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Thread: Disston backsaws
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31st December 2021, 07:58 PM #1GOLD MEMBER
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Disston backsaws
Hi all and Happy New Year. I hope you don't mind indulging me by reading about two new saw restorations. Thanks in advance
#1
20211231_134026.jpg
Apart from picking this up on Ebay for a very reasonable $5.00 (a win on its own) this also gave me chance to use some of the apple timber that I had "milled" - a generous description of my attack on the log with my chainsaw.
20211231_134043.jpg
This 10" saw blade has now taken first place in my hardest to redeem list. Still, it sharpened up nicely (5° rip) and I am slowly getting used to the handle shape. I used a Gramercy template they had online because I wanted to try an increased hang angle on the handle and I wanted to use a template other than the Blackburn Tools ones. I almost started again, thinking it was too thin and too small but I am glad I finished it. The contast between heartwood and sapwood looks sublime and the handle does feel nice in my hand.
20211231_134104.jpg
It is a nice feeling to use some timber that I have taken from log to finished. A really nice feeling!
#2
20211231_133630.jpg
This resto was a little more straightforward and I am really happy with how the blade has come up. Both saws were sanded up to 240 grit and this one responded particularly well. And I discovered something interesting under all the grime.
20211231_133703.jpg
From what I can make out it seems that this saw was rebadged for "........ and Archibald in Wellington". I assume this is the same one as in NZ. Does this make any sense to those from "the land of the long white cloud"?
20211231_133641.jpg
I bought this one in a 2nd hand shop and it is a lovely saw. Nice solid feel and decent steel back. Handle in good shape and blade nice and straight. I tried paralleling spine and teeth (just to appease my OCD) but blade started to go out of straight so had to leave this one (and the previous one too) with the spine closer at the toe.
20211231_133713.jpg
Teeth had a 25° rake and I kept this the same. Fleam set at 18° and 15TPI. I didn't measure but I'm pretty sure blade is 16". This is my longest backsaw and a nice vintage.
Just checked and saw is 14". Whoops.
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31st December 2021, 08:14 PM #2
I really enjoy watching old tools having new life breathed into them.
Congratulations.
Top job
Tom.... some old things are lovely
Warm still with the life of forgotten men who made them ........................D.H. Lawrence
https://thevillagewoodworker.blogspot.com/
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31st December 2021, 08:30 PM #3
Wow,
What a lovely way to finish a year, three very nicely turned out vintage saws.
Tho I especially liked the Ten inch with high hang angle.
I’ve also nearly chucked a few handles in the bin after not leaving enough meat around the grip, I now always leave a bit more, being it’s easier to take it off then add it back[emoji6].
An a Happy New year Mr M,A
Cheers Matt.
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31st December 2021, 09:48 PM #4
This is great to see new lease on life provided to saws like this. I have a very similar to your second saw but 14" but the teeth will need to be filed and re-cut due to multiple previous owners attempts i would say. Good to hear yours werent too hard to bring back and have sharpened again.
Enjoy them for their next chapter in life
Cheers,
Nathan
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1st January 2022, 08:23 AM #5
As Tom said, nice to see a couple of old tools get a new life - I think you're getting better & better at this, MA, they both look very spiffy!
What did you think of the apple wood when you were shaping it? The very few pieces I've managed to get my hands on were very nice to work with. It's made for saw handles I reckon, I wish it wasn't so difficult to get in reasonable-sized pieces. I've got a beautiful old D-20 panel saw, thanks to Bushmiller and I would have preferred to give it an apple handle instead of the Jarrah it ended up with, but could not find anything remotely large enough at the time (or since). [Oddly, the D-20 handle requires a slightly wider piece than you need for an equivalent D-8 handle, which compounds the problem.]
Of the local woods I've tried, I think Nothofagus (myrtle) is the closest in texture & colour to apple (if you find the right piece), and has similar working properties & is (was) a lot easier to obtain in suitable sizes. I'm talking about "ordinary" myrtle here, not the stripey kind, which makes spectacular saw handles, to be sure:
Tiger myrtle 18tpi.jpg
But I think old saws like those above demand something a little more conservative......
