My wife picked up several old hand saws a few years ago from her work.  Over the last couple weekends I have been working on restoring a couple of them.

As ya can see they are all in pretty rough shape and all with busted handles. I was originally going to make a handle for a Disston No. 12, which is the smaller saw on the far right, but changed my mind after I made it and decided to put it on the No. 7, which is laying under the No. 12.

The No. 7 is the first model that Disston ever sold, sold from the 1840s to the 1920s, and judging by what's left of the handle this one is one of the early ones.

I used my 36 inch band saw to saw a 1¼ inch slab out of the piece of Walnut that has been drying in my shop for the last 20 years.

I used what was left of the No. 12 handle to draw out a pattern on some paper and then glued the paper to the wood.

Next I drilled out some holes and used my Boice Crane scroll saw to cut out the pattern.

I then used my Max spindle sander to clean it up.

Next I mounted the blank in a vise and used a small Disston No. K1 back saw to saw the kerf for the blade. I then used various rasps and files to finish shaping the handle.

The saw nuts were in bad shape and the medallion was also missing so I decided to use my South Bend lathe to make a new set of domed or coned nuts.

Nuts shown mounted in the handle.

From here on out I kinda got lazy on the pics, but I carved the wheat pattern in the handle and gave it a couple coats of boiled linseed oil followed by a shellac finish and then buffed it out to a satin finish.

While the finish was drying I mounted the blade in my saw vise and jointed, shaped, set, and sharpened the teeth.

Here it is all finished.

There wasn't much left of the etching under all the rust, just enough to barely make out what number of saw it is. The pic in the upper left corner of the image below shows another etching from a No. 7 on The Disstonian Institute.

The blade is 27 inches long so at some time in its life someone must of cut it down from a 28 or 30 inch saw. whoever did it did a very good job of it.  I shaped the teeth for a rip cut and matched the 5 ppi teeth.

This was a fun project and a couple of "firsts" for me. First time restoring a hand saw, first time shaping and sharpening a hand saw, first time carving. The wheat pattern was pretty simple but it was fun to do.

Thanks for looking,

Shane

The handle is very impressively done. The saw nuts and bolts are cool also.

Job well done.

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Good, Better, Best never let it rest
Till your Good is Better and your Better is Best.

Ditto what Mark said!! Those handles are beautiful!!

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

Awesome handle. Nice craftsmanship on the handle and the hardware!

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www.thepatriotwoodworker.com Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops

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Nice work Shane.

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My job is to give my kids things to discuss with their therapist

Beautifully done on the restore Shane!

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Charles Nicholls
Site Host
nicholls61@att.net
Proud supporter of The Wounded Warrior Project, Homes For Our Troops and the NRA

http://www.etsy.com/shop/nichollswoodworks

Looks like you also found a highly sought after Disston to boot Shane! You have the notched front on this one with. Very cool indeed!

And the handle restore it a sight to behold, I sense the beginnings of a specialty business starting here, how many folks across the nation would love to buy that handle for their Disstons and other collectibles. Hand plane totes and handles too?

Looks amazing Shane, thanks for posting with us here. 

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops and Wounded Warriors Project

Shane,

Very nicely done.

 

Larry

Old Woodworking Machinery Forum Host

It's absolutely insane, I am green with envy.

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops and Wounded Warriors Project

Good work Shane, I really like the saw once you finished with it. It looks like a brand new saw. Keep up the good work.

Great work, cant wait to see what you do with the others ,more saws saved from the little old ladies with their paintbrushes!

So true! Are they making clocks from these saws yet!

tim howald said:

Great work, cant wait to see what you do with the others ,more saws saved from the little old ladies with their paintbrushes!

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops and Wounded Warriors Project

Thanks for all the comments guys