This shouild be an interesting discussion. I'm looking to get some good handsaws up and running.

 

About a year or so ago I picked up two old back saws and restored them. I never really used hand saws and I thought it would be nice to have a couple on hand to use if I ever needed them. I never had any intention of collecting saws…...

A year later I have at least 30 to 40 saws scattered about my shop. I guess the saw collecting bug bit me the same way the hand plane one did. For me, saws are much easier to restore then the planes at least until it comes to sharpening them. I am actually starting to get the hang of sharpening saws but I still need a lot of work. The first two old backsaws I got sat in my shop for more then 6 months before I found someone who could sharpen them for me. I found a local tool collector who specializes is saws and he was kind enough to sharpen them for me as well as teach me how to do it. I had never used a sharp saw before and wow was it amazing. If sharpened well they cut like a knife through butter. I use them all the time now.

Here are my restored backsaws, a pre civil war Disston backsaw and a GH Bishop saw. I have the Disston filed Rip and the Bishop cross cut. The Bishop is my favorite. The handle is very comfortable.

 

I have several that I intend to do someday. I have the files, saw vise and saw sets; now, time??

 

Dan - I love those back saws. You did an amazing job restoring them. What was your finishing regime for the handles?

 

You have done a very nice job, Dan. They look nearly new.

I am supplementing my few hand saws and miter back cut saws (Stanley and Buck Bros, etc.) with a range of very small disposable Zona modeling saws and several larger but still small Shark saws. I'll work my way up to the bigger and/or older boys later (maybe).

The only time I use a hand saw is when I cut 16' material down to 8' at the suppliers yard so it will go on the 6 1/2 foot bedded truck. But usually we have the 8' truck or the 14' flat bed trailer for materials pickup.

The only time I use a hand miter saw and box is when the motored saws are all out and I'm in a pinch. That's very rare. I believe if I had a collection of those saws that they would be rarely used, but pretty to look at.

Great idea on a thread for saws. We'll have all these categories covered soon and they'll be there and growing as time shuffles on. Thanks.

 

I love what you've done with the back saws. I hope mine come out that well. How did you restore the blades?

 

If you look at Mads blog some of his saws have a metal plate on the side of the handle. Has anyone in the states seen this? Know any history?

 

Although a lot of you have probably seen the folowing pictures before, I think they deserve a place on this thread now that we have one dedicated to Saws. Hand saws and back saws are probably my favourite hand tools. There is just something about them. For me, it all started when I decided I wanted to learn to sharpen saws and bought an old Spear and Jackson 26" crosscut saw off eBay. The picture on the listing was crap and the description was something like "Old saw, says Spear and Jackson. Needs a clean." I got it to practice on.

When I opened the package, it was love at first site. This is how it looked when it arrived. You can read more details about this saw here.

and here it is after a bit of TLC.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Totes don't get any better than this:

Here is how the saw plate looked before and after cleaning:

 

I may have a saw problem.

 

RGTools - Wonderful saws, but I wouldn't you have a saw problem yet, just a healthy appreciation for good tools. What are the hand saws? Are they all Disstons?

 

Me myself I wouldn't mind getting an old saw and cleaning er up but I know nothing about the old saws cept for disstons,tyzack,spear and jackson,stanley,marples,sheffield saw co.,zona. So as you can see it's just names that's it, plus after getting my table saw I hate sawing by hand now unless it's dovetails but I need a lot of practice on those so I'm gonna stick to the jigs for a little. If I ever do get a saw I know where to look for help though and you can count on it being one of the names up above I mentioned or something newer.

 

Sorry for the ramblings, You do have some work ahead of you though please keep us posted.

 

Brit

ECE bow saws. (love them)

2 Disstons,
1 keen cutter.

2 craftsmans that I have tweaked to do the good work they should have been made to do in the first place.

 

My latest saw….

a 15" bow saw…


I'm thinking I will make a 12" next.

 

Nice one Wayne. Here's my latest saw as of yesterday. Needs a little TLC, but it will clean up fine. It has a couple of broken teeth apparently, so I'll be re-shaping the teeth on this one. Its a W H Armitage & Co, London Spring steel, made in Sheffield. 14" blade, 18 1/2" overall. Handle is sound with no damage. weighs 800grams.

 

Good morning Andy. That is a very nice little saw. I would love to come across the pond and poke around at some boot sales. It would be a lot of fun to find something like that.

 

Here are some of my other saws that I use and love. Three Gramercys (can't recommend these highly enough), followed by some Sharks with disposable blades and a Veritas Flushcut saw, then a couple of fret saws. Lastly, a couple of Diston D8s that I recently restored.

 

The D8s are things of beauty. How do you like the sharks? I've seen them in the local stores.

 

The Sharks cut beautifully. I don't use them all that often, but they come extremely sharp and stay sharp for a long time. I bought the set of three from an online UK shop that has them on offer every now and again. The top one cuts through a 2×4" like butter. The second is rip one side and crosscut the other and is probably the one I use the most. The little one is crosscut both edges, fine and very fine teeth and is useful for cutting beading. I don't like the handles on any of them personally. a) they are plastic and b) uncomfortable for any extended use.

 

I truly appreciate saws and would love to find some nice specimens, worthy of restoration. Unfortunately, the only vintage saws I ever seem to find are WAAAY too beat-up, pitted, or bent for me to even try.
But I'll keep looking none-the-less.

 

Brit, how's the tension on those fret saws as opposed to a coping saw? And how do the blades hold up. I have been thinking about grabbing one for dovetail waste, because I hate my grandfathers coping saw.

 

Brit - I sanded the handles by hand starting at 180 grit and worked up to 320. I think they were cleaned with simple green before sanding. I then finished them with a few coats of Zinsser Shellac and after they dried I polished them with a very fine abrasive pad. I think I put some paste wax on also.

Don - For the smaller backsaws I removed the handles and soaked the blades in EvapoRust over night. After I took them out of the EvapoRust I washed them off and started sanding. It can get very tricky if you are looking to expose an etch. I always always start by using a sanding block. I just use a piece of scrap wood with sandpaper attached. If blade is rough I start with 220 grit. It is important to use a sanding block if you are wanting to uncover the etch (if its even there still). If you use abrasive pad, steel wool, or even sand paper without a block the abrasive pads or paper will go into the etch and ruin it. With a sanding block the sand paper will ride right over the etch.

I will sand the blade with 220 until I start to reveal or uncover the etch. As soon as start seeing the etch I stop with 220 and move up to 400 grit wet/dry paper. If you are not trying to preserve or uncover the etch then you don't have to be as careful when sanding the handle. Once I can see the etch I just sand the blade carefully and move up to higher grits. You will want to be careful not to fade the etch. If your sanding is fading it then you should stop sanding the area over the etch. Again, thats only if your looking to reveal and keep the etch.

I worked up to a very fine grit with my backsaws but you can stop sanding when ever you are happy with the look of the blade. After I finished sanding I polished the blades with metal polish.

Here is a great example of a saw etch that I uncovered. I got an old handsaw from a garage sale and when I got it you couldn't see any etch at all. This is what I found after cleaning it up. Cant see in the first picture but once you get close..

 

You can also darken or "raise" faded saw etches by using Gun Bluing. I have never done this but I have read about it from more then one place and it seems to work well.

 

Nice Blog going !!!

 

What a wonderful lot of saws here, I am really impressed both by the quality and the work done to restore them.
Wauuuuuuuuu.
I just posted today on my saw blog: http://lumberjocks.com/mafe/blog/24080
After seeing some of these old wonderful saws here I cant wait to get there.
Best thoughts,
Mads