Before and After

ken werner

Member
Messages
3,377
Location
Central NY State
Before:
Stanley No. 6 type 11
Stanley6before.jpg


After:
Stanley6.jpg


Stanley6Rside.jpg



Before-
Millers Falls jack:
MFbefore.jpg


After:
MFLside.jpg


MFjackplane.jpg


Before:
Richardson Bros. 10" saw:
RichardsonBrosSawbefore.jpg


After:
RichardsonBros10saw.jpg


I bought these all figuring I'd clean them up and sell them, but now I'm getting attached.
Bad tool pig, bad.
 
Ken, those look perfectly usable again. I have two old planes I need to fix up myself (a Craftsman and a Stanley). But I have no intention of selling them. Using the, yes. Selling, no. So there is nothing wrong with you wanting to hang on to them. And you can't have too many handsaws!
 
hey ken,, on the back saw, how did you clean up the blade? and could you post a pic of a dissiton trade mark for me to look at one of those saws i have has differnt wording like it was a gift for someone on it can there be any way to bring that type back to be able to read it better?
 
Billy, I have too many planes...and saws. Trust me, I do.
Larry, for all things Disston, look here:
http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/
way better info and pics than I can give you.

As for cleaning the saw, I took it apart, and the blade sat a few hours in my home made electrolysis unit, then some 320 grit wet or dry lubed with naphtha.
I'm going to have to have the teeth recut, they are in rough shape.
 
Having seen a bit of your restoration work in person, I can imagine these tools not only look great now, but they also perform better than they look. :thumb:
 
If you ever want to give up on that doctoring thing, I think you might have a career in old tool resto!
 
Thanks for all the kind words.
Roger, I set up a wallpaper tank [cheap plastic vat about 2 feet long for wetting wallpaper] with some citric acid for small parts. Big parts went into the electrolysis. The knobs went for a spin on the lathe, sanded to 600, then some shellac. The totes were repaired [only one needed repair], scraped, sanded and several thin coats of shellac, then steel wool, then wax. Japanned areas of planes were cleaned and waxed. I don't like repainting a plane, unless there's just about no japanning left.
Brent, I dunno, part-time work right now is going pretty well. Best of both worlds for me, I get time to enjoy my profession without getting exhausted, and I have time to pursue all the other things I like to do. I'm pretty darn fortunate.
 
Follow-up on the saw

Well. I've been interested in learning about saw sharpening for some time. The teeth on the Richardson Bros. saw were in rough shape, different sizes, quite dull. I already had a nice crosscut saw the same size. I knew I'd need to re-cut the teeth, but did not want to do that by hand. I found a local guy who has a small sharpening business going. Stopped by and asked if he would just re-cut the teeth, and that I wanted to file and set them. No problem, and a week and $10 later, I had 12 tpi rip. I filed them with about 8 degrees of rake and a little bit of fleam, maybe 10 degrees or so. Boy is that saw sweet now. Starts quite easily and leaves a nice surface. Not bad for over 100 years old, plus or minus a few years.

http://www.wkfinetools.com/hUS-saws/RichBros/RichardsonB-index.asp
 
That's great Ken. I need to find someone local like that. I have an old saw that had been miss-sharpend by someone and it has a lot of cows & calves. I am going to file them out. It will take several passes, but is doable. It would be nice to have access to someone to cut new teeth, though.
 
Bill. cost wise, probably not worth it, but I'd be happy to drop your saw off and ship it back to you....

I also lost a fair amount of blade height, more than I expected, maybe 1/2". Not sure why, and didn't notice until after I had the saw home. But still, it cuts very well now. Filing by hand I think you'll lose less height.
 
Retoothing a saw is not that bad an undertaking... just have extra files available.

If it's an easy tpi like 8,12 or 16 clamp the saw in your sharpening vise, remove the teeth completely with a mill file then place a rule next to it and place a dot of machinist ink at each tooth. For a pitch more difficult to measure you can lay it out on a computer or graph paper.

Make 2-3 strokes with the appropriate size file (unless sharpening a 2-5 tpi, start with smaller) at each mark. Once you reach the end it and begin your second passes it becomes quicker, take the same number of strokes on each until the teeth emerge. For Cross cut saws, disregard fleam until you have something resembling teeth with a close to sharp point.

Plan to burn a file for one saw on a typical retoothing but heck, they cost $3-$6 and you learned a new skill.

Good luck!
 
I clamp a disposable blade (like a hacksaw blade, a jig saw blade) with the point count that I want to the saw plate and use it as a guide to space the new teeth.
 
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