Thread: Some Handsaw Refurb

First regarding the crosscut saw. I haven't read up on them yet, but just an observation that the small pruning/farmers saw I have has the tooth pairs set left and right alternately - not two one way then two the other way like the one-man saw. I think that is probably how it should be set up. Hopefully the metal will stand being rearranged to that extent.

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Another observation - this time regarding the Lanolin. It appears to be working well, but has only been a maximum of two weeks or so on some small saws in the garage. It 'dries' to a slightly greasy finish - what is paste wax like? This might be because they are on the verandah and is has been raining - but these two saws were covered in fly-away huon pine saw-dust ... stuck a bit from landing on the Lanolin. I brushed away the dust from the pruning saw for comparison ...

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Next, I was able to sort out the rehandling this morning after work. I have had metal laughing at my drill bits before, but it was 5-10mm thick plate, not a saw blade

I had one new hole to drill, a 3/4 hole to create or extend, and just some filing to do on the other two holes. I scratched out the holes needed with a $3 metal scribe from SuperCheap Auto and then marked over it with texta. A round rat-tail was good at removing metal quickly by extending an existing hole, and a chainsaw file worked as a "smoother".

I marked the centre of the new hole I needed, and then tried with my two smallest drill bits to drill that hole ... from both sides. A little metal was removed, but mostly they just spun there. I thought to grab the centre punch and make a solid dent in from both sides. This succeeded in making a tiny hole at the bottom of the dimple, which was widened by the two drill bits.

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I would not have thought of using a masonry bit except that BobL (or IanW) had mentioned trying it in other posts - so I grabbed the smallest ones I had. The first made no impression at all, but the second went through easily. A bit strange, as it was just a chrome-y looking bit from some screwdriver set or cheap tool set.

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When I tried it a second time without the pilot hole it made little to no progress.

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BTW - when I tried to use the centre punch to start the 3/4 hole, at a point 2-3mm away from the existing hole, it made a tear in the metal. Fortunately that area needed to be removed, so I went at it with the rat-tail file instead.

Partially assembled to check what else needed removing ...

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And final result ... without cleaning the plate or sharpening ...

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its quite acceptable for two teeth to be set one way and the next two the other on that type of saw, even though you will come across the smaller saws with M tooth that alternate, the points i made earlier are at the root of the problem and will solve the issues your having, e.g. make it perform better. changing the teeth to one each way may well introduce other problems for you and the saw, best to leave it two one way and two the other for the time being imo, go ahead if you must though but you have been warned

Got time today to thickness the slab out. The originally surfaced face had curled in a little at the thinner end, making it slightly dishy - so it needed at bit of jointing to get a first approximation flat face for the thicknesser bed.

In the end it came down to about 43mm ... and he will have some sanding to do from there to prepare it.

I hope it stays flat - it has been plenty of time since it was originally cut I believe - but it seems to be full of tensions.
When I would cut into it with the saw and get to a certain point, then come back to it the next day, you could tell that it had moved about internally enough for me to feel it through the saw kerf. I have moved it inside now until he can come and pick it up.

Should make quite a table.

Cheers,
Paul.

PS: the thicknesser had some fun.

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Initial flattening

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And finally

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Step-by-step procedure for filing a one-person crosscut saw.

More from a pro ... (HUGE 30" TIMBER EATING CUSTOM "M" TOOTH CROSSCUT SAW HAND SHARPENED | eBay)

"THIS SAW WAS PREVIOUSLY CONFIGURED WITH A CROSSCUT "PEG" TOOTH AT 5 1/2 PPI - THIS CONFIGURATION HAS JUST NEVER THRILLED ME - ALTHOUGH CERTAINLY SERVICEABLE FOR WHAT THEY WERE MEANT FOR: TIMBER FRAMING, BRIDGE AND DOCK BUILDING OR CUTTING RAILROAD TIES .... THEY JUST DON'T HAVE THE APPETITE I AM LOOKING FOR IN A SAW LIKE THIS. SO - I RE-CUT THE TOOTHLINE INTO A TOOTH PATTERN THAT I AM QUITE FAMILIAR WITH - THE LEGENDARY "M" TOOTH. FOR THOSE NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE BIG CROSSCUT SAWS, THIS IS A TOOTH CONFIGURATION THAT IS THOUGHT TO HAVE ORIGINATED IN GERMANY IN THE 1800'S - THE SAME PATTERN WAS PATENTED HERE IN THE STATES BY EBEN MOODY BOYNTON IN THE LATTER PART OF THAT CENTURY. BOYNTON WAS AN EARLY SAW MAKER, WHO'S REVOLUTIONARY "LIGHTNING SAW" WAS BASED ON IT. THERE IS A DEAR FRIEND OF MINE (WHO IS PROBABLY READING THIS) THAT OWNS AN ORIGINAL LIGHTING SAW .... AND HE KNOWS THAT I COVET THAT SAW - MR. WONDERFUL - YOU HOOLIGAN!
ANYWAY ... ALTHOUGH THE PATTERN IS STILL VERY POPULAR IN EUROPE AND DOWN UNDER (NEW ZEALAND & AUSTRALIA) IT NEVER REALLY CAUGHT ON HERE IN THE STATES .... EXCEPT IN THE COMPETITION CIRCUIT, WHERE UNTIL RELATIVELY RECENTLY, BECAUSE OF IT'S "HUNGRY" NATURE, IT COMPLETELY DOMINATED THE CROSSCUT RACES.

