Crosscut Saw Thread

garry3 said:
It's a shame we can't hardly buy a decent hand tool today.
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It's a crying shame. Wall Street has moved everything offshore and cheapened production of everything so that they're only a hollow shell of what they used to be. We call import anvils ASO's - for anvil-shaped-object. Looks like an anvil but is made of such crappy steel that it has none of the properties of a real anvil. Almost every tool and every thing is made like this now. Garbage. Garbage. Garbage. Thank goodness there are still a few small manufacturers that make things worth owning.
 
Hey everyone, I'm new to crosscut saws, and to axes really as well. I'm 19, and a big backpacker/general outdoors lover, and work on a trail crew for the last 9 months. I've always been interested in hand tools, working with my hands, and building things, and recently now that I've been working on the trail crew, I've become more and more interested in quality axes, crosscut saws, and axe and sawyers technique. I'd love to learn as much as I can, but I don't have anyone to learn from. Is there any reading material on refinishing, sharpening, and using a crosscut saw or axe I could buy or look into? Thanks guys!
 
'Saws That Sing' is a good place to start.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment...tions/fs_publications/04232822/lc04232822.cfm

Warren Miller's videos are probably the best tutorial on sharpening in existence. And he learned from an old saw filer from your home town, Olympia, WA!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iKDMtisS6M


Another great video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrYsFlx3OSY


Dolly Chapman has some great videos out there, too. She does the crosscut saw portion of the Forest Service trail tools video.
 
Thanks Peg! Let the studying begin! In the meantime... I jumped the gun a little and started sanding away at an old one man crosscut saw I found in me cousin's old house. It's a Disston... Can you guys tell me any more about it? It has some moderate pitting on sections of both sides of the blade. Age estimate? Thanks guys!








 
garry3 said:
Picked these up today. A couple have a protective coating on them. Also a crudely engraved "ARMY". One had the protective coating remover so it has a little rust.
The lance tooth ones are Disston no 214, the tuttle tooth I have not identified.
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I received one of these Disstons today which garry3 very generously donated to our local trails crew. I'm super grateful, Barry.
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I don't think I've ever held a NOS crosscut before. It's in exceptional condition. I'll get a pair of handles ordered up for it and get it to work.

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Feels like it would cut just fine as is. I'll give it a whirl before I take a file to it.
 
I attended a crosscut saw filers class on June 28th. It was held just north of Minneapolis, MN at Mike Siemsen's School of Woodworking. http://schoolofwood.com/classes.

John, known as Sumnergeo on the Crosscut Sawyers.com forum held a crosscut saw filers class. John is a very accomplished crosscut saw filer. We had 6 fellows attend it. That was a perfect number for the class. John had a course outline for the class that took us through each step in the process.

We did before test cuts with our saws.

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We had a small group instructions for each step. Followed by one on one hands on instructions from John.

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One on one with John.

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The class was 6 hours with a short break for lunch. We talked about saws during lunch.

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At the end of the class we did a test cut again with our "new" crosscut saws.

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A few more pictures to follow:

Tom
 
At the end of the class, we were looking for "noodles" from our sharpened, set & tuned saws. A noodle is a way of determining of how well a crosscut saw has been sharpened.

Success...We have noodles!!!

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John is explaining the unique features of a noodle from a sharpened crosscut saw. If you know what to look for a noodle can tell an experienced crosscut saw filer lots about the condition of the saw. It is a science in its own right.

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Doing "after" test cuts with our saws. We are looking for the improvements we accomplished during the course.

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I came away from the class with a new appreciation of crosscut saw filers and a new skill set that I'll have to work on lots more before I can consider myself an accomplished crosscut saw filer. Crosscut saw filers are a dying breed of gentleman these days. I consider myself so lucky to be able to attend this course.

Thanks for looking, Tom
 
I’ve read through this thread and nobody has mentioned the fine old phrase, “Stop dragging your feet!” I’ve never worked logging, but I’ve read it in old accounts.

It was said by an experienced sawyer to someone less skilled, on the other end of the buck saw. It was frontier shorthand for, “Look kid. I can live with doing all the work while you climb onto your end of the saw and ride back and forth. But for God’s sake lift your feet up! I don’t need the extra friction.”
 
