Is this old rip saw a user or a wall hanger?

[Pete Taran]

A couple thoughts and a question. What is driving the need for an 8 tpi (9 ppi) rip saw? Disston only made ripsaws in pitches up to 7 ppi which is a pretty fine and slow cutting saw. There is a reason why most ripsaws you see are 5 1/2 points per inch, that is the optimal compromise between speed and finish.

+1 on Stewart's sage comments. Split nuts were not made to be removed. In addition to what he said and the source he cites, also consider that the nuts were drawfiled flush with the handle surface which removed most if not all of the slot making it very hard to remove them to start with. I would not consider removing them unless you intend to do a complete rehab, that is make a complete new handle and replace all the nuts with more modern Glover style saw hardware. I've seen this done where the medallion is just epoxied in but does not actually do any holding. As I mentioned before, if the handle is tight and doesn't move in use, just leave it. If however, it's loose and moves around, you might consider a handle rehab.

[lowell holmes]

Well, there are several different opinions in this string. Just remember, don't throw anything away because it is broken or ugly.
Save your old parts in case you need to reverse the changes.
I went on a spree and have 11 Disston handsaws, some as they came to me, but the ones that were missing parts were de-rusted and new parts attached.
I have to say that the ones that were taken to Circle Saw in Houston, Texas and re-toothed and sharpened are my favorites. The D12 is one of them.
And 50 years from now when a new owner has the saws, he will not know the difference.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

If you want an 8tpi rip saw, may be easiest to get an 8tpi crosscut saw, and just refile it rip.

But I have to say I have never gotten to the end of a rip and thought to myself “what I really need is a finer rip saw.” Normally I get to the end thinking about that Japanese saw Brian Holcombe or somebody posted a couple of years ago with like 1 or 2 tpi, and wondering why I don’t have one.

[lowell holmes]

I may have to experiment with filing one of my 8pt saws rip tooth. hmm

[Jim Koepke]

One of my longest owned saws is a rip at 10 ppi. It is very slow on the cut and doesn't get used much.

My most used rip saw, a Disston #8 is at 6 ppi. For a short while my coarsest saw was 4-1/2 ppi made from an Atkins #8. When ripping ash it wasn't much faster than the rip saw at 6 ppi. One day while ripping some ash the plate buckled and snapped. It may have had an unseen crack or the saw plate was too light for this use. One of these days it may get toothed to a finer pitch and used as a panel saw.

jtk

[Stew Denton]

Scott,

Pete has a great comment on an 8 TPI rip, on it being the same tooth spacing as a 9 point saw. My 7 point rip is a good cutting saw, and cuts reasonably quickly when sharp, if cutting 3/4" stock, even oak. I would have very little interest in going to a finer tooth size than my 7 point. I did not know until Pete's post above that Disston did not make a finer tooth spacing in a rip saw than the 7 point. That tells you that there was not much demand for rip saws finer than 7 point saws. I think Pete is right on the money, an 8 TPI rip is finer than I would want. (I think there is one exception to that, and I will mention it at the end of this post.)

One way to get a more aggressive rip saw that is finer than a 5 point is to convert a 6 point cross cut to a 6 point rip, and you do find 6 point cross cut saws reasonably frequently.

If you do refile a crosscut to a rip saw, not hard to do if you study sharpening saws, be alert that often the cross cut saws have a LOT of set. Most of the saws I have had commercially sharpened had more set than I think they need. It seems to be fairly common I think with commercial sharpeners. I think they are afraid of one of their customers cutting a piece of lumber with reaction wood, and the kerf grabbing and binding the saw. They don't want that and they don't want an unhappy customer so they put more set to the saw than they probably should. So beware, when you first file a crosscut into a rip, it may have more set in the newly sharpened rip saw than I think is ideal. I also like to put less set on one of my rip saws than I do when I sharpen one of my cross cut saws.

