Two New (Old) Saws Worth Rehabbing?

[Justin Chen]

Picked these two saws up. I believe the Disston is a #8 (but handle looks different from what I've seen on websites) and the other is an Atkins No. A-2 Straight Back. Can anyone confirm that it is a Disston #8?

I was wondering if it was worth my time to fix these up? The handles look to be in good shape and the blades look straight. However, there is quite a bit of rust on the blades.

I'm normally a power tool user when it comes to cutting to size but I do enjoy using my handplanes. For $4 I thought it wasn't too bad to pick these up.


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[Jim Koepke]

Justin,

If nothing else, you will gain experience.

The bottom saw looks like the handle may be a user made replacement.

My suggestion is to clean them up and then sharpen one rip and the other crosscut. Your needs may be totally different than mine, but this would build your experience.

If nothing else, they will be a good supply for scrapers and scratch stock blades.

At $4 you haven't put too much into your investment. A few good files will cost more than that.

jtk

[Greg Wease]

You could try a bit of fine wet/dry sandpaper on a sanding block lubed with WD-40 in the area of the etch. Some of the logo might remain.

[Mark Baldwin III]

IMHO, if the plate is straight, and the saw didn't start life as a piece of junk, then it is likely worth it. I've used a couple different cleaners to remove some of the rust from blades. Gunk removers seem to take a lot of the pitch that may be stuck to the blade off. I try to tread lightly with the sand paper in the general area of the etch. The rest of the blade is free game. Try some 400 and 600 grit paper with mineral spirits, and sand with the length of the saw. I haven't rehabbed as many saws as some of the other guys here, but that's a method that has been working for me.

[Steve Branam]

Yeah, I wouldn't hesitate to clean these up. That rust doesn't look like a problem, should come off pretty easily. I've used the method Mark recommends on worse-looking saws.

[Chris Vandiver]

"[QUOTE=Justin Chen;1796844]Picked these two saws up. I believe the Disston is a #8 (but handle looks different from what I've seen on websites) and the other is an Atkins No. A-2 Straight Back. Can anyone confirm that it is a Disston #8?"

You can get help identifying your Disston saw here; http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/

"I was wondering if it was worth my time to fix these up? The handles look to be in good shape and the blades look straight. However, there is quite a bit of rust on the blades."


You can get very good information for rehabbing your saws here; http://home.grics.net/~weir/Old_SAWS_Restored.html

[Justin Chen]

Well I had a chance to work on the Disston blade.  I still need to work some rust off but seems to be coming off well.  It appears one side has a significant amount of pitting but doubt it will have a negative effect on performance.



Thanks for the help! Don't have a teeth setting right now so will have to wait to sharpen them.

[Mark Baldwin III]

I wouldn't worry about set right now. If you have a saw vise, or are able to make one (check the Lie-Nielsen site for their saw sharpening video or I believe Steve Branam has a good tutorial on his blog for making a wooden one), you can go ahead and file it up. I'd be willing to bet that the saw already has plenty of set. All of mine had too much when I got them, and I've stoned some of it off.

[rick carpenter]

Well I had a chance to work on the Disston blade.  I still need to work some rust off but seems to be coming off well.  It appears one side has a significant amount of pitting but doubt it will have a negative effect on performance.

Good reservoirs for wax!

[David Keller NC]

Justin - You don't need a saw set to set the teeth on a saw - that's just a convenience. You can set the teeth on any saw with a soft nail, a hammer, and a block of wood. The key to this is that you can't use just any hammer - its weight needs to control the extent of the tooth-bending, not your arm strength. For a small joinery back saw, a 2 oz. hammer is appropriate. For your saws, I'd use a 6 oz. hammer. Simply place the saw's tooth line on a block of hardwood like maple, cherry, walnut, etc..., place the point of the nail about mid-way between the tooth's gullet and point, raise the hammer to a consistent 12" - 14" height, and let it fall. Consistent results depend on the location of the point of the nail on each tooth and the consistency of the height that the hammer is raised.

For this to work well, the teeth need to be consistent in size, which is why most of us will joint & file the teeth before they're set. If your set winds up being too wide, you can wrap a piece of typing paper around the tooth line, and squeeze the teeth in a metal vise (as in Chris Schwarz' blog post a couple of weeks ago). Try it, it works.

[Jim Koepke]

I'd be willing to bet that the saw already has plenty of set.

I think people thought that all they had to do to sharpen a saw was to use a saw set on the teeth.

I have seldom found a saw in the wild with too little set.

jtk

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I saw a saw at the flea market with enough set, that I think if you tried to cut with it you'd get two kerfs at the begining.

[Mark Baldwin III]

I think people thought that all they had to do to sharpen a saw was to use a saw set on the teeth.

Isn't that how you expose a fresh cutting edge?