C'mon Guys! Help WaltC out!

Veering OT: Disston saws

Luke Herzberg

>Right on, Bob, everybody needs a Disston...or a few dozen!!

I recently went to a town-wide yard sale, scouring through tupperware, ashtrays and 8-tracks for hours searching for that glint of rust. Anyhow, my brother went to the same sale later in the afternoon and, knowing my affection for the rust, described some saws that he had seen...

Non-galoot brother - "I found some saws...did you see them?"

Me - "Nope"

Non-galoot brother - "They had the stiffener on them...what are those?"

Me - "Uh huh...backsaws."

Non-galoot brother - "Yep, about this big. 3 or 4 saws all together"

Me - "Ohhhhh, dovetail? A nice tenon saw? Did you buy them?"

Non-galoot brother - "Nope"

Me - "Aaaaaghhh!"

Non-galoot brother - "It's ok, they were junk. Some name brand I've never even heard of...started with a 'D'."

Me - "Disston?"

Non-galoot brother - "Yep, that's it"

Me - "Aaaaaaaggghhhhh!"

: )

Re: C'mon Guys! Help WaltC out!

Todd Hughes

>Look for a good old heavy iron miter box made by either Stanley or Millers falls with no damage or repairs.Keep walking past those small cheap mostly wood boxes. Look for holes that don't have stuff in it to see if it has missing parts.Look for one that comes with a long back saw with a nicely shaped handle so you will know it is old. No heavy rusting or pitting or damaged teeth. Do not pay more then $15 for the set and at that you are paying about $10 more then what most of the ones I see go for in the old tool hell I live in ....Todd

Re: C'mon Guys! Help WaltC out!

Mike G.

>Todd, there's a lot of guys on this board who wish they lived in the "old tool hell" you talk about.

Mike G. in SC who knows what old tool hell is really like.

Re: Veering OT: Disston saws

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>I know about that feeling (now)...

I picked up a Disston D8 about 6-7 months agao at an estate sale for $10. Cleaned it up and it turned out to be a good find.

I made the mistake of showing the saw to one of my uncles and he dumped 3 REALLY beatup saws from my grandfather on me expecting me to clean them while he kept the decent ones that, if cleaned, would look very nice.

Now if the three saws were even in fair shape, it would be worth it. But they aren't. Only one even has a medallion (and a cheap one at that) and only one other even has a handle that is complete. I started working on the best one last night and I'm still removing rust. I'm thinking of just finishing that one and tossing the other two since they are even more rusty and the handles are badly broken.

I did pick up a good #4 on ebay but I missed out on a nice D8 panel saw to a sniper who came in with 4 secs to go. After a nice chat with Todd Hughes, I decided to forgo finding a Disston #70 and just buy a nice LN or Adria dovetail down the road. I'm still hunting around for a decent panel saw...I just need to be patient.

:)

I just did

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>

Re: mitre boxes

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>He mentioned that he wanted the capability of a compound mitre box, and I don't know of any old ones that serve that function, but then I don't know much either. I hardly ever use a compound miter saw. I had the Craftsman mitre box he is talking about, and it is not too bad if you can get it used for $10 or so. It actually functions well. But to really get into the mitre box and how to use would just take more time for me to write than I have; if anyone wants to give me a weeks warning to clean up my shop, they can stop by and I'll show them what I know about mitre boxes.