Treasures from the rust: Civil War vintage Disston 12 handsaw.

Vern Burke, SwiftWater Edge Tool Works
Biddeford, Maine

This week’s treasure found under the rust in a pile of random saws is a Civil War vintage Disston No. 12 handsaw. 24″ long and 10 tpi crosscut. According to the etch, this is a “refined London spring steel” blade.

This saw has a gorgeous, intricately carved handle with the domed screws that identify it as an 1860s-1870s saw. The handle is intact with just a slight bit of deterioration on the upper horn.

Surprisingly, minor cleaning of the blade reveals a bold and complete etch! Not bad at all for 150 years! The “one son” etch narrows the date of this saw to 1865 to 1871.

For a handsaw this old, it’s a wonder this No. 12 survived in this kind of condition. A little TLC and this saw will be something special!

Saw sharpening questions of the week, single cut files and bent saw blades.

Vern Burke, SwiftWater Edge Tool Works
Biddeford, Maine

From time to time, I see visitors come through to the blog from Google who are obviously looking for the answers to questions. In this post, I’m going to address two of the questions that I’ve seen come through this week.

The first question is about the use of single cut files (all the teeth are parallel) vs double cut files for sharpening. This is a good question since most hardware stores I’ve seen carry only the double cut files.

In a nutshell, double cut files cut faster and rougher. Just the thing you want for rough metal shaping, not at all what you want for putting a fine edge on a tooth. Single cut files produce a nice smooth bevel and they’re also easier to control since you don’t want to ruin a saw by taking tons of metal off it when you don’t need to.

The second question was about straightening bent small circular saw blades. In a nutshell, don’t even think about it.

Small circular saw blades get tweaked by hitting nails in the wood being cut. While large circular saw blades are intended to be hammered by skilled craftsman, hammering a small circular saw blade is likely to mess up the blade tension, resulting in a blade that wobbles or behaves like a wet piece of cardboard on the saw. Highly dangerous.

One exception to this rule is Forrest. Forrest offers a service where they can actually straighten a bent saw plate, probably through use of a press. Even for expensive blades, I question the economics of doing this. It would be a lot cheaper to buy a metal detector and not damage the blade in the first place.

Old tool restoration: Worth #3 smoothing plane.

Vern Burke, SwiftWater Edge Tool Works
Biddeford, Maine

This is the first of my occasional posts highlighting old tool restoration projects in the shop. All tools are restored with an eye towards making them good, solid, and attractive user tools, not restoring them to out of the box new, museum perfection. As such, these tools may still show signs of use and imperfections. This honors the history of the tool while still resulting in a great user tool that’s also aesthetically pleasing.

This project is a Worth #3 smoothing plane, pretty much a direct copy of the Stanley Bailey #3 smoothing plane. This particular example came from my family’s old farm, complete with well worn tote and knob, and a coating of surface rust.

The plane was disassembled and most of the bulk of the rust was removed mechanically and the parts were cleaned of any grease or oil. Next, I cleaned all of the metal parts thoroughly in a citric acid bath.

The wooden tote and knob had less than 10% of the original finish left on them and a lot of ground in dirt, so refinishing was in order. Since it would have been difficult to clean the tote and the knob enough to make a transparent finish look decent, and since we’re going for nice user grade and not museum, I opted to smooth the tote and the knob and coat them with a nice gloss black finish consisting of primer, black enamel, and a clearcoat for protection.

Finally, the cutting iron was sharpened on our sharpening system and honed to a razor edge on the 100+ year old super fine oil stone, also from the old family farm.

The end result is a good quality, good looking, excellent user plane that should last many many years!

Now offer bandsaw and bandmill sawmill blade sharpening!

Vern Burke, SwiftWater Edge Tool Works
Biddeford, Maine

Announcing SwiftWater Edge Tool Works new bandsaw and bandmill sawmill blade sharpening service!

Does the blade on your bandmill cut wavy lumber, produce more smoke than sawdust, or go so far off track that it runs out of the log? Whether it’s fine work on your shop bandsaw, milling your own lumber with a portable bandmill, or a full sized bandsaw sawmill operation, it’s impossible to make straight and up to speed cuts with a dull blade! A sharp blade is a happy blade and a happy blade is a productive bandsaw or bandmill!

Check out our bandsaw and bandmill sharpening prices for carbon steel and high speed steel blades to 2″ wide and 21′ long. For longer and wider blades, double sided blades, or carbide blades, please email or give us a call for a quote!

Win a free knife, tool, or saw sharpening, play “Stump the Sharpener”!

Do you have an odd edged tool nobody can identify, much less sharpen? Do you have a knife that nobody seems to be able to sharpen right? Do your chisels, handsaws, or circular saws pine for the good old days when they were actually sharp enough to cut wood?

Take our sharpening challenge and play “Stump the Sharpener”!

Bring in or send us your most challenging tool or edge (*), the one nobody else can do or do right, the contrary edge that just makes everyone throw up their hands. If The Sharpener manages to prevail and conquer, you get a quality sharpening job for your oddball or trouble edge at a great rate. If you manage to “Stump the Sharpener”, you win a free sharpening of your choice, up to a $25 value!

(*) “Sharpening challenge excludes: band saw blades, milling machine bits, hair trimmers/clippers, and blades that are intended to be disposable. We reserve the right to refuse tools or edges that unrecoverable due to physical damage or excessive rust (we’re good but we can’t raise the dead).”

One winner per household.

Drop us an email at saw@swiftwatertel.com or call 207-399-7108 for more information or to take the “Stump the Sharpener” challenge! Visit our web site today for all of your sharpening needs!

The Sharpening Shop Project of the Week: Vermont Woodsman cordwood saw

Vern Burke, SwiftWater Edge Tool Works
Biddeford, Maine

This week’s highlighted project in the sharpening shop is a 30″ Vermont Woodsman cordwood saw blade.

This saw has had some rather hard usage cutting frozen wood and dirty slab wood for firewood. Rehab includes cleaning, filing the manufacturer’s rough grinding off the teeth for a smooth finish, sharpening the chisel tooth points right up, and setting the teeth on the anvil.

New ebook available: Straightening Bent Handsaws and Crosscut Saws

Vern Burke, SwiftWater Edge Tool Works
Biddeford, Maine

Announcing the release of our new ebook, “Straightening Bent Handsaws and Crosscut Saws”! No more throwing out vintage or modern saws because they look like a banana, learn how to straighten those saws and get them back to work!

Visit our saw straightening page to get you copy today!