£2 Disston D8

[Toscageoff]

Greetings

At a recent car boot sale I saw this amongst a heap of otherwise uninteresting, abused and very rusted tools

I asked the seller "How much?"

He said "As there is a screw missing is two quid ok?"

I did not bother to try to knock him down and accepted his price.

The etch is almost intact - showing it is a D8 - 10 point

and the medallion dates to about 1952, I believe

When I got it home I noticed that as well as a missing nut another one had the thread messed up and it just fell out.

However the blade is straight with no breaks

I found a couple of nuts and cleaned off the surface rust using 0000 wire wool and WD40

All I need now is for someone to sharpen it

Usually I take my saws to a place in Ipswich which sends them down to the West Country to sharpen.

When the saw comes back, whilst it is sharp, it has my name and a number written in a permanent marker which is an absolute %*#! to get off

Is there someone here who would be willing to sharpen this for me please? [without the use of a permanent pen!]

Thanks

PS I hope the photos come through, this is my first attempt posting here and I am not computer literate.

 

[warrenr]

Hi

Disston saws are everywhere and I have bought a few on e-bay and picked up others as part of a job lot at auctions for next to nothing usually with something missing. The is a whole sub-culture of saw collectors out there.

Sharpening costs generally more than the saw. There is supposed to be a saw doctor in Sudbury or Stowmarket; but I have not tried to contact them.

When I get time I was going to have a go at sharpening them but so far have'nt got round to it although I have bought the saw files just need to watch the workshopheaven video again on youtube which is excellent and make the jig/clamp

Regards
Richard

 

[Richard T]

Certainly my best advice would be learn to sharpen hand saws!
Not only is it a very satisfying thing to do, saves time and money but you can also sharpen to suit yourself. You can make one saw very agressive and another not so just by filing all the teeth steeper (or not so) at the front of the tooth - or having less agressive angles on the first few teeth for easy starting with an otherwise agressive saw.
You can learn new scrabble words like "fleam".
Filing rip teeth is easier and a good place to start.
Once you get it, youve got it and you won't have to rely on anyone else. (or clean any more marker pen off)

 

[Alf]

When the saw comes back, whilst it is sharp, it has my name and a number written in a permanent marker which is an absolute %*#! to get off.

Meths and a little elbow grease. Wonder where they send them to in the "West Country"? Could be anywhere from Gloucestershire to Land's End these days.

Anyway, good buy. Should be a nice useable saw. Won't comment on the advice to learn to sharpen them yourself, except that I was recently reminded of this, so don't say you weren't warned. (But if you must, many, many folks have had success following Pete Taran's primer.)

 

[jimi43]

You did very well there Geoff!

I got almost exactly the same saw at a bootfair for about that price and it had a leather case...

Sold it last weekend for £20 to a bloke who wanted it for his daughter who actually PLAYS saws in an orchestra!

Nothing ever surprises me these days!

Jim

 

[Toscageoff]

Greetings

I was recently reminded of this, so don't say you weren't warned. quote]

I read this and it was that that decided me to ask for help rather try to learn myself as I do not want to end up with a Disston "keyhole" saw

Thanks for the tip about meths

 

[bugbear]

Greetings

...and the medallion dates to about 1952, I believe

The aluminium (guess) medallion doesn't look right for 1952, if you're using the images at the Disstonian institute. Note that the circle around the logo on this saw is composed of tiny circles, not dots.

http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/medv2.html

In addition the handle is very angular, and the chip carving a bit crude.

My guess would be very late sixties to early seventies. The steel of the blade should still be good though. so this is an excellent "project" saw.

Personally, in our position, I would have a go at sharpening it myself. There's plenty of steel to allow several tries, and the teeth are big enough that it won't be too eyeball pickling.

No matter how the saw was sharpened I would definitely either replace, or reshape the handle.

BugBear