Vintage Disston Saws

[David M Anderson]

Hello,
I have acquired a few Disston hand saws and need advice with a clean-up and sharpening.
I have started clean up on Jackson back saw, it has the split screws, which I made a screw driver for them.

The back saw came with a Perfection miter box, Pat. date Dec 23,02. #456.
What would be a suggested Saw set for a beginner to use?
Was looking at a Morrill's Apex special or a Stanley 42

Don't have a idea on how old the back saw is, not to much information on Disston's Jackson line.
The seller stated the saw was what the miter box came with originally, but I thought the split screws where discontinued
years earlier than 1902..?
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The screws loosened up easily, but was surprised on how thin they where..yikes.
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Since i have it taken apart, will do the blade in electrolysis.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I know the Stanley 42 is often cited as a nice tool; I've no experience with it.

I have a modern saw set - the thing is, I've only had to use it twice, once a smaller-tooth saw that I sharpened enough times to get "through" the intial set it came to me with. (I only sharpened it that many times because I was trying a few different teeth profiles.) and once on saw that lost all it's set as I was a little aggressive in restoring with sandpaper.

Out of the 5 or 6 vintage saws or so I've turned into users, and the handful of others I've gotten and passed along or squirreled away for "someday", and the many I've passed on for cost, condition or lack-of-need reasons, I've never come across one that didn't have too much set. My most frequently sharpened saw, my go-to seven-point rip, (most frequently sharpened simply because it's cut more linear feet than anything else, and because you tend to notice when a rip saw goes dull more than most others1) I still haven't felt the need to re-set it even after tuning it to a rather fine set to begin with.

That's not to say you won't need to set a saw, and that a saw-set isn't a good thing to have (although you can hammer set teeth if you need) but I think a lot of folks feel like they need to get one right away when they start restoring saws, and that hasn't been my case yet. That would change entirely, of course, if you were re-toothing these.

[Chris Vandiver]

The handle for your Jackson back saw doesn't look original, by any means. The best of the saw sets is a Stanley 42x. You need to make sure it is a 42x. Stanley also made a 42 and a 42w, so you need to make sure you get what you want.

Here is a link to some very good info on saw restoration; http://home.grics.net/~weir/saw_restoration.html

[David Weaver]

The 42x is my favorite saw set, also. Like Josh says, most saws already come overset, so you have some wiggle room if the tooth line isn't way out of whack. I have only had one exception, and it was a groves panel saw that was expertly filed in an odd way, and I'd assume the craftsman who last had it liked almost no set. It is the oddball in a large lot of saws that are otherwise exactly the opposite (though I understand why rip saws have a fairly large amount of set).

The 42x is pretty much point and shoot and for lack of a better way to put it, it holds/supports and bends the teeth in a nice way and will do large teeth.

[Richard Line]

I agree with Joshua, most saws have too much set. The only time I've used my saw set was to reduce the set. By the way my saw set is the fine tooth one that LV sells, it was easy to use.

The best way I know of to adjust the set of the teeth is a trick Wenzloff showed at a wood working fair, C Shwarz has also endorsed this method. Use a smooth jawed metal vise (or make some smooth steel inserts, which is what I did), then fold a single sheet of newsprint over the teeth and squeeze the teeth in the vise. The newsprint gets pierced by the points of the teeth, but still keeps the teeth from being squeezed flat. One sheet of newsprint gives 0.003" of set per side. I haven't tried it, but I would think 2 thicknesses of newsprint would give 0.006" per side. And of course you can use other types of paper. This goes fast and is consistent.

The biggest question on set is 'how much'. I have found that 0.003" per side (1 thickness of newsprint) works quite well on dry wood. Jointing type work will want small sets, rough work and wet wood will want bigger sets. I'm not qualified to go further than that. However, you can get some ideas from LV's descriptions of their back saws. I would assume a miter box saw would good toward the small set.

[David M Anderson]

Thanks,
For all the input, may forgo the saw set for awhile.
As far as the handle being a replacement, may go to a heavier screw set up than the split nut style.

The other Disston I have gotten is in good shape, I have my power saw's but can be a pain to get setup just for one cut.
It's not a top of the line Disston, but will serve it.s purpose..
D-23, 7 TPI
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Could not beat the price, Granddad had one like this one

Do have one more on the way, which has the Aztec style Eagle medalion, than that's it on the saw's