Hi,

I have an 8 ppi Disston crosscut saw that I inherited from my
grandfather. Out of curiousity, I've been trying to find out more
about it.

The etching on the blade is very faint, but it looks like it says
"Townsman". I haven't been able to find anything matching this on any
of the old tool sites I've looked at.

Can anyone tell me anything?

I have an 8 ppi Disston crosscut saw that I inherited from my
grandfather. Out of curiousity, I've been trying to find out more
about it.
The etching on the blade is very faint, but it looks like it says
"Townsman". I haven't been able to find anything matching this on any
of the old tool sites I've looked at.
Can anyone tell me anything?


http://www.vintagesaws.com/ sales and info, you can possibly find a value
http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/ All about Disston history

I found a very old pre-1920 Disston D-23 recently in a thrift shop for
less than $5, all teeth there, with a "less than" handle on it, then right
away got a used full condition matching handle on eBay. These saws
can go for a lot of money as you may see on the first link. But they are
also fine user saws, which I hope will be of a higher value for you,
considering it came through family of original ownership.

Alex

On Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:17:37 -0700, matthew_r_blanchette wrote:

"Townsman". I haven't been able to find anything matching this on any
of the old tool sites I've looked at.

You won't. The "Townsman" is not a "classic" Disston, such as collectors
covet. Our Townsmans (Townsmen? I have one too.) were made after Disston
sold out. If the button says "Disston USA", it's a user, not a collector.
Give it a good set and sharpening, and go to town.

With the 8 tpi, you can file it as a combination rip/crosscut, if you
only have or want one saw. FWIW, I tried that and didn't like it. I
refiled mine to a very aggressive crosscut, and got another late-model
Disston 5 tpi rip.

Have fun.
--
"Keep your ass behind you"

Australopithecus scobis wrote in message ie...
On Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:17:37 -0700, matthew_r_blanchette wrote:

"Townsman". I haven't been able to find anything matching this on any
of the old tool sites I've looked at.

You won't. The "Townsman" is not a "classic" Disston, such as collectors
covet. Our Townsmans (Townsmen? I have one too.) were made after Disston
sold out. If the button says "Disston USA", it's a user, not a collector.
Give it a good set and sharpening, and go to town.

I found a very old pre-1920 Disston D-23 recently in a thrift shop
for
less than $5, all teeth there, with a "less than" handle on it, then
right
away got a used full condition matching handle on eBay. These saws
can go for a lot of money as you may see on the first link. But they
are
also fine user saws, which I hope will be of a higher value for you,
considering it came through family of original ownership.

Thank you both. I've been using it for years, and plan to keep doing
so. My next step is to teach myself to sharpen it. But I was curious
about the history behind it, and it was good to learn. Thanks again.

Australopithecus scobis wrote in message ie...
On Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:17:37 -0700, matthew_r_blanchette wrote:

"Townsman". I haven't been able to find anything matching this on any
of the old tool sites I've looked at.

You won't. The "Townsman" is not a "classic" Disston, such as collectors
covet. Our Townsmans (Townsmen? I have one too.) were made after Disston
sold out. If the button says "Disston USA", it's a user, not a collector.
Give it a good set and sharpening, and go to town.

Thanks. I've been using it for years, and just got interested in
sharpening it myself, which led me to the collector sites, which made
me curious....

Anyway, thanks for the info.

I have one other question. At some point, the handle was finished
with some sort of varnish, which was cracked by the time I got it, so
I sanded it off. Would you recommend putting some other finish on, or
leaving it alone?

Again, I'm looking for durability and ease of use, not
"collectability". Although I wouldn't mind hearing "Hey, nice saw."
:-)

On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 09:33:06 -0700, matthew_r_blanchette wrote:

I have one other question. At some point, the handle was finished
with some sort of varnish, which was cracked by the time I got it, so
I sanded it off. Would you recommend putting some other finish on, or
leaving it alone?

