Saw blade restoration

[Rob Dickson]

Hi to all,

I decided to attempt to restore the blade of an older (and unidentified) Disston saw that I've had kicking around for quite a few years now. The saw has a goodly amount of rust on it, and I anticipate that some serious elbow grease will be needed in order to clean it up. In reading about how to go about doing this, most restorations use mineral spirits for a cutting agent while sanding. As I don't have a proper respirator (as recommended for safety) I was wondering if using Evaporust would accomplish the same thing? I'm "experimenting" on this saw as I have a Disston D-8 a D-7 and a D-23 set aside as user saws once I've experimented on this saw...any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

Rob

[bridger berdel]

water will work just fine as a lubricant for the black wet/dry sandpaper. remove all the wood parts first and dry it off immediately when you're done.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I've used mineral oil and WD40 as well, and mineral spirits while working outside with a stiff breeze. I've also had great luck using a slurry of Barkeepers Friend while sanding the plate as well. That sped things up and helped get a bit of the rust out of the smaller pits that I was never going to sand out. Whatever liquid you're using, it's main purpose is to keep the finer grit papers from clogging.

[Jacob Nothstine]

Simple Green and 200 - 400 grit sand paper works great and has a nice clean smell also safe.

[george wilson]

I don't know what your goal of cleaning is for this saw. It is highly unlikely that you will ever get the pits out of the blade,though you can get the rust off. Evaporust is often used to remove rust,though it might cost more than you'd like to spend for an old saw blade.

Barkeeper's Friend is oxalic acid,which is poison. Don't be getting it into your mouth. I don't know why the poison aspect is never mentioned,but I think it should be made aware to the user.

[Joe A Faulkner]

I've used Evaporust, scotch brite, sand paper, razor blade scrapers, plastic ice scrapers, steal wool, and electrolysis. All work, all make a mess. For Evaporust, I made a simple, long narrow tray out of rigid pink styrofoam - some scrap I had from a building project. Simply duct taped together. I then lined the tray with visqueen (more scrap). set the saw blade in the tray, cover it with Evaporust - a little over 1/8 inch deep. Let the blade soak for a few hours - wash and scrub the blade with scotchbrite pads, and repeat if so desired. If the blade is really bad, let is soak over night. When you are done, you can pour the evaporust into an clean jar or bottle, seal it and reuse it on another project. The Evaporust doesn't seem to disolve the rust the way an acid based solution would. I believe some other chemical reaction is taking place. Takes quite a bit of elbow grease to get the mess off the blade. But I took an blade that was covered in rust and got it back to where I can barely makeout the original etch. The saw will never be a collector's item, but it will be an reasonable user for me. Good luck. If you do one, be prepared, it won't be your last.

[Jacob Nothstine]

Here is a good link to cleaning saw blades.
http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/CiantiM/cleanSawPlate/cleanSawPlate-01.asp

[Don Drickey]

I've been using electrolysis, using a method I found on the net. It consists of an old battery charger some insulated wire and reinforcing rods and soda soap water. It works really well, and leaves just a black slime after an hour or so. It must be done outside as it produces hydrogen gas ( quite explosive, think Hindenburg Blimp). I first saw the method in a woodworking magazine, that used it to clean wood planes.