Saving a saw

[Mike Wenzloff]

I posted this elsewhere and thought I would here, too. So apologies to those of you have seen this. Of course, I could have posted pics of the three other saws I did today whilst taking breaks from writing...Two wonderful full-sized saws (one a mid-1800s Peace with split nuts and an early 20th century no-name) and a Disston D-8 panel saw. But, I didn't take pics of the process...So on with the show...

Saving a saw is a personal endeavor for me. Hate to see them go to total ruin. This is a recent purchase. It got delivered the other morning. So what is the point of buying such an ugly saw?

Well, savings over a new saw comes first to mind. This saw was an $11 purchase. I would not have paid more for it. So with shipping, I have $15 into it.

But even relatively cheap doesn't fully do it for me. I think in part it is a challenge. I also believed it would make a great saw--especially since I sold my LN DT and carcass saws...

Here's the picture from the listing:

http://www.wenzloffandsons.com/temp/saws/disston_dt_0001b.jpg

And here's what it looked like on my counter after removing the handle:

http://www.wenzloffandsons.com/temp/saws/disston_dt_0001a.jpg

Here's what 20 minutes of work turned it into:

http://www.wenzloffandsons.com/temp/saws/disston_dt_0002a.jpg

I cleaned it with a scrub pad, some laundry detergent (you can see the muck in the background of the last picture). Don't tell Dina I used one of her bread baking dishes.

It'll take another 30 minutes or so to joint it to where the teeth are nearly gone as well as sharpen it. That's a tip: unless the teeth are completely ill spaced, but you need to joint it way back, leave a bit of the bottom of the gullet so you can see where to cut new teeth.

At some point I suppose this saw would have become part of a landfill. With just a tad bit of care on my part, it will out live me now.

Clock goes tick toc...for 30 minutes or so...

After sharpening this saw, I have to say that it cuts very well. In the end, I didn't joint the teeth all the way off. If you look in the pictures you will note that at some point, someone rounded off the toe. If I were to have fully jointed this saw, I would have literally taken years of moderate use off of it.

So instead, a swipe or two of the saw jointer and I simply filed it a modified rip profile. This truly makes the saw easy to start when ripping, and still rip quickly. Too, it allows the saw to be used for cross cutting shoulders and the like very well. A truly versatile saw.

And all for $15 and an hour of time.

Take care, Mike

[Dan Forman]

Nice rehab Mike. Do you know who made it?

Was that your old LN dovetail saw which was the subject of a recent gloat here?

Dan

[Mike Wenzloff]

Hi Dan,

Yep, it's floating around here. As with many of my saws, they come and they go. I have so many, the newer LN saws (there were two) pretty much went unused. And I have this thing for rescuing the things, so they kinda have a habit of accumulating. Then I sell of most of them and start over.

It's a Disston. The medallion on this saw dates it between 1896-1917. The stamp on the spine refines that to early 20th century. This information comes from the Disstonian Institute.

This saw is a #4, which is the number used by Disston for all their backsaws, regardless of size. For instance, I have a 30" long #4 for my mitre box. The saw in this thread is a #4, steel back, 10" model with an apple handle.

It's a sweet little saw. Ugly handle and all. But it cuts well and is comfortable in use. It is two inches from the bottom of the teeth to the bottom of the spine. I can rip the full distance to the spine in 16 strokes in hard Maple. 9 strokes for 1" in distance if I am being careful and cutting to a line for say a DT. And it still crosscuts smoothly to boot. It'll make a nice little saw for as long as I have it.

Take care, Mike

[Alden Miller]

Mike, the saw looks like it came out nice. Not much in the way of deep pitting in the blade either.

Since you modified it to a rip profile for dovetails did what kind of set did you use for the teeth? The LN DT saws have very little set so that they track down the kerf (kind of keep you from wandering).

The saw you have is the exact one that I just cut new teeth in and sharpened. I went with 13PPI crosscut. Great little saw for having in the shop.

-Alden

[Mike Wenzloff]

Hi Alden,

I have a couple old sets I have filed the plunger down to accomodate small teeth. One is a Morrill, the other is a Taintor's patent...And I sorta have a weakness for saw sets, too. There's so many different styles from "back in the day." Some are absolute junk, but some work and look kinda neat. Well, some look really cool and don't work worth a dang.

But the tooth profile on this saw isn't a rip, really. There's actually more rake and some fleam angle. This is why it works well for both cross cutting and ripping.

They are great saws. Then again...which one isn't <g>

Take care, Mike