Alan DuBoff
>David,

I say get whatever is available to you. If you can find some vintage saws reasonable, snatch 'em up and look at reconditioning them. But some of the prices these days are fairly high if you do have to recondition them. I wouldn't want to pay $75 for a saw that needs to be tuned up and/or needs a jointing, shaping, and sharpening...and some saws require more work, could have a kink (I just fixed one like that), or be badly pitted, or have a loose handle, or have the back smashed down at the toe from being dropped...nothing that can't be fixed, but sometimes the older handle are difficult to tighten up nicely...all of them vary...

If you can afford to get some new ones, nothing wrong with them either.

I find that most all new saws have better fit/finish than the vintage ones, but that is certainly subjective. Most older saws need to be tuned up properly when found, so it does require a certain amount of time, skill, and willingness...this all translates to cost in the end, IMO.

OTOH, some folks don't care for new saws. Whatever it is that floats your boat, best to have a quiver of saws for the tasks that you want to do with them. My $0.02...

Dare I say you should learn how to sharpen a handsaw first and foremost, but I might sound like a broken record...and folks might start piling on with stories of destroyed saws from folks that tried so...If your worried about the cost of a new saw and would be afraid to sharpen it, I'd recommend something you wouldn't mind taking a file to...

This is in reference to western style handsaws.

Regards,
Alan