leaves a silicone coating for protection. Worked great.
Cleaned the blade. This is the time consuming piece. I proceed carefully.
First I scrape the steel (length-wise) with a sharp razor blade. I change blades frequently because they dull very quickly. On this small saw I used one blade per side.
Next, I sand the steel (length -wise) with 400 grit wet/dry paper. I use a felt based plastic sanding block. I apply light pressure using a liberal amount of mineral spirits as a lubricant. I wipe away the brown muck with paper towels and watch carefully for the etching. On this saw the etching appeared after only a few minutes of light sanding.
Next, I switch to 600 grit wet/dry paper and do the final sanding. You'll notice that the mineral spirit lubricant stays clean longer, indicating that the rust is all but gone. Due to the shape of the spine I had to do some sanding without the sanding block. When doing so, pay attention to the color of the lubricant. If it changes from the rust brown color to gray, you are sanding away good steel. You should stop at this point (actually, you should have stopped before you got to this point). My goal is to remove grime and rust.
Next I wipe the blade dry. It takes a few minutes but you'll see a film left by the mineral spirits. I wipe it off completely then apply a couple of coats of a good carnuba wax, in this case I used Meguiar's Deep Crystal Carnuba Paste wax.
Thanks, Vince in NC
I'm going to try to attach some before and after pics. It's been a while since I posted a picture, so bear with me if I don't get this right:
I found an old backsaw/miter box combo at a flea market on Sunday. The miter box is a junker "Great Neck Tools", probably from the 1970's. The back saw is a Disston No. 4 filed crosscut at 14 PPI and is 12" long. The lady had the combo marked $45.00. I asked her best price and she said $25.00. I bought it for $20.00. Not my normal bottom feeder price but the saw is in great condition so I walked away grinning, saw in hand. All teeth are present, blade is straight as an arrow, all three bolts are present and no cracks and very few dings in the applewood handle. According to info found at the Disstonian Institute the saw is probably from the 1930's.
To bring this old gent back to life I did the following:
Removed the handle. Be careful with this because the wood around the bolts will sometimes split off as the bolts are pushed off/out of the handle. The wood shrinks over the years, sometimes enough to close in on the bolts. These came out rather nicely with no loss of wood.
Cleaned the handle. I use a mixture of bees wax, turpentine, and lemon oil. I work lightly with 0000 steel wool. This mixture removes all the grime and does short work for removing paint splatters - which seem to be on about every old tool I find. I finish with a couple of coats of good paste wax, in this case Johnson's.
Cleaned the bolts. I use Semi-Chrome or a similar metal polish. This is applied with a soft rag. In this case I used Blue Magic Metal Polish Cream. It seemed to work more quickly than Semi-Chrome. The Blue Magic label claims that it leaves a silicone coating for protection. Worked great.
Cleaned the blade. This is the time consuming piece. I proceed carefully.
First I scrape the steel (length-wise) with a sharp razor blade. I change blades frequently because they dull very quickly. On this small saw I used one blade per side.
Next, I sand the steel (length -wise) with 400 grit wet/dry paper. I use a felt based plastic sanding block. I apply light pressure using a liberal amount of mineral spirits as a lubricant. I wipe away the brown muck with paper towels and watch carefully for the etching. On this saw the etching appeared after only a few minutes of light sanding.
Next, I switch to 600 grit wet/dry paper and do the final sanding. You'll notice that the mineral spirit lubricant stays clean longer, indicating that the rust is all but gone. Due to the shape of the spine I had to do some sanding without the sanding block. When doing so, pay attention to the color of the lubricant. If it changes from the rust brown color to gray, you are sanding away good steel. You should stop at this point (actually, you should have stopped before you got to this point). My goal is to remove grime and rust.
Next I wipe the blade dry. It takes a few minutes but you'll see a film left by the mineral spirits. I wipe it off completely then apply a couple of coats of a good carnuba wax, in this case I used Meguiar's Deep Crystal Carnuba Paste wax.
Thanks, Vince in NC
I'm going to try to attach some before and after pics. It's been a while since I posted a picture, so bear with me if I don't get this right: