Thread: Inherited planes

Interesting that amongst these old Western tools are a set of Japanese chisels. When you get to restoring them head over to the Japanese tool forum and we will get you on the right track.

Paul, I will take some more pictures for you next weekend. There is an (English) makers name stamped into the brass backbone, can't remember what it is though

Hi Denim
The tools you are referring to are shipwrights caulking mallets. They are used to drive oakum (in the day) now typically cotton (I believe) between hull planks and wooden decks to make them watertight. A caulking iron (the wedged shaped tools) is used to get the material in the joints. You might notice the slit in the mallet heads with allows the mallet to spring back once the iron is struck. Therefore a skilled user isn't lifting the mallet only guiding it down. I hope that helps

Originally Posted by Huon pine fan

Then there are the 'supplies'. More saw files than I will use in my lifetime and then my sons when they inherit my stuff!

Wiltshire: As good as it gets.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Huon pine fan

Then a couple of sentimental favourites. Back in the early 60's myself and siblings had hours of fun seeing out fast we could spin the grinder and how long the handle would keep turning once we let go. The miscellaneous bits holder always fascinated me with the funny shaped glass jars and mysterious contents

I used to do the same with the one on my fathers bench, until I got my thumb caught between th rest & the wheel.

Originally Posted by Huon pine fan

Here are most of the handsaws and numerous long augers bits. Speaking of saws, my brother has our grandfathers large, old Wolfenden bandsaw, belt drive from memory. We would like to see this go to a good home, I will take some photos when I get the chance and post them

Hpf

The top two saws are the pick here and look like Disstons. If this is the case, which you should be able to identify from the medallions, they will be D8 or D-8. There may still be the remnant of the etch on the plate as Disston etches survive as well as any. If you care to show a close up of the medallions (they may not be identical) and any etch it there we may be able to date the saws for you or you could have some fun yourself by going to the Disstonian Institute:

Disstonian Institute.com -- Online Reference of Disston Saws



The saws look to be in good condition with plenty of depth to the saw plates. Is the thumbhole saw a 28" version?

Regards
Paul

If you wanted to part with your collection of slotted screws or square nuts I am sure that a museum or other place doing restorations would be happy to receive them.

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Wiltshire: As good as it gets.

Regards
Paul

O dear,
Did we have to see these
[emoji22][emoji22][emoji22][emoji22][emoji22]

Hi Paul
As promised here are some more photos. Firstly the small saw, the blade appears to have many hammer bruises on it which might not be obvious from the pictures.
Next are the 2 Disston saws, the medallions are different as you can see, no D8 reference as far as I can make it out. The first one has no obvious blade etching whereas the second does.
Some help/advice if you wouldn't mind. Can you point me in the direction of a video (visual works better for me) on sharpening. As you have already seen I am not short of files and as you can see I am also not short of tooth setters.
Thanks

If you want to clean the plane blades up without losing the patina, a wire cup wheel on an angle grinder works wonders. I did a few earlier this year; the rust is all gone, but not a scratch on the good steel underneath and they still have the 'old' look.

IMAG2993.jpg

Hpf

The Ross & Alexander back saw is interesting. Barley's excellent reference indicates they operated out of Liverpool between 1900 and 1944 or thereabouts and from London between 1880 and 1920. However, he illustrates a stamp identical to your saw (ie Liverpool based) and dates it as c1890. I would guess that estimation is because of the split nut hardware which quickly died a death once the superior Glover style was available. (patented in 1888). However, some manufacturers might have been reluctant to pay for the use of the new style saw screws and possibly they continued with the split nuts.

I find the close proximity of the three saw screws unusual. It is almost as if they mis-calculated the positioning. That is quite easy to do if you are somebody like me making the occasional saw, but a little sloppy for somebody whose business it is. It looks as though the small screws are touching the medallion, which incidentally is a very smart example. What is the diameter of the medallion? Maybe a large medallion was used by accident instead of a small medallion. The other possibility is that at a much later date the medallion was lost and another large medallion substituted: All conjecture on my part, but something is slightly off to critical eyes. I wouldn't let any of that worry you as it will not affect how the saw performs.

The Disston with "Philada" on the medallion is the older saw, a D8 from between 1898 - 1917. The second saw with the partial etch and "Phila" on the medallion dates from 1918 - 1940. The model changed from "D8" (the "8" featured inside a large "D") in 1928 and became the almost identical "D-8", but without the help of an etch I don't believe it is possible to tell. However, I am not sure how long the thumbhole handle persisted and this saw may well be pre 1928. Actually, I just did some reading and apparently the thumbhole design persisted into the fifties. Early models sometimes were seen in a crosscut tooth, but more normally they were reserved for rip tooth saws.

Also they were made during a time when left handed people were considered evil so if you are left handed, you are most likely as well balanced and pleasant as the rest of us ( ) but will find it particularly uncomfortable to use.

Your saw sets, at least the last three, look to be the eclipse pattern with the last two looking to be the brass versions.

I have not gone surfing for sharpening videos in recent times, but there used to be a Forum member "Brital" (Andy Lovelock) who had a good, to my mind easy to follow video:

The Best Saw Sharpening Video Ever published | TimeTestedTools

The video is long primarily because he sharpens several different types of saw, but he is easy to listen to and not full of himself. I like the humility: I find it endearing. He is also quite a passable raconteur, which I also like.

The main thing to remember is that there is inevitably at least four stages of sharpening an old saw. This is because over time it will have got well out of whack.

Jointing
Shaping
Setting
Sharpening

It is quite common that after this you will have to very lightly joint again and sharpen again. So that makes six steps. Of course this rigmarole is not needed for successive sharpening as just a light sharpening is all that will be required for several "touch-ups" until the set is lost and then a bit more work will be needed again.

Regards
Paul

Hi Paul
The medallion is 20mm diameter

Hpf

20mm is the small size (probably 13/16ths back in the day), which is what I would expect on a backsaw. This means that the positioning of the saw screws was not as good as it could have been. Nevertheless, the saw is uncommon on these shores.

Regards
Paul

HPF - your boxes of saw files are an unlauded resource. A good quality saw file today will be $10+ each. Modern saw files from most manufacturers (I'm looking at you Nicholson) are literally junk.

Also, great collection of tools. The restoration process is both fun and aggravating at the same time.