One Saw a Week (More or Less): Russell & Erwin “Russwin” 18-inch panel saw, 9 TPI

[Jonathan McCullough]

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/One%20Saw%20a%20Week/DSC02968.jpg

Here is another bonny little panel saw, this time labeled for Russell & Irwin, a 19th-Century Manhattan door hardware manufacturer. They are still apparently in business in some form in, of all places, Connecticut. I suspect that this saw and other tools like it were included in their grand general catalog because in addition to hinges and door knobs, door installers also needed butt mortise gauges, chisels, screw drivers, and saws like this one install doors and door hardware, so extras were good for the bottom line.

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/One%20Saw%20a%20Week/DSC02972.jpg

Maybe they didn’t sell many, because the etching to distinguish it is rather rudimentary. Perhaps they were surprised to get an order and ran around looking for a way to etch the blade. To personalize a saw plate, a Disston manual of the time advised spreading hot wax on the saw, scribing the owner’s name, applying an etchant, and then melting or scraping the wax off and cleaning the blade. Although the etch on this saw is not as florid and overwrought as a Rail Road bond, I think the hand-made touch of the period cursive script as well as the delicate hand-carved wheat stalks on the handle are undeniably charming. They certainly distinguish set this saw apart from any others I’ve ever seen.

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/One%20Saw%20a%20Week/DSC02969.jpg

So who made this saw? According to the corporate history I was able to find on the net, It was made around the turn of the century. It’s possible that it is a National Saw Company product, created by the ghosts of Madden, Clemson, and Wheeler, or some other Empire State manufacturer. I don’t think it’s a Richardson Brothers saw. If I had to take a stake, I suspect it was a C. E. Jennings saw, made in Port Jervis New York. They also made edge tools and auger bits in Connecticut at that time.

I think the saw spent most of the last century in a tool box as a tool box saw. I think it saw very little use because the plate was full and the teeth were mostly still sharp. Two or three strokes of the file was all it took to freshen up the cutting edge. A thread here recently asked at what point in the saw-sharpening process do people set their saws, and in this case as in many of the saws I’ve rehabbed lately, I don’t; this saw was set a little too much previously, and doesn’t need any more. Nonetheless it tracks well and behaves similarly to a D-8 of this size. The handle though is really nice. The horns are like a hand shake; very comfortable.

[Marv Werner]

As usual, nice rehab Jonathan :)

May I offer a comment regarding jointing before filing?

I wouldn't say that it is always necessary to joint before filing, but I have gotten in the habit of doing it every time. I want that flat no matter how small to use as a reference as to how much I'm filing off the tooth. I have found that 99% of the time when I joint the teeth very lightly, some teeth will be touched while others won't.

My goal is to joint lightly and see a tiny shiny spot on each tooth. The smoothest cutting saw will be one with all the teeth exactly alike.

Often times I will slide a slip stone over the teeth after my final pass to remove that needle sharp point and to bring each tooth to the same length. Removing that sharp point in effect starts the "breaking in" of the saw we hear some people talking about when referring to a new LN saw for example. A new saw can be kind of grabby right at first.

I really like that saw. Keep up the good work. :)

[Tony Shea]

Do you actually mean to say joint or did you mean set? It seems to me that most, if not all saws benefit from jointing before going ahead with the sharpening proccess. As Marv said, the best cutting saws are the ones where all teeth are cutting at equal amounts therefore all teeth would want to be exactly the same length. But in certain situations I have seen where bellied saws are preferred. I would still think the actual teeth themselves would benefit from being the same size and shape.

And I agree that creating a flat on top of the teeth helps me see how much metal I'm removing and where I'm removing it from.

Great job again Jonathan. I also really like this saw, the handle is wonderful. Maybe one day I will take your lead and start taking care of the pile of saws I have waiting for their new life.

[Marv Werner]

Jonathan,

Can you please explain how to post pictures directly on your message page? It helps when you write something about the picture directly with it.

Thanks,
Marv

[Rich Purdum]

I have a set of old Honduras mahogany clad leaded glass casement windows and a matching door that were "rescued" from an old San Francisco office building in San Francisco that was being remodeled. The door lock is the original mortise lock made by Russwin. The innards of the lock are still fine although the lock cylinder has been replaced with a Baldwin. I think Russwin is mainly into commercial products these days.

[Jonathan McCullough]

Do you actually mean to say joint or did you mean set? It seems to me that most, if not all saws benefit from jointing before going ahead with the sharpening proccess. As Marv said, the best cutting saws are the ones where all teeth are cutting at equal amounts therefore all teeth would want to be exactly the same length. But in certain situations I have seen where bellied saws are preferred. I would still think the actual teeth themselves would benefit from being the same size and shape.

D'OHHH!

I meant "set" and have corrected myself above.

Agreed: Sometimes jointing is necessary. To decide whether to do this, I just sight down the teeth like lining up the ferrules on a fly rod. It's rather easy to see whether the tooth pattern is highly irregular enough to warrant the exercise. Some saws I've seen are really bad, but most aren't. When I do joint, I start from the middle and work successive passes both forward and backward, so that it creates a little bit of belly. Like set, I think it should be *just* noticeable; subtle.

