Disston 2-Man Saw

[Todd67]

I don't know a whole lot about these old saws, but I have an appreciation for the guys who made their living with these saws around the turn of the last century. I picked up this Disston saw at an antique shop near the edge of the Adirondack Mountain region, probably six years ago. I researched how I should clean it up to hang on my wall. Here are some pics of the saw before I cleaned it up. The research I did to try to find out when this saw was made came up that it was made in the late 1800's to the early 1900's. Can't get any more specific than that.

 

[Todd67]

Here is the finished saw. I couldn't find good lighting in the house for a better picture of the saw. It's the only saw I've ever restored, and these pictures don't do the saw any justice. I'm happy with how it turned out, and I wish the pictures showed how good it looks in person. The floor tiles are 12"x12".

 

[johneh]

That is a very nice saw and I am happy you like the results of your cleaning .
I am a purest and believe you have destroyed the value and heritage of the saw
.When you bought it the patina was perfect showing age and use. A light cover of
oil was all it needed to high lite its beauty . But to each there own
Nice saw

 

[Bad LP]

I have one hanging up in my garage over the door to the rear section.

It's typical on antiques to leave them alone and not attempt restoring them to look like new. That said... it's your saw and you can do with it as you wish.

 

[Todd67]

Thanks! The "patina" was actually surface rust. Someone before me tried to clean the blade where the Disston stamp is. It is never my intent to destroy the value of something, and I did months of research on "restoring" these old saws to preserve the saw, especially to remove the rust.

I have a few old rifles with patina on them, and like you said, oil cleaned them up nicely. But they weren't rusting in an old barn. I tried that with this saw and all I got off the blade was rust.

I appreciate and respect your opinion and feedback!

 

[Ashful]

Looks nice. I have a few of these, myself, including one big two man pull saw roughly 7 feet long.

No worries about “destroying it’s value”, these things basically have no value, to begin with. All of mine were free.

Your missing a second handle at the back of the blade toward the main handle end. You can see the hole and faint shadow on the metal, where it was attached. No biggie, these aren’t Roman antiquities. Have fun with it, I’ve sharpened and have used a few of mine.

 

[Todd67]

To be clear, there was a nice patina on the saw, but there was a good amount of rust that I wanted to remove as well. The only cleaner I used was PB Blaster.

No worries though, I'm not selling the saw. It'll last longer without the rust. I also felt the need to "fix" someone else's partial attempt at cleaning the saw.

 

[Todd67]

Thanks Ashful! I read that it could have a 2nd handle there, or the handle on the other end could be moved back to the main handle for one-man operation. It seems like it might be awkward for someone to have one hand on the main handle and another hand on the vertical handle, but I don't know. This saw is still sharp enough that I had to be careful handling it so I wouldn't get cut or poked by the teeth.

 

[Ashful]

In one-man operation, the second handle helps the user to apply more pressure to the teeth, a sort of pivot against the main handle.

Yours had one there at some point, unless the photo is decieving me. I can see the shadow from it being there. It’s possible they just had the one, and moved it between the two locations.

 

[Todd67]

Makes more sense to have two handles, but we'll never know when or if the extra handle was there.

I can't imagine how tricky it is to carry your 7ft two-man saw by yourself. Feel free to share some pics of your saws here

 

[Ashful]

Makes more sense to have two handles, but we'll never know when or if the extra handle was there.

I can't imagine how tricky it is to carry your 7ft two-man saw by yourself. Feel free to share some pics of your saws here

I’ll try to remember to get a photo of that one two-man saw tonight. It’s not that hard to carry, the handles weight it in a way that the saw always wants to be carried teeth-up, so you just throw it over your shoulder and carry it with the back edge of the blade on your shoulder.

The teeth on that one are insane. The gullets must be close to an inch deep, if I recall. I have not sharpened that one, but it’s still pretty sharp from whoever used it last, likely my father’s maternal grandfather.

 

[Bad LP]

True Reader's Digest version story.

I have an older friend who we go antique shopping with every year. Shop owner is trying to talk Bill into an ice saw (Bill, 82yo is a retired state DOT tree cutter) and Bill is not biting insisting on telling the shop owner that is not an ice saw. Guy says yes it is.

Bill asks if the shop owner is going to be the guy holding the handle under the ice? The conversation quickly ended.

 

[Todd67]

Very funny story Bad LP