Comments on: Buying good tools cheap – Introducing the hand saws

By: Paul Sellers

Paul Sellers — Fri, 24 May 2013 07:01:00 +0000

The US Disston saws were going downhill in the post second world war era. Plates were too thick, clunky handles. A Canadian company bought them out and since then the quality in no way parallels the Disstons we once regarded so highly. They became too heavy, over set and poorly made. Regard for them dropped off and now they are basically poor substitutes for what they once were.

By: Craig J. Brain

Craig J. Brain — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:02:00 +0000

Paul,
Forgive my ignorance, but what is the issue with Canadian Disstons?

By: Paul Sellers on Saws

Paul Sellers on Saws — Fri, 17 May 2013 07:08:37 +0000

[...] articles … Belt-sander for extreme cleanup … and tapering … Buying good tools cheap – Introducing the hand saws – Paul Sellers | Paul Sellers Presaging a sharpening mystery … Today in my workshop – sharpening a tenon saw – Paul Sellers | [...]

By: Paul Sellers

Paul Sellers — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 18:53:00 +0000

There are other makers besides Disston, Disston just happens to be one of if not the best saw ever made provided it is not the Canadian Disston, a name-purchased entity as Irwin is to Record. What you need is a panel saw somewhere around 20-22″ long. Mine is a 16″ saw and getting rarer to to find. Other makers to look for ar Spear and Jackson. UK, again not one of the modern ones. Atkins, Atkinson are a couple of others. As far as i know there is no modern maker making the same quality of saw though some do try. That’s as far as i know. There could be, but without trying them all I cannot recommend any of them and I am not going to pay the prices some charge for their saws. If anyone sends me their saw I will return it after a fair trial and also let them have my findings.
Re veritas. I have only used their 10″ dovetail saws; both inline and pistol grip handles. I think that I prefer their inline handle. More direct thrust, really nice.
Whereas we do have both cross and ripcut in the school, I like to have one saw only and sharpen to accomodate both in one saw. My choice would be their ripcut 10″ inline ‘Gent’s’ saw or their pistol grip of the same size. I would like to try out their larger tenon saws to see how I feel about them. Knowing Veritas, I will most likely like them.

By: J Guengerich

J Guengerich — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Paul, I am really enjoying these post on buying tools.
I’ve bought quite a few saws on ebay in the past year and a half. Hand saws are the one area I’ve been bitten on in buying on ebay.
But, I’ve also gotten some great deals too. A couple Disston Acme 120s and a Disston 16 which I think is wonderful but doesn’t seem to have the following that other saws on ebay have. Thats OK, I got it for a great price and it, for one, didn’t have a bend or kink to the plate.
I don’t think that I need any more saws, I need what you’re talking about restoring/maintaining the saws, especially the plates. Like the previous poster mentioned, the clunky handles don’t bother me any longer, since you’ve shown us how to reshape them. In fact, I cut down an apple tree a couple of years ago and I plan to make some handles out of that wood.
Like so much of the hand tool woodworking process, I’ve been finding hand saws liberating. I don’t have to fight taking large pieces to the miter saw and I don’t have those lil oops moments with the skil saw, (Also, I’m not limited by the thickness of some larger pieces.) I just take my time and enjoy the process.

By: Patrick Gibbons

Patrick Gibbons — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:25:00 +0000

Paul,

It’s been a while since I bought a saw, but I bought quite a few on eBay and have more than I need. I was able to get many for a very good price. I did this by using a few strategies. First I bought a 1960′s vintage Sandvik saw. Many of these are passed over by most because they are considered too new and their high quality are not recognized. H. K. Porter-owned Disston saws are not considered desirable and go for low prices. Their steel is good even though the handles are clunky. One can always make a new handle. Many badly rusted and unuseable saws sell cheaply. I bought these for the saw nuts and then was able to get some good saws that sold cheaply because they lacked nuts. One of my favorite saws is an Atkins 100 made after WWII. It has a very modern-looking handle (think Buck Rodgers design) that turns people off. That handle had a design patent and I have found it to be very comfortable. That saw had never been used and I got it for under $10. Clunky handles used to be the kiss of death on eBay. But the steel is good and handles can be made.

By: Howard in Wales

Howard in Wales — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 11:58:00 +0000

I agree.

But, belting saw blades is my second approach – I’d personally
use liquid rust removers (Corro-Dip) and the like first. It gets down to very
clean metal when fresh, but if it’s too encrusted, then out comes the belt
sander….. but an orbital also works it all you want to do is get rust off, and
it is a bit less dramatic in the kinetics department.

One point about using a sander – I would advocate tapping
all the set out of the teeth first as the least amount of residual set will shred your belts and result in a thinner
bit of steel at the tips.

Belt sanders have few uses for those who use their hands
most of the time, but this is one of them.

All best from Wales