To my taste, more uniform is better than less uniform, but not slavishly so. Beyond what is functional versus what is not functional, so much of this really is a matter of taste. I just did an interesting Stanley-branded D-8 rip panel saw that had such bad cows/calves (and even fleam) that the teeth needed re-forming. I did it, and it was tricky, but it's not perfection itself and it doesn't look like Darryl Weir did it. That's okay, because the saw works really well now, even if I'm only working off of, and ameliorating, a previously bad saw filing. I'd rather have the extra 1/4" of plate and a saw that cuts well and looks like it has plenty of life left, rather than perfectly uniform teeth. But say someone disagreed? That'd be okay too.

[Jonathan McCullough]

As usual, nice rehab Jonathan :)

May I offer a comment regarding jointing before filing?



But of course! And those are all good tips. To get my teeth consistent, I count the number of strokes and stay with a specific number throughout the sharpening. Success means a keen point after the set number of strokes. But if I found I've miscalculated by more than one stroke, I just keep my head down and go through the rest, then do another pass with two or three additional strokes. Oddly, I have found saws that are tempered differently from one end to the other, with inconsistent "hard" spots from area to area.

I've been thinking about trying to find a substitute for red or blue Dykem. It seems pricey and how hard could it be really to make a fast-evaporating dye?

To answer your question, when we add quotes or images, we use "HTML Code." When you compose a new thread or respond within a thread, and you want to add an image within the text, you can do one of two things.
1. Copy the link where your image is on Picasa or flickr or snapfish or photobucket or wherever,
2. In the thread, put the cursor where you want the image, hit the little button above that has a mountain and a moon on it,
3. Paste the photobucket link and press "OK." That will create a computer language image code website that tells peoples' web browsers to reflect what's at that link. You can hit preview before submitting your message/new thread to make sure you did it right.

A quicker way to do it is, if you use photobucket at least, the website link will pop up for me to copy and paste directly into the message. Maybe Picasa too, which is what I think you use, right?

Hope this helps and thanks for the tips.

[Jonathan McCullough]

Disregard; got error msg; duplicate response

[Marv Werner]

Thanks Jonathan for the instructions. :) I'll try to give it a try next time I want to embed an image. I have done that in Picasa in other forums.

Counting strokes.....(more unsolicited info)

I see why you don't always feel a need to joint. By the way, Acetone removes Dykem instantly. Yes, it is a bit pricey, but goes a long way if you apply it sparingly using the brush on the lid. I just dab it on the face edge of the teeth. You can buy it at Enco.

Counting strokes work pretty well if you only need to touch up teeth that are not in bad shape.

But if you are going for teeth that are exactly even with each other from tip to tip, you will need a reference of some kind after jointing snaggled teeth. The flat you get when jointing is that reference, at least to the degree that you can accurately judge the filing off of half the flat on every other tooth, then the other half on alternating teeth.

Question....why do you joint so you end up with a dip in the middle of the tooth edge? Saw makers of old and even some makers of today purposely file theirs with a crown, opposite of what you do. The reason is, the crown will more closely coincide with the oval movement of your arm as you make a full stroke down and back and keeps the teeth engaged with the wood more smoothly and completely. Some of the old saws had as much as a 3/8" crown.

[Jonathan McCullough]

Marv, yeah I put a belly on the saw when I joint, not a divot. Once you have the teeth jointed straight, you can continue to joint it from the middle, outward toward the toe and the heel, creating a high point in the middle.

When I sight down the teeth of a saw, I can immediately see whether it was well maintained or no. A saw whose previous owner got overenthusiastic sharpening one section will have one or more visible "dips." A saw that never got jointed will have a crescent shape because most of the sawing occurs near the middle of the saw, and a tyro sharpener won't count strokes, perhaps limiting his sharpening to only the teeth that need it, in the middle.

On this saw, I think it spent most of its time in a tool box, and in this and other saws like that, what I've seen is essentially a sharp saw with the pointy ends of the teeth blunted a bit from knocking around in a tool box for a hundred years. It also cleaned up relatively easily. At least that's how I interpret it. Another clue is that when you're cleaning them, a well-used saw will render up that distinct piney sap smell as you clean around the teeth.

[John Powers]

Did you mean to say lining up the guides on a flyrod???

[Marv Werner]

Jonathan,

Ok, then you are not only making the tooth edge straight, you are adding a crown. That's supposed to make it a better cutting saw. At least that's the theory. I could never feel a difference between a straight tooth edge and a crowned one. If there is a difference, it must be minimal, or maybe it's just me. :rolleyes:

[Jonathan McCullough]

John: Yes. Hey, know what one piece of equipment is indispensable to a Jersey fly fisherman? A Pennsylvania fishing license! Badum-bum. Jeez, tough crowd.

[george wilson]

I just rub some carpenter's blue chalk over the teeth if I need to make sure which ones I have filed. It doesn't leave much chalk,but it is enough to see. And,you don't have to clean it off the blade.

That is a very nice handle. I like the curves at the front edge especially.

And,the wheat actually follows the shapes,rather than just being "where ever".

[Ray Gardiner]

Hi Johnathan,

Here is the EAIA directory entry for Russell Erwin, they made all manner of tools and hardware over a long period.

http://www.backsaw.net/pics/RussellErwin.jpg

The convex curvature of a saw blade is usually called "breasting" and I'm sure it's been discussed here many times over the years, the right amount, can make a huge difference to the feel of a saw. As Marv points out it's related to the natural action of the arm when sawing.

Mike Wenzloff has written some excellent work on breasting here...
http://www.wenzloffandsons.com/faq/31-general/51-breasting.html

I would caution against googling for "breasting" you get some strange sites....:)

Regards
Ray