Mine was showing its age, too. It's my saw, to fit my hand, and it'll
never go to eBay in my lifetime. I sanded it a bit and slapped on some
poly.

--
"Keep your ass behind you"

On 8 Sep 2004 09:33:06 -0700, wrote:

snip

I have one other question. At some point, the handle was finished
with some sort of varnish, which was cracked by the time I got it, so
I sanded it off. Would you recommend putting some other finish on, or
leaving it alone?

Again, I'm looking for durability and ease of use, not
"collectability". Although I wouldn't mind hearing "Hey, nice saw."
:-)

Not "recommending" one way or the other, but what I did with my old Disston
handles was sand them down good which had the advantage of not only taking off
the old finish but also seems to make them feel even softer and better in the
hand. Then, I soaked them overnight in BLO - handle and BLO in a large freezer
bag with the air pressed out. Wiped them down, let 'em sit for a while, rubbed
them down again, replaced them on the saw. Looks fine and feels great in the
hand.


Tom Veatch
Wichita, KS USA

On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 21:40:52 +0000, Tom Veatch wrote:

Then, I soaked them overnight in BLO - handle and BLO in a large freezer
bag with the air pressed out.

Nice method. How does the BLO handle sweat?
--
"Keep your ass behind you"

On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 20:24:48 -0500, Australopithecus scobis
wrote:

On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 21:40:52 +0000, Tom Veatch wrote:

Then, I soaked them overnight in BLO - handle and BLO in a large freezer
bag with the air pressed out.

Nice method. How does the BLO handle sweat?

My palms don't sweat that much with exertion. They usually don't start getting
sweaty until SWMBO starts suspecting I'm having an affair with the UPS delivery
lady.

I was using one of them today (the saw, not the delivery lady) for some 6x6 and
4x4 joinery work for SWMBO's gazebo. Sweat was dripping off the bill of my cap,
but it didn't seem to phase (faze?) the saw handle. In fact, seems like the more
the handle is handled, the better it looks.


Tom Veatch
Wichita, KS USA

Tom Veatch wrote in message . ..
On 8 Sep 2004 09:33:06 -0700, wrote:

snip

I have one other question. At some point, the handle was finished
with some sort of varnish, which was cracked by the time I got it, so
I sanded it off. Would you recommend putting some other finish on, or
leaving it alone?

Again, I'm looking for durability and ease of use, not
"collectability". Although I wouldn't mind hearing "Hey, nice saw."
:-)

Not "recommending" one way or the other, but what I did with my old Disston
handles was sand them down good which had the advantage of not only taking off
the old finish but also seems to make them feel even softer and better in the
hand. Then, I soaked them overnight in BLO - handle and BLO in a large freezer
bag with the air pressed out. Wiped them down, let 'em sit for a while, rubbed
them down again, replaced them on the saw. Looks fine and feels great in the
hand.


Tom Veatch
Wichita, KS USA

How about acetone instead of BLO?

On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 06:46:26 -0700, matthew_r_blanchette wrote:

How about acetone instead of BLO?

Say what? Acetone would remove residual finish, then it would evaporate.
"BLO" means Boiled Linseed Oil. BLO is a curing oil finish. Flexner
doesn't like it much. I like it for tool handles, lately. It doesn't
prevent moisture from moving in and out of the wood. It does give a nice
finish for handles. If I were to refinish my Townsman's handle today, I
would use BLO instead of poly.

Were you suggesting simply removing all old finish and leaving bare wood?
Feels nice, but gets grubby.

For collector-grade tools, shellac is better; it can be removed easily
with alcohol. I use shellac on many of the tools I make, and BLO for the
rest. I don't use lacquer because I don't have a respirator.

--
"Keep your ass behind you"

Australopithecus scobis wrote in message ie...
On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 06:46:26 -0700, matthew_r_blanchette wrote:

How about acetone instead of BLO?