Cheers,IW
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1st January 2022, 09:14 AM #6GOLD MEMBER
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Thanks Tom, Matt, Nathan and Ian. I must confess that restoring old saws has become a little addictive. It is a messy business but when they are cleaned up, sharpened and back together there is just something lovely about what is in essence, a simple tool. The new apple wood was lovely to work and has a certain comfortable firmness about it. This isn't always true of the restored apple handles (probably hardened up over time?). But nothing replaces the patina of past use. I have two Myrtle handled Disstons and it is a lovely timber but just doesn't feel as nice. I have mentioned this previously but I am again reminded of how big the apple trees must have been for Disston to have got quarter sawn handles from heartwood only. They must have been at least 2 foot in diameter.
I forget to take before photos but below is a screenshot from Ebay of the smaller saw
Screenshot_20220101-090902.jpg
Replacing the handle means I now have some aged apple for future repairs.
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1st January 2022, 10:25 AM #7
They could have easily been that & even more, but only for a few feet of trunk, unless they were wild trees, but I read somewhere that the wood came mostly from very old orchards that were being converted to other uses. Nowadays, trees aren't kept so long, they tend to be replaced much more often to maintain maximum productivity & cater to changes in consumer preferences.
I once drove past a recently-cleared orchard near Stanthorpe - the trees had been bulldozed & were in windrows waiting to be burnt ( ). They had short trunks, something less than 1M and around 400-450mm diameter (estimated at 100kph), which would have been enough for saw handles if you were prepared to use other than precisely-quartered wood for the larger closed handles (apple is very stable & I reckon even flatsawn boards would be ok). I couldn't stop at the time, it was a work-related trip, but I was sorely tempted - a half-hour with a small chainsaw would've scored enough to keep both of us in handle wood for the rest of our lives!
IanIW
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1st January 2022, 07:02 PM #8
MA
Two good restorations and two good saves. Although I prefer the second saw from an aesthetical standpoint, the open handle resto is remarkable going from that Ebay pic. The closed handle saw is old (>100 years) judging from the medallion with "Philada". It is amazing how saws can survive.
Regards
PaulBushmiller;
"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"
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1st January 2022, 07:39 PM #9
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1st January 2022, 11:13 PM #10
Delbs
It is not really hard to find with Disston hand saws. The Disstonian Institute is extremely helpful for all Disston saw information. Go to this link and scroll down to the 1896 - 1917 medallion and there it is.
Online Reference of Disston Saws -- The Medallions (disstonianinstitute.com)
The only thing I would add is that medallions can be replaced, either innocently or with the intent to deceive, and consequently should be viewed in context with any other information that is available. The steel spline back saw is a No.4 and was probably the most common Disston model from their backsaw range.
Regards
PaulBushmiller;
"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"
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1st January 2022, 11:21 PM #11
Cheers for this Paul, nah I didn’t think I was onto anything rare I but nice to identify the age roughly anyway.
That saw makes up 7 or so I’m currently working on restoring for different sizes and TPI. I’ll list whatever I don’t have a use for once restored on here.
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2nd January 2022, 09:23 AM #12GOLD MEMBER
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Thanks Paul. I am assuming that the bigger saw is original. When removing the saw nuts to clean everything up it became apparent that the timber had sort of "closed" over the heads and removing them did a tiny bit of damage to the timber (just a little bit of splintering). They had not been touched in a very long time. The owner stamped his name in the handle (hard to see in photo) and on the back of the spine. And it came from a regional 2nd hand shop with very few tools amongst the bric-a-brac.
Hi Nathan. Don't you have a "use" for every tool you own?
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2nd January 2022, 04:19 PM #13
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2nd January 2022, 06:20 PM #14
Or as Dr. Spock would say, "please define "use" ".....
IW
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