OH YEAH ....BEFORE I FORGET: LIKE ALL BIG "MANLY" CROSSCUT PATTERNS, THE "M" TOOTH CUTS BOTH ON THE PUSH AND THE PULL STROKE - SO WHEN OPERATING IT .... YOU WILL NOT LIFT ON THE PULL STROKE AS YOU WOULD A CONVENTIONAL HAND SAW - IT MAY TAKE A LITTLE GETTING USED TO .... BUT NOT MUCH - JUST BE SURE TO GET YOURSELF SOME GOOD SIZED TIMBERS FOR ACQUAINTING YOURSELF WITH IT BECAUSE THIS THING WILL SLICE CLEAN THROUGH A 2X4 IN 4-5 STROKES."

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Paul.

Zoom in on a Boynton "Lightning" saw here: Martin J. Donnelly Antique Tools

...

Eben Moody Boynton - New York, NY - Patented Lightning Saw

Hmmm ... late 1800s capitalism at its finest ... they must have been copying off each other like hound-dogs

http://toolemera.com/catpdf/boynton1872CAT.pdf

The S&J 888 is still an on-going project. Experimenting with reviving the etch (as mentioned in another thread).

These 8 saws came mostly at cost of postage from Victoria plus another separately that kinda says S&J to me also.

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The black handle is a bit interesting. Out of the 8 there is a S&J and an old english saw, as well as four Disstons.

You can see the condition ... but there is good metal underneath the red rust.

I've had a chance to investigate a few of the etches.

The black-handled one is pretty curious ... circles in circles ...

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You can see the condition of the S&J - an 88 - but there is a nice etch under there ...

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This english saw - while not a first quality item - revealed some very cool info.

Robert Sorby - Kangaroo brand saw - two crowns ...

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The last one I looked at ... a pruning saw??

Appears to be "Leader" brand ... with possibly a picture of a (horse-drawn) carriage?

There was just a hint of some letters, so I used the Brass Darkening Solution on it for 10 minutes after I had cleared the area of the etch. It did help quite a bit. You can see the "Leader" brand ... and apparently a carriage wheel?

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The over-view ...

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Strewth, Paul - You won't have room in the shed for any other tools, at this rate - how many saws have you acquired over the last year or so!?

Coupla nice ones in that haul, and a couple that are, well, interesting. By the time you clean, re-tooth and sharpen them all, you should be pretty deft with a saw-set & file!

Cheers,

Fortunately (for me) saws don't need to take up a lot of space.

... and For Shame, Ian. They are inside, not outside.

(OK ... not the still bedraggled hobo-looking saws ... but once they are at least in smart-casual dress ... )

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There are about 75 saws in this picture - and only a very few repeats (if you will allow me, at least for the D8s, to distinguish between 4, 4-1/2, 5, 5-1/2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12 ppi). The British ones are a bit further back.

In the end, after some thought, I evicted the saws that came in the saw-till/chest from the US and moved in the best and favourite examples. It holds 11 saws - most of them now #12s (two of them came with the till)

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It a compact storage solution ... I have had vague thoughts about combining the saw chest idea with the barristers bookcase concept to create a nice (and flexible) storage arrangement. Still thinking that one through.

So ... to answer your question Ian ... still room in the shed.

(In fact - against all expectations - I have managed some cleaning and organisation in the outside department over the last six months. I will have to write a bit on that in excuse for the stalled workbench and large storage rack)

Cheers,
Paul

... I would like a good 28" 4ish/5ish tpi rip saw, a good 6 or 7 tpi x-cut saw and a rip saw at about 8-10tpi... Please stop buying them all.

Crikey Paul - that is a lot of saws. Where did you get the majority of the saws - eBay, garage sales or flea markets?

I've been out bid on all that I have chased on eBay and I'm afraid a Sunday morning sleep in has won over a trip the the swap meets.


Paul

Originally Posted by homesy135

Crikey Paul - that is a lot of saws. Where did you get the majority of the saws - eBay, garage sales or flea markets?

I've been out bid on all that I have chased on eBay and I'm afraid a Sunday morning sleep in has won over a trip the the swap meets.

Paul

I've been to only two events that the Handtool Preservation Society have been at, so I've had 4 or 5 maybe from them. And other than buying a group like the rusty ones I showed, I haven't bought much in Oz ... less than ten I am sure ... although my first thumbhole D8 that started it all off was $10 and came from over east.

I quickly worked out that saws are cheap and plentiful - and a wider variety - in the US (ebay) - and seemed to be in horrible condition and rarely seen on Oz ebay. Then when I read somewhere on here about using freight forwarders to aggregate and store your purchases ... Watch out!

For a while I was asking sellers I they could please take off the handles when they posted them, until I realised if you dug down into the options you could get a 36"x17"x17" box

It does seem a little better for choice recently in Oz. I saw a nice thumbhole sell last week for $30. But those rusty ones sat online for one to two weeks with a Buy-It-Now of $30 before I could purchase them. Interestingly there was a Disston 76 Centennial saw that wasn't described as such on Oz ebay late last year - I think it went in the end for about $70.

I'm quite jealous to hear stories from over east about their big Tool Sales and swap-meets etc. I haven't seen any of that over here - although for me too - by 8am or 9am Sunday morning after work - I'm not going anywhere that doesn't involve a lot of dogs

Cheers,
Paul