Henry Disston signed hand saw

[Jim Tobias]

I purchased a little lumber and a few old tools from a retired woodworker. This hand saw is a signed Henry Disston. I think it is a D-8 but cannot see the inscription clearly.
I have 2 questions:
1 - How should I attempt to clean this up without degrading the value of the saw?
2 - Does it have much value if cleaned up??

Thanks,
Jim

270184270185270186

[Max Withers]

There are plenty of saw experts here who will have probably have better advice, but after a summer of combing ebay for vintage saws I can tell you that it looks like a post 1917 saw, and therefore not worth a ton of money, but potentially a great user. The standard saw plate cleaning techniques include scraping, sanding blocks and aluminum foil with or without metal polish. I just experimented with a variety of techniques on two old saws and found that I liked Bar Keeper's Friend and a Scotchbrite pad, but I was being probably unnecessarily conservative -- meaning that neither saw was particularly rare and therefore worth preserving with unmolested patina, but I wanted to preserve a little of the saw's history while making it easier to use. If you want shiny, go to town, you can't really hurt the plate, but you will probably lose the etch.

Here's some conservative cleaning advice:
http://www.thebestthings.com/toolfaqs.htm

and the dating reference:
http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/medv2.html

[Max Withers]

Read this too:
http://www.vintagesaws.com/cgi-bin/frameset.cgi?left=main&right=/library/library.html

[Jim Koepke]

+1 on what Max said about it being post 1917 and especially the vintagesaws.com link.

It looks like a good saw to learn cleaning and sharpening.

jtk

[David Weaver]

Wet and dry sand paper with a hard cork or hardwood block - 220 grit followed by 400. You can bring the polish up above that if you want to, but if the 400 is allowed to break in some, your final strokes will put a dull polish on the saw. Take the handle off first.

It looks like a crosscut D8 7 or 8 point saw, probably the most common full feature disston saw you could find, thus not great value, but probably in the range of $30 if clean and sharp.

It is worth it to have the saw, though, either as a test bed or as a user.

The saws that are worth great value are either new with no rust (which makes them a collector's piece) or very rare (which makes them a collector's piece). There are unscrupulous dealers online who sell pitted saws as "great mint super excellent condition", but I guess their sales just prove PT barnum correct. Woe be to the buyers if they ever try to resell.

[Jim Tobias]

Thanks to all for the input and advice. I don't have a good quality handsaw so this seems to be a perfect time to clean this one up and make it part of the tool family. I will follow up after my clean up attempt and let you know the outcome.

Thanks,
Jim

[David Weaver]

Definitely have a good quality handsaw now. Of the saws out there, the D8s and some of the less decorated atkins saws that don't bring big bucks are excellent saws that don't cost much.

[Chris Vandiver]

Thanks to all for the input and advice. I don't have a good quality handsaw so this seems to be a perfect time to clean this one up and make it part of the tool family. I will follow up after my clean up attempt and let you know the outcome.

Thanks,
Jim

Hey Jim,

Check out the linked tutorial. Lots of really good advice from one of the very best; http://home.grics.net/~weir/saw_restoration.html

[Mike Holbrook]

Jim, from the looks of the saw you will be working on you do not have much pitting on the blade, just discoloration and gunk. I don't think there is enough etch on the blade to see once cleaned, but then my eyes are not that great. I would work on the etch first and if it does not look like it is going to pop back out just go to town with a scotch pad, tin foil....Handles often have issues that can be even more difficult to repair than blades. A picture of the whole handle helps. There are some excellent places you can send saws to if the blade has a small bend or needs major help sharpening the teeth. You can even get the saw re-toothed.

For future pictures identifying saws, pictures of the handle may be more important than the blade. Hard to identify saws often do not have a clear etch. How the handle was made is frequently the next best identifier. A picture of the handle emblem may identify the saw but not what kind of shape it is in. Another picture that helps define what shape the blade is in, is a shot showing the top line of the blade, identifying bends or kinks in the blade.

Great saw to get you acquainted with the process. It should net you a good user too.

[Chris Vandiver]

It looks to me like the etch will be very strong once the saw has been cleaned and polished. It will surely be a great saw once it's been cleaned and properly sharpened. Hard to find one that's "better" actually.