Say what? Acetone would remove residual finish, then it would evaporate.
"BLO" means Boiled Linseed Oil. BLO is a curing oil finish. Flexner
doesn't like it much. I like it for tool handles, lately. It doesn't
prevent moisture from moving in and out of the wood. It does give a nice
finish for handles. If I were to refinish my Townsman's handle today, I
would use BLO instead of poly.

OK. I was thinking BLO was a solvent, rather than a finish.


Were you suggesting simply removing all old finish and leaving bare wood?
Feels nice, but gets grubby.

I have to admit, I've already done this. And you're right, I like the
way it feels. But, I'm also looking to prevent future grubbiness if
at all possible.

IIRC, the Lie Nielson saws have an oil finish on their handles
.. One thing about oil, you can follow with poly as you might desire.
wrote in message
m...
Australopithecus scobis wrote in message
ie...
On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 06:46:26 -0700, matthew_r_blanchette wrote:

How about acetone instead of BLO?

Say what? Acetone would remove residual finish, then it would evaporate.
"BLO" means Boiled Linseed Oil. BLO is a curing oil finish. Flexner
doesn't like it much. I like it for tool handles, lately. It doesn't
prevent moisture from moving in and out of the wood. It does give a nice
finish for handles. If I were to refinish my Townsman's handle today, I
would use BLO instead of poly.

OK. I was thinking BLO was a solvent, rather than a finish.


Were you suggesting simply removing all old finish and leaving bare wood?
Feels nice, but gets grubby.

I have to admit, I've already done this. And you're right, I like the
way it feels. But, I'm also looking to prevent future grubbiness if
at all possible.

"Lowell Holmes" wrote in
:

IIRC, the Lie Nielson saws have an oil finish on their handles
. One thing about oil, you can follow with poly as you might desire.

Why, please tell me, would I want to put poly on a handsaw handle?

Or more correctly asked, why would YOU want to put poly on a handsaw
handle?

Patriarch,
not really wanting that to sound as argumentative as it seems to be in 10pt
monospace Courier...

Never in your life nor mine would I put poly on a saw handle. :-)

I was trying to make the point that if after applying blo to a saw handle,
you didn't like the results, you could put some other finish on it over the
blo.

I apply wax to my Lie Nielson handles when they seem to need something.
I have a cherry handle on an old Disston back saw that I made myself (the
handle, not the saw) that has nothing on it.
All this discussion has me thinking about cleaning up the handle on a 1940's
Crafstman handsaw that was my Dad's. It is a 10 point saw filed to a rip
profile, really sweet. As Taj Frid would have told us, it does quite well
for crosscuts as well as rip cuts. I have his 10 point Disston cross cut saw
that is the same vintage. Both saws are a pleasure to use.

"patriarch astDOTnet" patriarch wrote in message
.77...
"Lowell Holmes" wrote in
:

IIRC, the Lie Nielson saws have an oil finish on their handles
. One thing about oil, you can follow with poly as you might desire.

Why, please tell me, would I want to put poly on a handsaw handle?

Or more correctly asked, why would YOU want to put poly on a handsaw
handle?

Patriarch,
not really wanting that to sound as argumentative as it seems to be in
10pt
monospace Courier...

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 05:02:21 +0000, wrote:

Or more correctly asked, why would YOU want to put poly on a handsaw
handle?

_I_ did it because I didn't know any better! That answer your question?

--
"Keep your ass behind you"

"Lowell Holmes" wrote in
:

Never in your life nor mine would I put poly on a saw handle. :-)

Thank you. That was my reaction.

Patriarch,
who reacted with horror at the thought of poly and Lie Nielsen in the same
sentence.

Australopithecus scobis wrote in
news
On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 05:02:21 +0000, wrote:

Or more correctly asked, why would YOU want to put poly on a handsaw
handle?

_I_ did it because I didn't know any better! That answer your
question?


And, as my mother would have said, "Well. I guess that's how we learn."

Nobody bled, right?

Patriarch,
who's glad that Google keeps some of these lessons for future reference...