Thread: Renovating rusty hand saws - help needed

Hi Ozymandiaz,

My solution to this problem is to also buy up old daggy saws that have badly rusty plates and badly damaged handles that thee only good thing about them is their hardware, which can then be used to replace missing items from good saws.

Graham.

Blackburn Tools (in the USA) sell them

Ask Mike at heritage Saw in Melbourne.
They have a source for their saws and have lots of secondhand and brand new saws right here in Melbourne.
Collections
– Vintage Tool Shop Pty Ltd

Ozymandiaz

All the suggestions made are solutions, but it comes down to practicality and cost.

The Blackburn Tools option is for a brand new saw screw. However they are the split nut style and start from about A$10 each (one screw, one nut and one lock washer). They won't match the existing saw screws, may take a while to reach Australian shores and the postage even for a single screw set is likely to be twice the cost of the screw: It is true to say that if you ordered twenty saw screws the postage would likely be the same.

As soon as we start talking second hand dealers we go into the commercial realm where they are trying to make a living. The cost blows out. By all means try the likes of the Vintage Tool shop, but don't be surprised if they are not cheap. I would go with Graham's suggestion of old manky saws that nobody wants. Try garage sales, but check that the screws match what you have. Perhaps you you could post some pix of the saws you are restoring and people here can offer further advice. Old saws have split nuts whereas more modern saws (1900 onwards in round figures) have the the glover style screw, which is far more robust. Screws were made in brass or steel. Later screws still (Think later than the 80s) had a press style fitting that is tricky to prise apart and are easily identified by looking the same both sides of the hardware as opposed to one side have a slot for a flat head screw driver. Actually, some later saw screws did have a Phillips head (Sandvik for example).

Regards
Paul

Show us a picture and if ive got one the same ill send it on
Tony