Richardson Brothers 12" carcase saw. Based on Phil Baker's 2012 type study of RB backsaws published in The Gristmill, the date is c.1871. This saw falls in a period of years that RB did not stamp the spine. The saw probably once had an etch. It has the old style flying eagle medallion that is so cool.
Before
After
I still learn something from just about every saw, and I learned from a mistake on this saw. The handle, which is otherwise in excellent condition, had a crack through the cheek just above the medallion. I glued it with Titebond and easily pulled the crack together so it was nearly invisible. I assumed it would be fine, but when I assembled the saw and tightened the screws, the crack popped open again. On another saw a few years ago I solved this problem by making a cut in the edge of the cheek with a slitting saw and gluing in a piece of veneer with the grain oriented 90 degrees to the handle grain. That crack has held very well, but due to the shape of this handle and location of the crack, that wasn't very feasible. What I did instead was drill vertical holes from the top of the "finger" on the handle that span the cracks in each cheek. Then I inserted pieces of brass threaded rod coated with epoxy into the holes. That seems to be working fine; the cracks did't pop open this time when I assembled the saw. However, my mistake was that I didn't clamp the cracks together while the epoxy was drying. So it still looks like there are cracks in the handle, even though the cracks are filled. At a minimum I should have used a colored material to fill the cracks, but clamping them shut would have been better. They're pretty small, so I didn't think they would be visible. Live and learn.
Here's my first restore. It's done except for sharpening. I have everything except a set, but should have it soon I hope. It will be 7 ppi rip.
Before:
After:
Faint etch, but still pretty readable:
Medallion:
I'm dating this one in early 1900's, pre-1911? Does that sound about right?
I have it's crosscut mate on the way, another D8 filed 8 ppi. It supposedly has the 5 patent dates stamped in the handle, so earlier than this one, maybe 1870-1880's for those?
I'm thinking only a slight turn counterclockwise, like maybe 12 to 15 degrees would be where I would try for. Where the square part will fit in the hole.
Nice looking saw.
Mike
Thanks, just realized I have the medallion 90 degrees off, gotta fix that tomorrow.
"Have too many Disstons", nice problem to have. Well I like that design, the way they dropped the handle way down, the bolt setup, very interesting saw.
I have to admit I am lean when it comes to my vintage saws, but I am working on it. I should take stock of what I have and where I could improve. This has been a great forum for learning about the older saws, thanks all.
I've made a picture inventory of my little vintage saw collection if anyone wants to take a look (link). I have some other saws, including some for sale on my website, but these are my keepers for the time being. They come and go as I continually upgrade.
I can't get over how nice it is working with a wood frame hacksaw instead of the frickin' massive metal ones.
Recently turned two sections of an old paint scraper into a little dovetail and longer tenon saw while getting in some experimental/practical time fiddling around with a couple of sheet metal brake prototypes I was using to bend and flatten drawer slides into functional if janky looking backs. Both came from an unfortunately ugly set of dressers we were wanting to get rid of until I decided to just start making stuff out of them.
Find myself enjoying the tarnished surface of the scraper blades enough that while I'll end up replacing the backs with a more cleanly folded set, I don't even get an itch to try and polish up the blades past the point of being able to see at least a rough reflection of the material being cut since they're slim and clean enough to zing and buzz happily through whatever scraps I've grabbed to check the tooth/blade/spine/handle alignment.
The smaller handle is a chunk of an old cabinet door, larger is a dresser front, only the shiny "display" side bolts are as purchased, but the tenon saw has some of the bolts off the drawer handles, while the dovetail has a few mm trimmed off the male end to help snug everything together tighter.
Thank you for sharing that, Bob. It was a great bedtime story.
That will work great, Brian. I can see why you like it mounted to the bench that way. I cut a tenon in on the bottom of the leg on my hi vise to clock it around in the wagon slot.
Got my saw set from TFWW today. Somax has apparently went out of business, or at least stopped making sets. Everyone is out of stock for them now, including TFWW. I must have bought one of their last ones.
Hoping to finish my saw vise soon and start sharpening.
Just saw a post by Mark at Bad Axe on instagram. Here is the post
badaxe6
A real treat for this month's Bad Axe #sawsharpening seminar is having Mike Stemple and his legendary saw collection on hand. Many, many thousands of dollars worth of exceedingly rare saws from pre-Civil War through the Reconstruction era are on the bench today. #pantherhead #eaglehead #raresaws #badaxetoolworks
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