need help cleaning a vintage backsaw

Re: need help cleaning a vintage backsaw

Jack Guzman from Maine

>If you can clean the saw without removing the screws,do it. Otherwise ,you will have to make a tool.Find a flat screwdriver with a blade as wide as the slot.Grind or file it so it fits the slot perfectly with no slop.You have to remove a portion of the center of the blade to fit over the stud in the center of the nut.Then carefully back out the nut.These screws are fairly soft so proceed with care.---Jack

Thank you.

eric

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Re: need help cleaning a vintage backsaw

Boyd

>I have a few crosscut saws and removed the rust using electrolysis. I cleaned the rust off them a couple of summers ago by making a lowsided temporary bath of heavy

plastic closed in by a garage wall & loose bits of plywood supported by a chopping block, 2 sleepers & a stack

of wood on the 4th side (anything heavy). Anyway, the details for the process which removes only the

rust without scraping the saw can be found at www.bhi.co.uk/hints/rust.htm and

http://users.interconnect.net/nlindsey/rusty21/electrolysis/electrolysis.htm and

www.alphalink.com.au/~petero/rustconverter.html and www.brendlers.net/oldtools/handsaws/handsaws.htm

I got a length of stainless steel from the metal buyers, a battery charger, washing soda from the

shop, some water and some polythene (heavy plastic). I balanced the saw blade on stones and a little wood so that the saw was

off the bath floor and it did remove the rust cleanly which then needed cleaning off and some

protection added after drying.

I'm a complete newbie to sharpening but will now seek to learn that. My aim is

to be able to use a crosscut saw in such a manner that its

not too slow as to be a useful way of cutting wood for fuel and woodwork etc. when I want to.

Re: need help cleaning a vintage backsaw *LINK*

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>There was a recent post on rust removal using ammonium citrate that contained the response below. If you find the handle difficult to remove, you might experiment with this (perhaps experimenting with some piece of junk first).


Another method of rust removal

Re: need help cleaning a vintage backsaw

William Duffield on the Cohansey

>If the saw has a brass back, do not use electrolysis. You wil likely remove brass as well as rust.

Re: need help cleaning a vintage backsaw

Todd Hughes

>I would just clean the blade with some sand paper on a wooden block going from front to back.With split nuts saws i would be VERY hesistant to take the handle off because the nuts are filed to fit after assembly and can be damaged easly.Make a special screwdriver as someone else described to tighten them.As a last resort if you can't tighten them I have peined them tighter with good luck if all else has failed.

I know to some eletrolysis is one of the holy sacriments to hand tool usage but in my experance it gives tools,[esp. Saws] an ugly dead un natural grey look about them. The same is true of using acids as found in viniger, coke, navy jelly to clean steel.Don't have any experance with Citric Acid but I would be surprised if it was any different. A saw properly cleaned with a sanding block shows no signs it was every cleaned....this is what you want......Todd, who has a basket of of saws to clean

Re: need help cleaning a vintage backsaw

Paul In NJ

>If the handle is loose length wise, i.e. it rocks back and forth toe to heel, I would put a small wedge between the handle and the brass back.

Paul Dzioba

You know how to clean; just handle problem, right?

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

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Re: need help cleaning a vintage backsaw

Ernie Miller Topeka

>Todd cleans alot of saws I would listen to him.

Thanks!

eric

>Thank you everyone!

I ended up making a tool to tighten the split nits and did not atempt to remove the handle. Scraped the blade with razor blade followed by rubbing with 00 steel wool lubed with mechanics hand cleaner and finished with a coat of wax. Tightening the nuts took all the fore-aft play out and the stoped the blade from rocking up and down. The blade can still twist in with respect to the handle - I think I can fix this by installing a 1/32 between the handle and the blade back as there is a definite gap there.

Found pitting on about three of the teeth - but I'm not going to mess with that right now. The saw needs sharpening but still cuts well and is much easier to control than the Freud dovetail saw I had been using.

I'm posting before and after pictures in separate meesages. Any comments/ further suggestions are welcome and greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Eric

Pre-clean 

eric

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Cleaned

eric

>The picture shows an orange area around the handle - this is not present on the actual saw. It showed up in resizing the images for posting.

Re: Cleaned

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>Help...Repost the cleaned pic! Looks like a real nice backsaw and I would like to see it cleaned up.JR

Oogly!

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

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Re: Cleaned

Eric

>Here's the picture with the rust removed. The orange tinge around the handle isn't present on the saw - I think its is some type of image processing artifact.