Saw Plate Finish

[Eric Brown]

For the most part, saws plates are raw steel, relying on the user to keep dry and oiled. There have been saws made with a Teflon coating, but that is impractical for most to do at home.
Nickel plating is good, but again, not practical for most to do at home. Looking at one of my Biship adjustable saws, I see where it was coated with gun blue with the E.C. Simmons name.

What I noticed while cleaning rust off, was that the rust was primarily on the areas where the bluing was worn away. Along the tooth line and the back.
Here are some pictures of the plate and back (front and back) after scraping off the rust.

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Considering all options about refinishing, including nothing but oil.

[Jimmy Harris]

I would think the problem would be that anything that protects the steel, would also wear off the steel. If rust resistance were the primary concern, I'd be tempted to look into a stainless steel plate. Perhaps 301 would be a good candidate? There's got to be some kind of SS that would perform better than the old spring steel. Materials science has come a long, long way since 1850.

Personally, I just rely on WD-40 Corrosion Resistant spray. It lasts a really, really long time. It's easy to apply. It does a much better job of rust protection than pretty much any other oil or wax out there. It's not too expensive or hard to find, usually. The only downside is it stains the wood. And that's, admittedly, not a small downside. However, you can work around that.

[steven c newman]

I just rub an old candle along the tooth line...the rest? A few drops of 3in1 oil on a shop rag....not much...and wipe/rub the plate down, before it gets hung up for the day..

[Eric Brown]

Stainless steel won't sharpen and keep that sharpness.
There are a lot of oils that could be used. However, next time you go to a yard sale or tool seller, look at how many saws are rusty.
So what happened? People quit taking care of their tools.

[Eric Brown]

Yes, Steven. wax works as does most any oil. However, how many saws have you seen for sale lately that have been properly protected with something?
So looking at the Bishop saw, about 100 years old, the bluing held up except where it was worn off.
I will probably nickel plate this one. That hopefully will protect it for another 100 years.

[Jimmy Harris]

Stainless steel won't sharpen and keep that sharpness.
There are a lot of oils that could be used. However, next time you go to a yard sale or tool seller, look at how many saws are rusty.
So what happened? People quit taking care of their tools.
There are a lot of stainless steels out there. 304 is what we commonly see, and it's not a great steel for knife edges for the reason you mentioned. But it's not uncommon to find knives made out of them, because the steel is so cheap and readily available. But get something like AUS 8 stainless or 440c, and you're up near 58 HRC, which is a lot harder and will hold an edge even better than 1095 spring steel which is commonly used in hand saws, and only around 55 HRC. Then you've got other options like 14c28n and 12c27. AEB-L is often used in bandsaw blades, so it might be a good candidate. And there are tons of other stainless steels with all kinds of properties to choose from.

I was initially thinking of 301 because it's a common spring steel as well. But it's not as hard as 1095, so it's probably not a good choice. Still, I imagine someone with more knowledge than I would probably have no problem picking out a better steel for a saw plate than 1095, with all of the options we have today. I'm just not a metallurgist.

Either way, it won't do anything to protect an old saw. So it's of no use to you now.

[mike stenson]

Store em vertically (keep the dust off), keep em oiled. No problem. I like a saw plate that reflects, personally.

[Eric Brown]

Store em vertically (keep the dust off), keep em oiled. No problem. I like a saw plate that reflects, personally.

Reflection is another reason to nickel plate it. Thanks for reminding me.

[Patrick C Daugherty]

As a another option, one could have the saw reblued. There should be some old line gunsmith around that can do the job, although not with the cold rust blue that is on there now. It would look more original than nickel plate

[Tony Zaffuto]

No need for hot blue, just get some Birchwood Casey cold blue and do it yourself. Everything is in surface preparation and following instructions on the container.

Me? I would clean, wax or oil the plate.

[Rafael Herrera]

Would a hot blue process anneal the saw plate?

[Patrick C Daugherty]

Hot blueing is 275-310 degrees F.

[Rafael Herrera]

That's in the tempering range. If it's for a short period of time, it might not affect the steel. If it does, it would make the plate softer.

[steven c newman]

IF I remember correctly...there are 2 types of "Gun Blue"...the liquid stuff in a bottle, and a Paste in a tube....and, I use the paste stuff to bring out the saw plate's etch. I gave up on the liquid stuff..never lasted more than a day. the Paste seems to do a better job.

Anyone remember HOW Disston got the backs of backsaws Blue/black?