My anxiously awaited “new” (I purchased an old Disston saw off of eBay) dovetail saw arrived in the mail today. I cannot wait to try it out, but it appears that I need to give it a little TLC first.
It has a little surface rust on it and the blade needs to be sharpened (I have already gotten excellent feedback on that process), but otherwise appears to be in good condition.
Is there anything I should be concerned about as I attempt to give this saw a cleaning? I do not want to do any irreparable harm to it. Anything special I need to do to get the rust off? Other than a wire brush and some elbow grease? Then what? A light coating of oil?
How about the handle? Is it “politically correct” to refinish it?
As you can tell, I am a newbie to this, so please be gently. 🙂
Thanks!
RR
Replies
RR,
Congrats on your "new" old Disston. I'd definetly stay away from the wire brush. What I did with my Disstons (D-115 Victory and D-7) was to first remove the handles. Then I used 0000 steel wool to knock off the loose rust, brushed on a light coat of Naval Jelley (Larry will have a fit but....), rinse with water then dried the saws. After that I took 600 grit silicon carbide lubed with oil and lightly sanded the blades being very carefull to preserve the etchings. I went down to 1500 grit silicon carbide, lubed and the etchings were preserved. On the handles, I sanded them with 220 grit aluminum oxide then rubbed in boiled linseed oil. I prefer boiled linseed to a varnish; not as likely to get blisters.
Pete Taran, a Contributing Editor for Fine Tool Journal, is probably the country's leading expert on Disston saws and has an excellent web site, I highly recommend that you surf over there; http://www.vintagesaws.com enjoy.
Dano
Dano,
Thanks for the great advice. I look forward to utlizing the technique you described! I will just have to make a trip to the hardware store tomorrow for some naval jelly. A good reason to have to go to the hardware store (as if there was a bad one!).
Thanks again! This is such a great resource!
RR
Dano,
Just to let you know that I followed your advice, and it almost got me into trouble!
You see, I had shown my wife the saw when I got it, and she was pretty indifferent to it at the time. I don't understand this, but then again, I don't understand how you could have seven pairs of black shoes and say they are different shades of black, but I digress.
Anyway, upon showing her the "new" cleaned-up version of the saw, she wanted to know when and why I got a new saw and what I did with the other one. Took a little bit of time to explain to her that they were, in fact, one and the same, but I think she finally believed me.
Thanks for the help with this! Now I am off to study up on the different shades of black!
RR
ROFLOL, Rookie! Glad I was of some help but, sorry I got ya into some trouble.;-)
Dano"Form and Function are One" - Frank L. Wright
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