Crosscut saws -- The saw at the top of the photo is a 7 point Disston #7 with a beech handle. The other saw is an 8 point Disston #D8 with an apple handle. The handles on these old saws are nicely shaped and a joy to use.
Rip saws -- The larger saw is a 6 point Disston Keystone #K6. The shorter saw is a 5 point Disston #D8. Note the beautiful thumb hole handle on this old timer.
In the days before automatic saw filing machines a craftsman would usually sharpen his own saws using a saw vise and an appropriate taper file. My favorite saw vise is this one which allows the saw to be supported very close to the handle. Before filing the teeth, they are jointed to make sure that all teeth will be of the same height. A saw jointer holds a short section of a smooth cut mill file perpendicular to the saw and makes this operation easy. Filing a saw takes a lot of patience and practice, especially on crosscut saws with small teeth. I must admit that I am not very good at it, but I have learned to touch up a saw which needs only minimal work. When the teeth need a lot of work, I use a filing guide which keeps the taper file at the proper rake and cross bevel angles. After filing, the teeth are set using one of my saw sets to prevent the saw from binding in the saw kerf.
Miter box with Disston back saw -- This miter box has patent dates which tell me that it is a Stanley, probably a #60 1/2. It was furnished with a 22" x 4" Disston and Sons 11 point cast steel backsaw. Backsaws made by Disston and Sons are of good quality, especially the older ones such as the 26" x 5" and 22" x 4" shown here. Smaller backsaws, such as the 14" and 12" size were generally used as bench saws, although I do use one with an antique Perfection wedge lock miter box which I restored.
I
have a couple of Sheffield made Tyzack Talisman back saws. The
smaller is a 20 point and the larger is a 13 point. I replaced
the stock handles with shop made handles
made from 5/4 cherry. I have received a few requests to post
a pattern for these handles. Here is a full
size pattern which can be saved and printed. (GIF file)
A
dovetail saw is a small backsaw
with the teeth filed to a rip profile. This saw began life as
an 8" Disston #4 backsaw which I bought for $3. The blade
was bent and pitted, but the apple wood handle looked like it
would clean up nicely, and it did. I cut down a newer 10"
Disston backsaw blade to fit the handle and took it to a saw
shop to be re-toothed by machine to 16 teeth per inch and rip
profile. The blade was then hand filed and the teeth minimally
set to make this dovetail saw.
Other saws -- The saw with a white handle is a Japanese Dozuki, and the one with a black handle is a Veritas flush cut saw with teeth set on one side only. The Veritas saw, like the Dozuki, cuts on the pull stroke and both are very thin. The other two are tenon saws, the larger one by Marples, and the smaller one is a Gyros Razor saw with an incredible 60 TPI -- great for cutting thin brass tubing.
A compass saw has a narrow tapered blade and teeth with a lot of set to assist in cutting a curve. This antique Simonds saw has a nice apple wood handle with the traditional carved wheat pattern.
A stair makers saw was used along with a chisel and router plane while trenching out stringers, making slots for stair treads or risers, and cutting dadoes. The blade on this old saw was in good shape, but the handle was broken so I used it as a pattern to make a new one from a piece of beech.
The rosewood and brass saw handles shown here are properly known as pad saws, but they were frequently used to hold a key hole blade and are often called key hole saws. The one at the bottom is shown holding a compass saw blade.
I have made a couple of traditional bow saws. The small saw was made from hard maple and has a 10" blade. The large saw was made from cherry and uses 18" blades which I have cut down from 700mm blades purchased at Woodcraft Supply.
Miscellaneous saws -- The tiny saw is a jewelers saw which takes a very fine blade. There is nothing unusual about the fret saw or the coping saw, but they are fairly old. I have a couple of cast iron fixed blade length hacksaws and a Millers Falls #10 adjustable length hacksaw frame with a rosewood handle. Also a couple of tubular hacksaw frames including an Eclipse #20T made in England and the more common Stanley at the bottom of the photo.
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