I hear you Stew. And I am a firm believer in the older is usually better mentality.
My feeling is the older tools can mount a final performance indistinguishable from the performance of the best new tools of today.
Today we have improvements in metallurgy. There can be tighter tolerances in the manufacturing process. Rob Lee has included some new ideas in the making of hand planes.
When the dovetail is cut or the last shaving is made there really isn't any noticeable difference in the end product.
The cost of our new tools is likely about the same, hour for hour in wages, as it was to our forefathers.
Kind of funny when you think of it. That chisel your great grandfather bought in 1900 is today considered a bargain at 10 or 20 times what they paid for it new.
The fit and finish of a new saw from a maker like Ron Bontz is something anyone would be proud to own.
Sometimes the pride one has in their tools does translate into the quality of their craftsmanship.
In my own experience the pride of using a tool of my own salvage and restoration makes me want to do better.
One of the more valuable experiences from going to a tool event was using a saw one of the vendors had. He allowed me to make a few trial cuts with it. The value for me was it felt like one of my own saws that had just been sharpened. It let me know my saw sharpening skills were improving.
After all this rambling my point to Richard is this:
If you attempt to sharpen either of these saws or even a cheaper model found at The Restore or yard sale you will find it will likely work better than it did before you started.
After a while you may try a new saw from an expert maker and find it really doesn't cut better than what you have. At that point you may find you are only paying for the beauty of the fit and finish of a new tool. Sometimes that is enough reason to do it.
Not sure if we all do it, but I have.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)