Disston Jackson Dovetail Saw

[Jim Paulson]

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased this old dovetail saw (10 inch) while traveling back from Hampton, New Hampshire, for a Windsor rocking chair class with Mike Dunbar. At first, I was surprised to see the Jackson name on the blade and Disston on the medalion. Now I see from looking at various saw sites that Disston made these around 1890 or so as another line of less expensive saws. I'd love to know more about this saw and when it might have been made. It seems it must have been made before 1890 based on the eagle medalion, but I'm sure many of you can add something here. Please chime in, because I like this saw a lot and enough to want to make one with similar characteristics.

Favoring open handled dovetail saws and finally seeing one that was priced closer to my wallet, I can tell you that I liked the nice handle grip right away. I have also marveled at the thin saw plate. While I haven't put a micrometer on it yet, it must be clearly less than 20 thousandths. While I like my LN dovetail saw, this is my first antique dovetail saw and although the handle design is simplified, I think it is pretty cool.

Jim

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[Mark Dorman]

I have used one for over a year now and really like it. Fits my hand well and sharpens up nice. All I know about them is what you find on the Disson Institute site.
Only small isssue I have with mine is the Johnny Cash song that goes through my head everytime I pick it up. LOL We been talkin bout Jackson ahh there it goes again.

Mark

[David Weaver]

I also have one that's a little deeper in the plate. It's not that thin in the plate, but does have the recessed medallion and split nuts.
Steel is a little soft as old saws go, but not by any means too soft, and it files nice and easy.

It's a decent saw, but I overpaid for mine a while go because I got it from a tool dealer and it came with a little more age and care related issues than was implied by the dealer's ad (pitting, etc) so I filed it rip and set it aside. It is arrow straight, though.

I don't know what the plate is on mine, but I would suspect it's probably close to the standard of disston's saws of that size - closer to 0.025 or so. I have an english dovetail saw that has a .018" plate and there is a significant difference in thickness, but there is no work that I do that the jackson saw wouldn't do well.

Look for old english saws if you like thin plates but you don't want to spend for a new saw, with the caveat that 1860 or so is very old for a disston, but you might not have trouble finding english saws of that age, and they don't all come arrow straight or with skillfully filed teeth (I guess there's no guarantee of that at any age, though).

[Jonas Baker]

I have a Disston #4 back saw from the 1860's (with the Disston and Son medalion) and it's saw plate is super thin, I think around 0.015, and with the set it is .022 or so at the teeth. It cuts great for dovetails. I'm sure yours will as well.

[Klaus Kretschmar]

Very nice saw! Congrats. It's in great shape, obviously the pre owners took high care on this tool. If the blade is straight, it will be a great user, that's for sure.

Klaus

[Tony Zaffuto]

I have a Jackson dovetail saw also. My medallion and saw nut are recessed with split nuts on the other sider. Everything else looks pretty much identical to yours, with similar depth under the back. The saw plate on mine is about .025". I got it, along with a Richardson tenon saw about 8 or 10 years ago and don't think I paid more than $20.00 total for both. Tom Law was still sharpening back then and he sharpened both. The Jackson saw remains one of my favorites for dovetails--easy to start and tracks perfect.

[Jim Paulson]

Thanks for the comments. I just checked the saw plate and it is a bit thicker than I realized. The thickness is .023-.024" The other side is as you mentioned Tony with split nuts. $35 is the least amount I've ever seen one of these go for and so I went for it.

Here is a couple pictures of the other side too. I probably should mention that I haven't cleaned this up at all so it hopefully will look even better with some careful work on the wood and metal surfaces.

Klaus,
The saw plate is fairly straight and I'm hoping to sharpen it up and use it. It is quite fortunate that any pitting is high on the saw plate and not a problem.

Thanks for looking.
Jim


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