Some weekend rust hunting

[Cody Cantrell]

Went to an antique store this weekend and got all of this for $45. I did get two vises but I only took a picture of one, they were identical. The saw is a Disston not sure what model but according to the Disstonian Institute the medallion dates it to 1865-71. It says H. Disston and Son. The plate, although a little thin, is in great shape. I hung it on the shop wall as I didnt want to mess with the split nuts to try and make a repair. Not sure of the brand of the countersink it said "VB" on it. The dividers were marked Johnson Tool Co. (?) Newark New Jersey, I think I'll have to double check. The vises are both B/G-500 V in great shape.

A couple questions.

1. Is the tote on the saw worth fixing? Or has it earned retirement?
2. Are countersinks like this sharpenable and if so what it the process?

244315

[george wilson]

cut up the saw for scrapers.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Hard to see much of the countersink in the photo, but I've sharpened old countersinks with an auger file or little diamond files with success. The big issue I've had is sometimes is with the multi-flute countersinks - someone else has been sharpening it poorly, or it's just out of whack or poorly made, and the cutters end up not being all in the same plane - if one or more cutters is proud enough of short enough compared to the others, you can get some bad chatter. When you have the old countersinks with an odd number of non-radially-symmetric cutters, it can be a very smooth cutting countersink when it's working right, however. If it looks in good shape, try and keep that by taking the same number of strokes on each cutting edge. I have no idea how to get the cutting edges back in line with each other if they've gone far out, or really how to identify which cutting edge or edges are the ones that're out.

[Cody Cantrell]

It seems to be a pretty cool old saw and I have plenty of less cool saws to cut up it will probably just have to set and look good. Does anyone have an idea what model of saw it is? I could not locate it on the Disstonian institute.
Josh thats kind of what I thought thanks for the advice.

[Mike Allen1010]

I'm pretty sure that is a #7, the first model saw Henry Disston ever manufactured. The missing piece of the tote prevents you from clearly seeing the distinctive "triangle" shaped cutout typical the early #7's.

Your dating of 1860 -- 1870s seems right on target. Although the steel in some of these late 1860s saw plates wasn't on the same level as 50-60 years later, IMHO the split nuts alone make it cool!

Whether you restored or not is up to you -- for me it would depend on whether:

1) The split nuts are in good enough shape that they can be move removed and screwed back on, as you would need to disassemble the saw to repair the tote. (TFWW as an inexpensive split nuts driver that works great).

2) How much life is left in the plate. Once the width of the toe gets down around 1", the saw loses a lot of its stiffness and it's pretty easy to kink or bend the plate, especially as a ripsaw. I think 1" wide saws have pretty much done their duty.

Given the age and width of the plate, it would probably be worth checking to ensure the temper in the steel is still good. If the temper is still good, when you bend the plate in a semicircle, it should "spring" back to straight. If it doesn't and retains much of the curve then the temper is pretty much gone and I wouldn't count on it as a user.

My 2 cents for what it's worth,

All the best,Mike

[george wilson]

Why would the temper not still be good? Unless it has been in a fire,the saw could be hundreds of years old and still have the same temper. 18th.C. flintlock rifles with mainsprings in them are still fired every day (though it's not considered the best thing to fire antique guns due to the corrosive nature of black powder).