2.5 Hrs to a "new" Disston backsaw

[Vince Sandy]

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:

[Vince Sandy]

A bit more info just in case you're interested:

The no.4 pictured above is actually pre 1917, based on the medallion.

I've attached a picture of the no.4 with its bigger brother; a 26" miter saw. It's a bit heftier. I bought it a auction with its mated Goodell-Pratt miter box. The Goodell-Pratt company was bought by the Miller Falls company in 1931. The medallion ages the saw in the range of 1917 - 1940. So, a good guess for when the big saw was made is 1920's.

I cleaned it the same way as described above. It is filed crosscut at 12 PPI. Whereas I spent 2.5 hrs cleaning the No.4, I probably spent about 3.5 hours cleaning the big one. If you look carefully in the attached image, you can see the faint etching, which reads: "Made Expressly for Goodell-Pratt Toolsmiths Greenfield, Mass".

Thanks for looking, Vince in NC

[Richard Gillespie]

Thank you for both the pictures and your listing of the methods you use to clean and restore the handle, bolts and blade. I have a number of old saws and I'm just getting into this phase of the slippery slope. My slide is accelerating. I'm just starting to learn to sharpen some of them.

I'm curious as to your sources for the the brass cleaner, bees wax and the paste wax.

[Vince Sandy]

Hi Richard.

The metal polish/cleaner and the carnuba wax can be found at any auto parts stores, WalMart, etc. The Johnson's paste wax can be found at Lowes, Home Depot, WalMart, etc. I bought the bees wax at a local arts & crafts store.

I found the recipe for the cleaner/wax in Wood magazine, issue 143, Sept 2002 on page 20, in an article entitled "TLC for Antique Tools" by Owen Duvall. The recipe is as follows, and I quote:

"Shave some beeswax into the turpentine and stir to a paste consistency. Warming the turpentine by placing an open jar of it in a container of hot water speeds up the process. Divide this mixture in half. To one half, add a little lemon oil, making it the consistency of a good funiture wax for protecting wood. To the other half, add cosiderably more lemon oil, thinning it for cleaning."

I originally mixed the cleaner and wax as described above, but have since "converted" the wax to cleaner by adding more lemon oil. I use the Johnson's paste wax as the final two top coats. I couldn't find lemon oil, so I used Formby's Lemon Oil Treatment purchased at Lowe's in an 8oz. plastic bottle. Seems to work well. Also, I found that the warm turpentine didn't dissolve the wax very quickly, but after a few days the mixture seemed to be pretty consistent and smooth.

I really like this cleaner. If you encounter tough paint splatters, you can coat them with the mixture and let it sit for a few minutes. It usually softens the paint enough that light buffing brings it right off. Leaves most wood a consistent color. Looks really nice after a few coats of wax.

Good luck with the sharpening. I haven't tried it yet.

Vince in NC

[Marc Hills]

Vince:

Vince, beautiful job restoring that Disston back saw! Great how-to on your restoration process. You have to learn sharpening so you can post the "money shot": the newly restored saw sitting pretty in its narrow kerf in a piece of hard wood.

Thanks especially for the cleaning wax and finishing wax formulas. I'm adding that to my collection of wiping varnishes, shellac and japanning formulas. I'm developing a bit of a reputation as an old-world alchemist.

Does anyone know if Vince's formula is roughly equivalent to Sam Maloof's finishing wax formula?

And if anyone has a source for lemon oil, please post. Thanks!

[Wendell Wilkerson]

Do you think you could substitute Orange oil for Lemon Oil? I haven't found lemon oil but Woodcraft sells something they call orange oil (though I couldn't find a list of ingredients on the bottle).

Wendell

[Steve Wargo]

at Walmart in the furniture polish area. They sell about three different brands. I use it all the time. The Orange oil is entirely different, and I think quite harsh.

[Wendell Wilkerson]

Vince,

I am making a batch of the bees wax/turpentine/lemon oil mixture you've been using on the saw handles. I've got a couple question about the proper consistency of the mixture. What should the consistency of the wax/turpentine be before I add the lemon oil? What should the consistency be after adding the lemon oil? Right now, I've got about 1/4 lb of bees wax mixed with about 1/2 quart of turpentine. The mixture is thick but definitely not paste like. Since the lemon oil will thin it out even further, should I add more wax to make it more paste like. Thanks for the great post. It has really motivated me to clean up the back saws I've been collecting er I mean acquiring for use.

Wendell

[Vince Sandy]

Wendell,

The mixture should not be as thick as toothpaste, but a glob of it will not drip. Kind of like pudding. You will notice after it sits without being disturbed that the lemon oil will come to the top of the mixture. I stir it each time before I use it and it all seems to blend right back in.

I mixed about 2/3 of a quart over a year ago and have used it on a lot of tools. I still have about 1/4 of it left.

A few hopefully helpful hints from my experience:
1) Do all desired repairs before applying the mixture. The wax and oil in the mixture will interfere with glue adhesion.
2) If you intend on leaving the original varnish then proceed with caution. This mixture seems to take off about any type of old protective coating (varnish, etc.). It'll take it down to bare wood but leaves the great old patina. I doubt this would be something you would use if you plan on a top coat of varnish, poly, laquer, etc due to the wax content.
3) The fumes can be a problem. It'll make you dizzy without good ventilation. I do my tinkering in the basement garage and the turpentine smell migrates up into the house. My wife doesn't like the smell so I generally try to use it when I can open the garage door and turn on a fan.
4) Let the mixture sit on the wood for a minute or so [longer for paint] before scrubbing with 0000 steel wool.
5) After scrubbing, wipe the dirty grimy mixture off with paper towels and repeat application if necessary.
6) The turpentine is rough on my skin. I wear the "Gripper" brand gloves that have rubber on the bottoms and cloth on top. The rubber gives good protection and the cloth allows enough air in so that sweat build up is not a problem like with the "surgical" type gloves. Those don't last long; they come apart after brief exposure to turpentine.

I hope this helps, Vince in NC