Vintage saws and straight blades

[Gary Herrmann]

I recently won a D8 on that auction site. I specifically asked and the blade was described to me as straight.

At this point, my experience with hand saws are back saws and dozukis.

There is a slight curve to the right when you sight down the blade. Is that considered straight for a vintage saw (40s-50s)? Is it merely because there is no back on the saw (20" blade)? Will the curve impact how well it crosscuts?

Haven't had a chance to try it yet, because I've been in the shop all day, and SWMBO has decided thats enough shop time for one day, so your input is apreciated.

[Brian Hale]

Straight means straight.

A curved blade will tend to vibrate on the return stroke and possibly cut off-line depending on the amount of bow. You may be able to bend the blade back on it's self and straighten it out.

Brian :)

[Gary Herrmann]

Tried bending it back some - it seemed to help. It still curves a bit to the right, but when I cut some 8" wide white oak this evening it seemed to do pretty well. I still may have it sharpened, but overall I'm pleased with the saw.

[josh bjork]

I've gotten a couple of saws with nasty kinks in them. It is just ignorance and the sellers rarely seem to think of it. They are conditioned to tell you about the chips in the handle but that seems about it. I bought one, it was advertised as straight and it was until it fell off of my bench.

[lawrence rottersman]

I just spent 10 days in a cabin on a skiing vacation and when I wasn't outside, I was inside watching ww dvd's, like Christopher Schwarz' (Popular Woodworking editor) Forgotten Handtools.

He said just about all vintage saws curve left or right, but that should not discourage you from buying one unless the curve was "serpentine."

I'm in a sharpen your own saws mode, but strictly a beginner. However, what he says does make sense to me: Expecting to get a straight handsaw that's 70 or more years old doesn't seem reasonable.

Again, I can't validate the criticism either way, but I do very much recommend the dvd, especially to the author of this thread. Larry R

[Richard Niemiec]

Gary, you have to straighten it. Because I don't want to break any silly rules about posting urls, just google the following

smalser "Advanced Saw Filing and Reconditioning"

making sure to put the title in quotes, and you will come up with the article.

Bob Smalser is one of the finest resources on many things, including rehabbing saws and taking kinks etc. out of them. Good luck. RN

[Don C Peterson]

According to Bob Smalser (and I have no reason to doubt him) simply bending the saw probably isn't a long term fix. He has posted several excellent articles here on the subject.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=66090&highlight=sharpening

I've used this technique to straighten several saws that had bends and so far the results have been good.

[Richard Niemiec]

Ah, Don, that's the same article I was suggesting, didn't know he posted it here, and had bookmarked it from the collection of his articles at WoodCentral. regards.rn