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New Old Saw..

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New Old Saw..

#1

New Old Saw..

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>Well, I was sitting at my computer and my wife walked up to get my keys to my SUV so she could go check out an estate sale.

She asked if I wanted to go (I've never gone to one) and I said in my usual non-committal voice, "Maybe."

She was printing out directions and decided to send me the link to the page with pictures of some of the items.

They had some tools including a panel saw and some garden equipment in the pictures, so my son and I went with her.

Get there... roam around among the numerous people there and I go around back and checkout the "manly" items. Everything was second/third rate for the most part, cheap mechanic's tools bought from small hardware stores. They work fine for occasional use but I would not buy them. I did not expect to find the saw, but I lucked out and it was still there. Examined it closely and it was intact with a patina on it but I could still make out the etching pretty well, and it turned out to be a Diston D8 skewback crosscut saw for $12. They gave it to me for $10. Shocking find here in tool hell. There was nothing else of note except a super-cheap plastic Stanley miter box and saw, a large logging? hand saw(think 36" long with 3/4" teeth) in very good shape, and a stanley metal folding rule that was in good shape but I had no idea what it was worth.

Of course this means I need to clean the saw a bit and learn how to sharpen it. I commented to my wife as we were leaving that I now needed to buy another tool (saw set) so I could sharpen it. She grinned, shook her head and said "Another tool?"

I responded, "Yes... that's the way it works, when you buy one tool, you will need to buy another tool for that one."


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Re: New Old Saw..

#2

Oh yeah..

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>I have no idea how old it is.... I'll guess I'll have to figure that out too...

And thus ends my first estate sale odyssey

Re: New Old Saw..

#3

Re: Memphis is old tool heck?

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>Seems odd to me you would claim to live in "old tool heck" but freely admit to never having gone to any estate sales before? But I guess now you know where the good cheap old tools are, although $10 for a old saw is not real cheap, Todd Hughes has old saws jump into his truck just to be near him. That is a nice saw, congrats on the find.

Re: New Old Saw..

#4

Re: New Old Saw..

John Hoffman

>Great find. I just arrived at my brothers house and he gave me my fathers old hand saw, which turned out to also be a Disston D-8. It has a slight bend in the blade and needs to be cleaned and sharpened. I found info about the saw at the Disston Institute. Good luck.

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#5

Re: New Old Saw..

Ernie Miller Topeka

>First estete sale! it won't be long befor you are trying to get there early to beat the tool dealers in your area just to get the good stuff. They all hate me as I tend to grab every thing in site then go through it to make sure it is worth keeping. one guy that realy dislike me claims to have seen me take tools out in the yard in good light to take them apart to look for cracks. he also claims that if I put it back there is somthing wrong or the price is to high.

Re: New Old Saw..

#6

Not Quite...

Todd Hughes

>jumping in my truck I guess but today me and the Miss Jazz was at the flea market and while we were looking at some rings I was joking like i was proposing and got down on my knees when I noticed the seller had some tools under the table they hadn't put out.I dug around and pulled out a Henry Disston no.7 panel saw from the 1850's or so.Woman said if you want it give me a $1 ....which I did. Did have another vender give me free a great early box of matches....ah life is good!....Todd

Re: New Old Saw..

#7

Re: New Old Saw..

paul womack

>Judging by the depth (top to bottom) of the blade, that saw ain't seen much work.

Nice find!

For sharpening, check out some of the recent threads here.

BugBear

Re: New Old Saw..

#8

Re: Memphis is old tool heck?

Tony - Memphis

>He's correct! The one "old" tool dealer I knew of had really rough stuff that he "refinished." The only good stuff I found was when they had the yard sale at the Hunt Phelan house. Didn't know what I was buying, but I got a 1 1/4 Witherby chisel for $3 and a few other things. Sad that the old place was broken up. For those not familiar (probably anybody outisde of Memphis!), it was a neat old mansion from Pre- Civil war that had basically been kept in the family. The last owner willed it to a nephew I believe. THe guy that inherited it made a really good try at keeping it all together an intact, but it didn't make it. You wouldn't believe what all was there. Imagine the family home with multiple generations "stuff" never cleaned out. Unbelievable collection of furniture and artifacts. Glad I got to see it before it was all sold. They had a yard sale to get rid of the assorted "junk." It was neat just to see it all. Wish I could have gotten more. They had some neat stuff. Fascinating story. If I was a rich man, it would have all been kept together as a collection. A local woman tried very hard, but it didn't work out. Very sad.

Tony

Re: New Old Saw..

#9

Re: Memphis is old tool heck?

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>Never heard of that, Tony..

sounds pretty sad..

I already visited a bunch of pawn shops and antique places... not much around here except cheap, beat-up power tools that were over-priced.

The only place that had any used tools worth anything was the (now out-of-business) Tool Joint and they only had a few over-priced planes such as a very incomplete and beat up Stanley 45 for a whopping $250 IIRC.

Re: New Old Saw..

#10

Oh yeah...

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>just to give an idea of how bad it is here...

This will be the 3rd? hand tool of any merit that I have bought in Memphis. Note that I'm not including the regular stuff one buys at Home Depot/Lowe's like a $3 rubber mallet or Craftsman screwdrivers from Sears, etc...

I have bought every hand plane I own from online woodworking stores or from EBay.

Re: New Old Saw..

#11

Me too

Tony - Memphis

>I have had real good luck thus far...even with a couple of folks we all know!

Tony

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