The one exception for me not going finer than a 7 point rip for a carpenters style saw is in the case of a small saw that I set up for may grandchildren to use when they are still fairly small. (All of them are still pretty young.) I have two 16" Disston #7 panel saws that I hope to let them use when they get a little older. One will be a 12 point crosscut and one will be a 10 point rip. I don't know how that will work out for them, but intend to find out. Currently both are 10 point cross cuts. By the way I have used one that I cleaned up, it is reasonably sharp, and I was very surprised how well it cuts. It is not as fast as my full sized 26" saws, but it still cuts much faster than I expected. Both of them are 10 point cross cuts. I have also considered keeping them both 10 points, and filing one rip and keeping the other a 10 point cross cut. It will depend on how well the kids do with them filed that way.

At any rate consider a 7 point or maybe a 6 point rip saw. I think you will be very pleasantly surprised how well they do, and I know the 7 point is a very good type for finish riping.

Stew

[Scott Winners]

Thanks for the ongoing comments, I am learning a bunch.

I did look up today and I think I now understand, the difference between teeth per inch and points per inch. I was thinking to myself "about" when I said 8 teeth above. 4 and half seems/ seemed awfully coarse.

Anyroad, I came up with a sharpening vise thanks to all y'all, a hodge podge of other solutions, but it worked.

I jointed it and then sharpened just a whiff.

I went ahead and got the Veritas file set with the canvas rollup since I don't know what saws I will end up with, this one takes the biggest file in the kit. I used two partial passes with the file on all the progressive teeth at the the toe, and then pretty well one pass with the file on all the regular teeth the rest of the way to the heel. I did sharpen from both sides, that is every other tooth, flip the saw, and then the remaining teeth from the other side. I have to do that when sharpening a chainsaw (because i am a moron or a luddite or a klutz or whatever). I am happy for the folks that can sharpen chainsaws and likely rip saws too from just one side, but it has been said before a man has got to know his limitations, so i went ahead and did alternating teeth from opposite sides.

When finished I had shiny bright steel on about one third of each cutting face of each tooth. I do have a tooth set, but didn't fool with it this go round. When I first brought the saw home I cut a couple tenons for my workbench with it. It wasn't binding in green doug fir - suggesting plenty of set- but was acting like it was dull. With just a bit of shiny on each tooth and all my burr outside the set it cut way way better than when I brought it home, and it was tracking pretty straight.

I have got to get better light before I take any more metal off this blade. I either made the same counting mistake twice, or somebody reversed the set on the teeth in the middle of the blade between the two teeth that are broken.

So better lighting, and then bring my D8 crosscut and Disston backsaw up to this new level of performance before I come back to this saw.

I wonder how soon I'll get my pictures right side up here.

Thanks again folks, appreciate your help.

[lowell holmes]

I am curious, How did you set the teeth?

I have two saw sets, but I normally do a screwdriver set.

[Phil Mueller]

I’m think I remember reading somewhere that if you have a broken tooth, that you should create a raker tooth (straight up, no set), before and or after the broken tooth(?). This ensure an even number of teeth set to both sides which keeps the saw tracking correctly. So it may not be a mistake, but a purposful way to account for the broken teeth.

Pete, or someone else with more experience, please correct me on this, if needed.

[Chris Fournier]

Make it cut and give it a new life!

[Kurtis Johnson]

I agree, the metal strip repair is very well done. I love it. You see that repair not infrequently, but yours is the best one I've seen. Well thought out and executed. I love how it connects to the bottom horn, how it creates a lap joint, and how it curves with the horn, and that the ends are pleasantly rounded. Very sexy.

I'd gently clean that saw up, leaving as much of the patina as possible (I like Mark Harrell of Bad Axe Saw Works methods personally, but it's your preference of course), joint it, sharpen it, and use it. The only time I hang a saw is if it is heavily pitted causing it to have too much drag in the cut, or the metal has become so brittle over time that teeth break off when used, or when kinked or bent so badly it's beyond hammer truing. It's been my mode of operation to consider selling it on eBay as a collector piece, letting the buyer know all it's flaws.