Note about Tom Law, saw sharpener of note

[Joe Rogers]

Dave A ,I hope this is ok to repost from another forum...it is germain to the forum interests. Please delete or move if necessary to comply with any forum rules.

Posted by Dave Caudill on another forum.

"Hi Everyone, it has been quite a while since I have posted here but wanted to pass on some news to all of you. Tom Law a well known expert on handsaws and who has probably sharpened many of the folks who frequent this websites saws over the years is selling his entire saw collection as well as some other tools.

Tom called me the other day and asked if I could help him out. He informed that he is sick and in failing health and needs to sell his saw collection as soon as possible. His son is going to help him out selling them on e-bay in the coming weeks. I don't have an exact time but it should be soon and I will let everyone know as it gets closer. It is going to be under the moniker of "TomLawsSaws". Tom has over 700 saws and I've had the pleasure of seeing many of them. Many of them are rare or uncommon saws as well as many common saws. All are of high quality as that was what was most important to Tom since he was a finish carpenter for many years. There are also a number of saws that Tom has made custom made handles for. All as you would expect are expertly sharpened.
I didn't speak with Tom at length as he is not feeling well due to his illness which doctors have been unable to diagnose. I can't say with certainty but I would surmise that he may need to liquidate them for financial reasons. Regardless of the reason they are going to be sold and Tom needs some help and I knew the folks on this forum would be interested and willing to help.
I know some of you have met Tom at the PATINA tool show that is held every March in Damascus Maryland seeling his handsaws and have seen his video on saw sharpening. He also used to write articles on finish carpentry for Fine Homebuilding and some of you may remember him from that. If you've met him or spoke with him on the phone you know what a down to earth, kind and personable guy Tom is. I got to know him after sending him some saws to sharpen and next thing you know he's telling me I should just sharpen them myself. So I'd call Tom and end up on the phone talking saws and sharpening for hours. Tom always had time and was always willing to give some tips to anyone who would call and want to talk saws and saw sharpening.
What I'm asking of you folks is all your ideas of blogs and other forums where I can post this information or if you are willing to post this information so that as many folks as possbile can bid on these saws. Tom is looking for help and I told him I would do what I can to make sure I get the word out to everyone I can. I in turn am asking all of you to help me but more importantly a fellow woodworker, tool enthusiast and wonderful individual. I am not in this for any financial gain I'm just trying to help a fellow friend who is in need.
If you have any ideas or would like to help by posting a message on other woodworking or old tool forums please let me know.
Thanks Everyone. Dave Caudill
Olympia, WA"

For the interest of hand tool users here...there will be great saws available.
Joe

[David Weaver]

Are the saws going to be available, or are they going to be auctioned?

I've seen this message now on a couple of forums, but for people who have some saws that they are lukewarm about, and who think they might want to buy something specific but relatively common (like, say, a #7 panel crosscut or something), how do we get from point A to B?

Ultimately, these things show up in the big auction site or a list of them with prices gets made, right?

[Joe Rogers]

Sounds like the "auction site" is where the saws will show up for sale. I will post any additional information I find as it becomes available. I pretty much can assure interested people that they will not be disapointed with any Tom Law reworked saw they acquire. I only have one back saw that Tom retoothed, sharpened and set and I wish I had him do all my saws before he declined more business.
Joe

[David Weaver]

I'll be interested in seeing them on peebay. They will probably go out of my range there, but I think that's the best place for them to go, or the market of people who just read magazines and forums regularly enough to see this will be too diluted - not a good thing if he needs the money for health reasons.

Secretly, and probably a lot of other guys are hoping this, but secretly I was hoping for a price list that had some cheap and maybe ugly but good in the user department saws.

I don't know if Daryl Weir is on this forum, and I don't know if he's taking saws, but his saws are absolutely textbook picture perfect. He is an option to work over your saws for you if you have some with wonky teeth that just aren't worth it to you to redo. I know Tom said something to the effect that if you want good work done now that he's no longer doing it, he has no qualms about recommending Daryl.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Joe the posting is OK and please keep us updated. The only thing you can't do is post a direct link to an auctions site or another forum.

I had the pleasure of talking with Tom a couple of times and before I learned to sharpen my own saws he did all of mine for me. He is a true gentleman is the best sense of the word and I'm sorry to hear about his health problems.

For members here, any saw that Tom has sharpened is done right and the saws he sold over the years were very good bargains even without the sharpening. The hand tools world was heartbroken when he decided to stop sharpening saws for folks.

[David Weaver]

Is he in York, PA?

I thought I remembered reading that somewhere.

[Jeff Skory]

My one dealing with Tom was when I purchased a couple of saw from him. Over the phone because he doesn't use a computer. I asked him to pick me out a decent rip saw and crosscut saw because I didn't have either. He said he would send me couple and I could send him a check when I received them. Talk about trust! And both of these saws work wonderfully. Always sad to see someone succumb to illness.

[Joe Rogers]

Thanks Dave.
I will continue to follow the news on Tom and repost as I can.

Tom always brought a truck load of rehabbed saws to the PATINA sales and never ,that I could see, sold them all during the days business. He had many saws that were good quality but had a history of neglect in the past. He replaced broken handle horns and blended them seamlessly. The only way that you could tell was by the different grain or hue of the repair. His saws were all sharpened to the point (no pun intended) that they were difficult to replace into the display boards with kerfs hand cut into them.
My guess is that there will be some users in the mix that won't draw collectors interest due to the repaired handles and non bright plates.
Tom is located in Maryland, the upper western area,east of Hagerstown, the town escapes me.

I am not one of Tom's close friends and only talked to him 4 or 5 times but I wish him the best in this difficult situation.
Joe

[Bob Easton]

Are the saws going to be available, or are they going to be auctioned?

I've seen this message now on a couple of forums, but for people who have some saws that they are lukewarm about, and who think they might want to buy something specific but relatively common (like, say, a #7 panel crosscut or something), how do we get from point A to B?

Ultimately, these things show up in the big auction site or a list of them with prices gets made, right?

The message says they will be auctioned on eBay. I would expect to see them listed for bidding (probably not fixed prices) either individually or in small lots.

One could also infer from the message that lots of bidding, and therefore higher returns, would be helpful to Mr. Law.

[David Weaver]

The message says they will be auctioned on eBay.

Aye...somehow I missed that on the read through the message.

Hopefully the listing of his saws is staggered pretty significantly so that he can get a good return on all of them and not just the first ones that go up.

[David Weaver]

Thanks Dave.

Tom is located in Maryland, the upper western area,east of Hagerstown, the town escapes me.

That's a half hour from home for me, that's why I was asking - was just within spitting distance last week. I'm not probably going to make it home in time again that it would matter even if he would entertain the idea of someone who came in looking to buy some users but still interested in giving him fair market for them.

I'm sure he'll have no trouble selling them.

[Joe Rogers]

Found an old address for Tom.
62 West Water Street, Smithsburg, MD 21783
Joe

[Tony Shea]

I shall be looking forward to more info about when these saws go up. Most likely on ebay the prices will go beyond my range though but would be worth checking out non the less.