# Restoring an old Disston D8



## Jackfre (Dec 23, 2009)

I picked up an old hand saw at an estate sale Sat. $.50, would seem like a good deal, but I am going to have to fabricate a new handle, clean the blade and the old timer who had this sharpened it himself. It is a real snaggle-tooth, so I have to joint it and see how it comes out. I've never done this. I do have a saw set I picked up, but no appropriate files to speak of, yet. Have any of you gotten into this? Recommendations?:thumbsup:


----------



## Wrangler02 (Apr 15, 2011)

Wentzloff and Sons web site has patterns for saw handles. 

I have refurbished several saws and clean the saw plate with abrasive pads that I got at Woodcraft. A saw vise is something you will need. There are plans available on the web to build your own. I bought files from Tools for Working Wood; but they are available lots of places. 

Ron Hock has a book on sharpening all wood working tools. I highly recommend it. 

Have fun.


----------



## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

+1 on the Hock book. I just picked this up and it's got a lot of detail on sharpening anything related to woodworking.


----------



## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

Yep, get a book. Is it crosscut or rip cut? For jointing the blade just use a single cut flat file and cut a kerf into a piece of wood that is jointed and square and put the file in the wood and gently pull it along the blade until the teeth are the same height. Things to consider. Did the old timer leave any of the teeth at the heel or are they all screwed up. Usually you can find an original tooth geometry by the handle. The correct size saw file for sharpening will depend on the tpi of the saw. I just use Nicholson's from ACE. If the teeth are too bad you might want to send it somewhere and get a new set of teeth ground though.


----------



## Jackfre (Dec 23, 2009)

*I think...*

I am going to pull the old broken handle (top horn is missing and the lower portion has a screw trying, unsuccessfully, to hold the bottom together. It also has a coat of ugly green paint. I'll use the old handle as a pattern. getting the grip screws out is going to be fun. I hit it with some PB Blaster to hopefully encourage release. The blade, after researching some I am going to clean up with mild abrasives/steel wool/etc and see what is under the rust. It may be to late for this one, but we'll see. The tooth pattern is so irregular I am going to send it out for re-set and sharpening and will then start sharpening myself. That is the current plan.


----------



## STAR (Jan 1, 2008)

Jackfre said:


> I am going to pull the old broken handle (top horn is missing and the lower portion has a screw trying, unsuccessfully, to hold the bottom together. It also has a coat of ugly green paint. I'll use the old handle as a pattern. getting the grip screws out is going to be fun. I hit it with some PB Blaster to hopefully encourage release. The blade, after researching some I am going to clean up with mild abrasives/steel wool/etc and see what is under the rust. It may be to late for this one, but we'll see. The tooth pattern is so irregular I am going to send it out for re-set and sharpening and will then start sharpening myself. That is the current plan.


-------------------------------------------

Getting rid of the rust on an old saw is where Electrolysis comes into its own.

Cedar Fly on this site asked a question about a Stanley No6 plane he found. He went the Electrolysis way and the results were first class. it was his first attempt at Electrolysis. it is easy, simple and non messy.

Check it out. ASso have a look at the recent hand saw thread, lots of useful info in that one and some good sites for references.

Pete


----------



## joesbucketorust (Dec 13, 2011)

Some people have complained about electrolysis hardening some metal parts to the point of brittleness. Usually it's saw teeth and they start talking about something to do with hydrogen and the need to retemper afterwards. I've never had a problem with other "fatter" tools in electrolysis, but I've been wary of zapping saws. Besides, sawblades usually aren't so badly gone that they need it. Electrolysis is great for cleaning rust off of items that are hard to get at with other methods - like planes when there is rust up top under/around the frog. It does get down into the pits, but if your saw is pitted then it won't make much of a user and probably isn't worth the effort. I've got those rubber sanding blocks that you used to find everywhere for a quarter each until everyone bought an orbital sander. I just use very find grit sandpaper on those, a little bit of spirits for to keep it loose, and wipe frequently so you can see how far you're going. No need to sand your saw in half. This also preserves the etch. If they're dirty rusty (where you can feel the rust with your finger) I'll scrape some with a razor blade first. This guy has a great tutorial:
http://www.wkfinetools.com/tRestore/saw/sawBlade-bobStu/restSawBlade-1.asp

One thing I've done that he doesn't mention, if you can see the etch but it's very light, throw some brass darkening solution on it, let it set for a minute or so, and then sand it off again with the sanding block. The sanding block cleans the blade, but doesn't get down into the etch so it stays dark.


----------



## tcleve4911 (Dec 16, 2006)

joesbucketorust said:


> This guy has a great tutorial:
> http://www.wkfinetools.com/tRestore/saw/sawBlade-bobStu/restSawBlade-1.asp


I took a look at this wonderful site.
I only read a few but learned for or five new tricks just in the little time I spent.

Thanks so much for that Joe...........


----------



## Chris Adkins (May 12, 2010)

I just redid an old Sandvic that was my grandfathers, luckily the blade was still in prefect shape but the handle was pretty rough. I just traced the old handle onto a piece of cherry and then embellished it a little to the look I liked. 

Good luck with the saw. It's nice to see an old saw come back to life!


----------



## cellophane (Oct 6, 2009)

EvapoRust is great at cleaninup up rust as well - only problem I've run into is finding containers big enough to cover longer tools. 

Daren sent me a few links on sharpening a while back that were really informative: 

http://www.vintagesaws.com/library/primer/sharp.html




 (Lie Nielsen's video series on sharpening)

You can build a saw vise out of scraps. Filing is actually pretty simple, at least for a rip cut. Cross cut takes a little more prep but isn't too hard to do. The only other thing I would recommend is some ear plugs. the sound of the file on the metal hurts my ears...

edit: just skimmed through


joesbucketorust said:


> This guy has a great tutorial:
> http://www.wkfinetools.com/tRestore/saw/sawBlade-bobStu/restSawBlade-1.asp


 - great site!


----------

