Well didn't go garage saling but...

[RiverWalker]

so I was supposed to be going around to garage sales with my future FIL.
he went to a bunch yesterday or something and determined that in his opinion it wasn't worth the hassle of going to today, and hes driving so whichever, not that worried about it.

especially since he did get two saws for me from what he DID see. (and theres a flea market next month that he says has tool stuff)

heres pictures.



the larger seems straight it has rust and some pitting. the handle has some scuffs and such but generally intact. few very minor looking cracks on the inside of the handle portion. about 26" long blade, theres a gap between the back of the bed, and the bottom of the slot in the handle. it looks like the its 7TPI.
handle of the larger one:


pitting on some of the teeth, which is I think, the most serious damage on the larger one that I can see:





the smaller, has a thing a few inches from the end, and some more damage on the handle, but at very least it should be good to practice sharpening and such on. about 18" blade, the crack is about 3" from the end. 7 or 8 TPI.

the smaller handle:


heres the nasty crack in the smaller blade:


the button on the smaller saw says "Sheffield Warranted" the larger's button only says "Warranted Superior". I'm not seeing any markings on either blade.

I am figuring that the smaller could be used primarily to practice on, maybe cutting off the end at the crack and just using it shorter or something.

oh yeah, the larger one has one of the bolts replaced with a panhead screw, washer and old-timey square nut, but it seems pretty secure.

the tag on the handle of the larger one said $3, the smaller said $2.

so how bad is that pitting as far as how refurbishable the blade is?

now I'm not sure how I am going to hold the saw to sharpen it before my workbench is up and a saw clamp made for it...

[TDHofstetter]

That Warranted Superior (which is a name brand) is really a fine old saw, fulla' good steel. It's a rip saw, although it could be converted to a crosscut with some (plenty of) work. I'll bet it's comfortable in the hand, no? Its teeth are probably still fine, by and large... and even if they weren't, you can always chase the teeth down into solid steel.

The smaller appears to be maybe a floor saw or a stair saw, but it may be just a short toolbox (tote) saw. Also a decent tool, although the crack is unhappy to see. You can drill a hole through the saw (it takes a very good carbide bit and plenty of patience) at the end (THE END!) of that crack to stop the cracking where it is... and then some fine attentive grinding can prep it for wire welding followed by reflattening. Or finish the crack all the way through, then reshape the saw's nose to make it a short short toolbox saw.

Neat tools... and a VERY neat price.

[RiverWalker]

May 22, 2010 11:34:07 GMT -6 TDHofstetter said:

That Warranted Superior (which is a name brand) is really a fine old saw, fulla' good steel. It's a rip saw, although it could be converted to a crosscut with some (plenty of) work. I'll bet it's comfortable in the hand, no? Its teeth are probably still fine, by and large... and even if they weren't, you can always chase the teeth down into solid steel.

The smaller appears to be maybe a floor saw or a stair saw, but it may be just a short toolbox (tote) saw. Also a decent tool, although the crack is unhappy to see. You can drill a hole through the saw (it takes a very good carbide bit and plenty of patience) at the end (THE END!) of that crack to stop the cracking where it is... and then some fine attentive grinding can prep it for wire welding followed by reflattening. Or finish the crack all the way through, then reshape the saw's nose to make it a short short toolbox saw.

Neat tools... and a VERY neat price.

ok, I wasn't sure if that warranted superior was actually a name brand or if it was just a trade term.

and yeah, as you say, the handle feels real good in the hand. its begging to be gone over with some sandpaper, but its very comfortable.

trying to fix that crack properly is a bit beyond my means at the moment, but considering the price I wonder if it might be worth just leaving the crack alone for the moment and waiting til I have better means to fix it.

probably depends on what other luck I have.

thanks for the info! its very encouraging that the larger one is that good.

[TDHofstetter]

I've got a boxful of old saws waiting for my attention, scavenged from yard sales & suchlike. Some of 'em'll wait quite a while longer, I'm afraid.

It's worth doing to scarf 'em up when you see 'em, keep 'em in the hands of woodworkers instead of interior decorators...

[sawduster]

"Warranted Superior" showed up on a lot of saws by different makers. I believe they were medallions made and sold by Disston to other makers. As well, Disston had some other Brands that they made and put the Warranted Superior medallions on those. Check the bottom of this page at the Disstonian Institute for the info.

[sawduster]

Back in the day, steel made in Sheffield England was thought to be the finest available anywhere as were the tools coming out of Sheffield. As such, lots of makers of tools would include "Sheffield" in the names to give the impression that they, or at least the steel, were made in Sheffield.

Most saw makers etched their company name and such onto the blades of their saws. Sometimes one can raise that etch in one manner or another to further identify the maker.

The teeth that I could see of the larger saw look to be in pretty good shape other than needing filing to sharpen them up. That is good news as filing new teeth is a real pain and is time consuming (unless you've got a mechanical sawtoother) and is best left after you've gotten a few saw sharpenings under your belt. There are several sites on the web with instructions on saw filing. The Library at Vintage Saws is the one I used to learn.

That tear in the blade of the other saw makes it, IMO, something to hang on the wall. I've gotten a few saws via ebay that were not repairable for use, but I kept the blades and used them for making a couple smaller saws as well as card scrapers and such.

[RiverWalker]

May 23, 2010 8:01:49 GMT -6 sawduster said:

Back in the day, steel made in Sheffield England was thought to be the finest available anywhere as were the tools coming out of Sheffield. As such, lots of makers of tools would include "Sheffield" in the names to give the impression that they, or at least the steel, were made in Sheffield.

Most saw makers etched their company name and such onto the blades of their saws. Sometimes one can raise that etch in one manner or another to further identify the maker.

The teeth that I could see of the larger saw look to be in pretty good shape other than needing filing to sharpen them up. That is good news as filing new teeth is a real pain and is time consuming (unless you've got a mechanical sawtoother) and is best left after you've gotten a few saw sharpenings under your belt. There are several sites on the web with instructions on saw filing. The Library at Vintage Saws is the one I used to learn.

That tear in the blade of the other saw makes it, IMO, something to hang on the wall. I've gotten a few saws via ebay that were not repairable for use, but I kept the blades and used them for making a couple smaller saws as well as card scrapers and such.

thanks. yeah, as far as I can tell the teeth look solid, all there, and sighting down the blade teeth-up the set makes a clear, smooth valley. it feels like its a good balance of stiff and flexible, in that the blade does bend a little under its weight, but I'd guess(totally guessing by eye) maybe 1/8th or 3/16ths over the length of the blade? noticable but not flimsy.

it sounds like using the smaller one for practicing sharpening is totally worthwhile. I was also thinking that if I chopped it off at the crack, the end piece could be turned into a scraper or something.