Batch of Disstons Saws on eBay.

[John Dykes]

I'm trying to expand my skills... specifically into sawing.

Would anybody care to check out this "Buy Now" set of 4 Disston saws for $60 shipped. $15 / saw seems like a decent deal....

Item #190171274936.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

- jbd in Denver

[Jim Koepke]

I'm trying to expand my skills... specifically into sawing.

Would anybody care to check out this "Buy Now" set of 4 Disston saws for $60 shipped. $15 / saw seems like a decent deal....

Item #190171274936.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

- jbd in Denver

First off, I am not very knowledgable about saws. So this is an opinion from someone who has only recently begun to learn about sharpening saws.

One thing that kind of perturbs me is some of the saws have pretty poor looking handles. Some of the pictures look like the teeth may be poorly formed. And then there is the pitting in some of the pictures.

OK, that sort of put the brakes on for me. What slammed the brakes for me is the description:

You are bidding on a lot of 4 Rare "Disston Antique Hand Saws." They are in great condition. Wooden handles that are also in good condition. [snip] All saws have a Stamp on the handles that reads "Disston" and have Disston's logo in the middle. There is some surface rust on the saws but blades are straight and seem to be sharp.

Are these saws rare?
They do not look to be in great condition to me.
I thought good meant they would be at least useable, at least one of the handles does not look to be useable.
Seem to be sharp? Do these folks really know what a sharp saw is?
I scoff at what I thought was sharp just a few months ago. A few months from now, I may do the same about what I think is sharp today.

I have had some good fortune when it comes to this type of saw.
If you can, look in the antique shops, yard sales and flea markets. Be sure to ask at yard sales, it may not be on display, but sometimes if they think you will pay money, they will bring just about anything out of the house when they need the money.
I got a Disston in good shape at an antique shop for $10 recently. There are those that will say I paid too much.

The hunt is half the fun, the fettling is the other half.
Using a sharp saw you tuned yourself is nothing but fun.

jim

[Robert Rozaieski]

They don't look to be in horrible shape but I wouldn't say they are in great condition as the seller does. There are two #7s in that lot, which are very nice saws. The third one from the top looks like a D8 skewback, which is also a good saw. The bottom one looks like he let his dog chew on the handle and it has been sharpened a lot but it could be shortened into a nice panel saw if you replace the handle. Bad teeth is almost to be expected on these old saws. I don't even worry about it anymore as almost all I've seen need to be retoothed and sharpened unless you buy from a reputable restorer like Daryl Weir.

My main concern is pitting. If the plates are pitted too close to the tooth line, then the saws become useless because they cannot be sharpened properly. If there is no serious pitting near the teeth then they can be brought back as good users. To me, $50 is a little high for the lot, but if I saw the top two saws (the #7s) in a shop or a flea market I'd gladly pay $10-$15 each for them. The D8 is probably worth $10-$15 to a lot of folks but I like the #7s better. It's still a good saw mind you, just not my preference. I don't know what the bottom one is. Looks much newer and certainly not worth $15.

Personally, I'm still looking for that $10-$15 #12 :D !

[James Carmichael]

Ahh, and my recovery was going so well. Then LOML comes home this past weekend with a garage-sale Atkins she picked up for $1. Now this post:-)

Once I got my hands on the much-vaunted #12, I decided it was too heavy and it's skew-backed cousin, the 112, was my dream saw. Then, I was lost...

[Jeff Craven]

I'm trying to expand my skills... specifically into sawing.
expand your skills into sharpening saws and remaking handles? or just sawing?