Yardsale and Scrapyard

[George Sanders]

I went across the ally Saturday and found a couple of Yankee drills, a Millers Falls brace, and a nice old sharpening stone for.....$5. I went to the local scrapyard looking for some angle iron and found another brace and a unidentified jack plane lying on the ground. I got those for a buck and a half. The jack plane is in the spooge tank at the moment. It has a blade marked Lakeside. Just when I thought things couldn't get better the scrapyard owner said he had some hand planes and asked if I wanted them. Uhh...Yeah! He brought down 2 smoothing planes and a block plane as well as a Disston D-8 and a stainless steel Atkins. The etching on the Atkins is readable. It's marked "The 500". It has a see through plastic handle. The price was the promise to do some woodworking for him sometime.

[Jim Koepke]

That Sucks, some people have all the luck:D

Atkins Borg Warner?

I remember a Borg Warner clutch plate in an old VW bus of mine. A clerk at the parts store convinced me that I should change the clutch as long as the engine was out for rebuild. A few month later it was a good thing the old BW clutch was just thrown in the back of the bus. The "new" one broke. Did a quick switch along the side of the road and drove off.

jim

[George Sanders]

Thanks Jim. I have been in a dry spell at flea markets and yard sales for a long time. The planes are cleaning up nicely. I also noticed that the Stanley 5 1/4 has a frog adjusting screw and so does the wards master. The Stanley also has a Millers Falls blade in it. I think given the quality of later date Stanley planes it should be considered a plus. All in all not bad for under $20.

[Jonathan McCullough]

Cool. If you should remember to, let us know what the Atkins is like. I'm doing a saw survey.

[Erik Manchester]

George,

I picked up one of the Atkins SS saws in new condition for a song, and though I do not care for the plastic handle at all, the blade was straight, sharp and fully tapered and tracks well (11 tpi) so I am not complaining.

Here is a photo of the etch on the one I picked up.

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx344/beletuen/Tools/Etch.jpg

[George Sanders]

You got a good score. That etch is perfect. Like you, I don't care for the handle that much, but it's still better than anything you can find at the borg.

[Steve Thomas]

I'm not sure that counts as a gloat... I had a friend give me #8 a few years back for the return of "some" woodworking.
I ended up spending 30 hours helping build a deck!
I got screwed down in that deal. Hope your deal works out better.

I would have helped him anyway but now we are even rather than he owing me a favour.

[David Gendron]

George, good for you! This is a total gloat!
Anjoy and keep us updated on your restoration progress!

[Jim Koepke]

Cool. If you should remember to, let us know what the Atkins is like. I'm doing a saw survey.

What kind of saw survey?

I have a Bishop #10 that was a little uncomfortable to use, but it cut well.

Last weekend I decided to adjust the handle. A little bit of wood was removed at the crook of the top horn and a little was removed from the area where my little finger felt pinched.
It is now amazingly more comfortable and I think I am in love.

My crosscut Disston #8 also has some issues with the handle, broken horns, but it works pretty well. Then I was using a coarser crosscut out in the pasture a few days ago to cut a 4X4 fence post and it even impressed my wife with how smooth and fast it cut.

Many different aspects come together in making a saw poor, satisfactory, excellent or amazing for each individual, just like any other tool.

jim

[Jonathan McCullough]

What kind of saw survey?

Many different aspects come together in making a saw poor, satisfactory, excellent or amazing for each individual, just like any other tool.



I tried what Eric von Sneidern at Disstonian called the "plain Jane" D-7 about a year ago, and was so impressed that it sent me on a bit of a journeyman sawyer's odyssey. The differences between saws can be very subtle, but noticeable, and to the discerning, some saws are remarkably sophisticated. So it's really a search of the ideal saw or saws. As I'm sure many know, Disstons are prevalent, and since there's more information on their relative merits and a distinct "pecking order," a lot of people go exclusively for the Disstons. And many of them are very good. But there are a lot of oddballs that are arguably as good as or better than the Disstons I've found out there.

I'm also finding that cleaning up rusty saws is easier and just as rewarding as fixing up old planes.

As far as that stainless saw is concerned, I suspect it would take a lot more to dull, but also to sharpen. It also has the general geometry and probably the feel of the later Atkins/D-23 style saws. At any rate, I'm curious about the stainless saws--they don't appear to be much in vogue among collectors, but I've had good experience keeping an open mind.

[George Sanders]

I too enjoy cleaning up old saws. I just got the paint off the blade of a D-8 and I can almost read the etch on it. I have a Disston saw vise, an Atkins saw joiner, 2 Stanley saw sets, plenty of cant files and a magnifying light to accommodate my poor eyesight. I tested a 5 1/2 point D-8 on a piece of 4x4 and it cut through like butter. I tend not to buy any saws that are missing nuts or have broken horns as there are still plenty of good easily restored saws out there for low prices. Sometimes at auctions they will hold up a handful and you don't have a choice and end up with blades with no handles. These can be made into scrapers and paring knives. I know to some that might be heresy but that's a cheap source of good steel.

[Jonathan McCullough]

Those D-8's are pretty good saws, and it's good for us that they're relatively common. I don't know about you, but the first time I sharpened up and used a $5 rip saw, my table saw immediately looked like a moneysinking boondoggle. The table saw still good for plywood, but I'm thinking that a regular circular saw for that task would suffice and would free up a lot of real estate in my garage. Everything else I can rip with my hand saws.

From what I can gather, the safe back cant files are really only good for Disston's D-120 Acme saw since its tooth geometry is a little different. And Japanese saws. You'll probably want to be using a regular 60-degree file for sharpening. The stainless saw presents a different challenge though--will it deteriorate like spring steel and need a file, or will it merely need to be touched up a little, maybe with some sandpaper set on an angle like a regular saw file? Let us know what you think and what your experiences are.