Handsaws

[AAvK]

Hey Mike, thanks for the reply.

I saw the saw site and I had never seen it before. I must say "what beautiful work". I can't afford to buy one but would love to. As far as the hardness of the steel, what you say sounds good, but I know one seller on the bay who lives in Florida and is a plane blade maker. He always has new blades for Stanley #48 T&Gs on the bay.

He can send anyone his stock list (which is quite big!) and has great prices. But he takes his blades out to be hardened by a pro company that uses atmosphere controlled ovens, I think they create a vacuum inside while heating. But after that, his prices are still quite acceptable (that means it might cheap enough for you).

I think you have really good prices too. Just an idea, the seller is jimreed2160.

[MikeW]

15deg and progress to 0deg through the first inch or so.

Hi Enoch,

It's not too new. When I was young and my grandfather was teaching me how to file saws, he prefered this method to progressive ppi--where there are more teeth per inch at the toe progressing to full ppi by

1/3 or so of the way towards the heel. That probably stemed from using a retoother to punch new teeth.

making 18th century pattern saws behind the scenes at Colonial Williamsburg. Those saw, however, couldn't be purchased as they were for use in the restored area. I was always amazed to see the wonderful things they were working on. All the saws were beautiful and the panel saws played music nicely. ;~) I suspect that they are both retired now... hugh talents... I consider my life better for knowing them. Ah, how I wish I was able to live for a while on the right coast. The history available there in the form of such places and people!

Well, one of these days my wife and I will make the trip. They'll probably have to throw me out--I'll want to stay for a bit.

Thank you for the reference.

Take care, Mike

[Enoch Root]

That's nice you were taught by your grandfather. You are the first to bring it up that I was aware of. A quick google search shows a nice thread (with you participating) at woodcentral about this.

Libraries are an option. :)

I'm going to try to find a video taken of one of the last planemaker's in England showing how to smooth the bed for a plane blade... with a slick.

er

[Enoch Root]

I forgot to mention, your saws look gorgeous. :)

er

[cdo]

That's interesting... More nickle in the mix than some others perhaps?

I'll have to keep an eye out for them.

Cliff

[cdo]

junk shops

I'm evidently a bit confused - I thought the taper was from the toothed edge to the back edge, with a constant thickness heel to toe. If it's narrower at the toe, what prevents binding as you progress through the cutting stroke? That's illogical...

Cliff

[cdo]

Wow, nice looking stuff! I'm going to have to spend a bit more time looking around there...

Cliff

[Enoch Root]

shops, junk shops

They are, from what I've seen, double-tapered; flaring toe to heel and top to bottom. Less set is required for the teeth so you get a smoother cut, but a blade sharpened many times isn't going to have the same taper...

er

[MikeW]

...I'm evidently a bit confused - I thought the taper was from the toothed edge to the back edge, with a constant thickness heel to toe.

As made--at least as regards Disston and Atkins--the toothline is a fairly consistent from heel to toe. But they are double-tapered.

Looking at the toe end of the saw straight on, it is narrower at the top and tapers to the toothline.

Looking straight down from the top of the saw, one would see it taper from the back of the saw to the toe.

Only the Atkins 400 series was as tapered, with the others less so. Which is why they didn't cost as much as the top saws--Disston also charged significantly more for their top saws.

Taper grinding is a whole can of worms in some tool circles. Saws from earlier periods were not tapered and even once tapering began, it was greater on cross cut saws than rip.

Take care, Mike

[cdo]

Thanks for the extra information Mike; I guess I just underestimated the effectiveness of the set in keeping the blade from binding as it progresses through the kerf.

It must have taken an interesting setup to grind those blades in two axes. Pretty impressive manufacturing coming out of the 1800's.

regards, Cliff

[John Grossbohlin]

There are certainly a lot of interesting places on the right coast... For example, my woodworkers club uses one of the buildings where the movie Tootsie (Dustin Hoffman, 1982) was filmed. That farm dates to the 1670s as I recall... reeks of history! ;~) My hometown dates from 1660s... stone houses from the period still exist (though they had to be rebuilt after the British burned the place!).

John

[MikeW]

There are certainly a lot of interesting places on the right coast... For example, my woodworkers club uses one of the buildings where the movie Tootsie (Dustin Hoffman, 1982) was filmed. That farm dates to the 1670s as I recall... reeks of history! ;~) My hometown dates from

1660s... stone houses from the period still exist (though they had to be rebuilt after the British burned the place!).

Too cool John!

We have a lot of history and places to go and see on the left coast--but it is young in comparison and certainly not seminal in the foundation of our country.

The town we live in, Forest Grove in Oregon, is an old community by this side of the country's standards. The house we live in was built by relatives in 1897, and his father's house was built in the 1880s. A house down the street was from the 1840s. That's about it around here. Still cool, but we have always wanted to make it to New England.

Well, back to cutting out saw blanks...take care, Mike

[MikeW]

Deleted--by reason of insanity or a poorly working keyboard: I cannot spell at times...

[fredfighter]

Like the mohel said, thanks for the tip!

But, do you have a domain name to associate with that user name?

[Enoch Root]

Best guess:

er

[MikeW]

Jim's email address is

jimreed2160 AT yahoo.com

remove the spaces.

The first portion is his eBay user id.

Take care, Mike

[AAvK]

eBay is it, just contact the seller.

[Larry Blanchard]

Ever since I saw buildings over 1000 years old in Europe, I can't get excited about any of our "old" buildings.

I suspect the Egyptians feel the same way about Europe :-).

[Enoch Root]

I lived in a small city in Germany for awhile in which construction on the cathedral there began in the 12th c. Took more than a hundred years, IIRC, to finish it.

I saw aerial views of the bombed city during WWII, and although much around it was flattened, it somehow managed to escape more than shrapnel scars.

Hah, see for yourself:

Here's a good picture of it:

There's a little note on the physics of the tower near the bottom, asserting that the point below the tip of the tower is just just shy of where something would fall if dropped from the tip, and that the difference is due to the rotation of the earth. A non-sequitur beneath the tower in the cathedral.

The cathedral is made of red sandstone, not wood, but I believe the sandstone was cut with saws... hand saws. :)

Also, there is an alter carved of wood (and painted) by Hans Holbein the Younger (the Henry VIII painter).

er

[MikeW]

Ever since I saw buildings over 1000 years old in Europe, I can't get excited about any of our "old" buildings.

I suspect the Egyptians feel the same way about Europe :-). [/quote:07c553f9f2] I suspect this could be true for me as well. But we would like to start in our own country...As well, my main interest is the period in which the tools I love were made, how they were used, etc.

England is next on the list, followed by ...

Take care, Mike