Thread: Disston backsaws

I really enjoy watching old tools having new life breathed into them.
Congratulations.
Top job
Tom

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.

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

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,

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.

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

...... 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........

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!

Ian

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
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

MA

The closed handle saw is old (>100 years) judging from the medallion with "Philada".

I wasn’t aware of this, I have a saw with it also. I really should pickup that hand saw guide book

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
Paul

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.

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?

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

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?

“Don’t you have a “use” for every tool you own?

My own answer to that would be very subjective,an very heavily deepened on the receiving audience.
Plus I would possibly want a legal team on side.

Just in case [emoji6]

Cheers Matt.

Or as Dr. Spock would say, "please define "use" ".....