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That's great Double Ott. I firmly believe in following in the foot steps of those that went before me. There is only so much you can learn from books, video and the internet. Not that anyone knows everything but it can sure save a guy years of learning things the hard way.

I hope you can save enough money to buy a pair of shoes and a decent shirt by sharpening your own saws.















:D Just kidding. I would be more inclined to be dressed like that young man than you I would bet.
 
garry3 said:
That's great Double Ott. I firmly believe in following in the foot steps of those that went before me. There is only so much you can learn from books, video and the internet. Not that anyone knows everything but it can sure save a guy years of learning things the hard way.

I hope you can save enough money to buy a pair of shoes and a decent shirt by sharpening your own saws.

:D Just kidding. I would be more inclined to be dressed like that young man than you I would bet.
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Here I am...testing my saw. with shoes & shirt.... NO skirt.

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That fellow sure was a earthy one. He sure didn't give a very good first impression. I was surprised that they let him in the class w/o any shoes on in the shop.

Tom
 
Thanks for the posts, Ott. I'd love to attend a class like that. I had to learn off the internet.
 
Hey Peg, I jumped at the idea of attending the class. I had to drive 3.5 hours one way and spend a night in a motel room to attend the class. I've read books, manuals, viewed you tube clips and Warren Miller's DVD on crosscut saw filing. Nothing beats a hands on experience. It sure did help answer many questions that I had.

Tom
 
here are a couple i have collected over the last couple years. both found locally, and both in pretty poor condition when found. took a lot of careful sanding to get them back into "condition"

here is the perfed lance tooth two manner. no identifiable markings when i found it, but after a few hours cleaning off the crust and rust, a blue, swooped and underlined "craftsman" logo appeared, none of the other info is legible. havent yet measured its OAL, but its about 60". needed a true filing, , no jointing really. teeth were all intact. made a crude raker measuring device and used feeler gauges to get it close. it cuts decently well on softer species, makes noodles, although they are all less than an inch, and most less than 1/2 inch long... at least its not dust!!

needs a true filing and set. i noticed that the steel is not super hard, but i cant compare to others as i have not put a file to any others than these two. its files easily though, but seems to keep its edges. the very dry log used for the photos had a couple conveniently placed kerfs to hold the saws for the photos :thumbup:




this is my champion tooth one man, which appears to actually be a piece of a two man bucking saw. when i removed the handles it seems to have a cut edge, but the screw holes seem to be well made, so its up in the air. this saw has no identifiable markings or logos, so i am clueless on its pedigree. the handle screws are all matching Disstons. seems to be made of better steel than the craftsman, its harder to file, but still fairly easy to remove material. much softer than "hard" ax bits. the teeth were mostly intact, and needed very little jointing, but was very dull. i touched it up best i could with my home made contraptions and got it noodling pretty dang well for an amateur.. not measured, but its about 36" OAL. i want to find a 4ft or larger one man, as this one takes a bit of effort to keep cutting well, too light in weight to do its own work... all three vertical handles(both saws) were lightly sanded to clean them up, but naturally very dark from years of aging. all i did was heat them in the sun for 20 mins or so on a warm day, and hit them with a heavy coat of paste wax, let cool, wiped off excess and buffed them up. they turned out beautifully. the end handle seems more contemporary, laminated, and of "economy" quality it seems to me. heavily sanded and heated in sun and waxed, same as above.



 
Hey guys, Recently got 3 new crosscuts while garage saling.. The only etchings I have found so far on the three of them was on this one, what appeared the oldest of the bunch. It had a dark blackish rust/patina and the handle is very dark with age... Here is the etching... I can make out "made for seattle hardware-seattle Wash" but I have no idea what the top lettering spells. I imagine it would be the maker's name, but have no idea what maker those letters might be trying to spell! Any help would be appreciated.

 
Also, another question for you guys... Are there any ways to bring out faded etchings? Also, would a vinegar bath be a good way to clean up a saw just like with axe heads.
 
vinegar eats the steel, so you need to be cautious when using it on things like saw blades. it can remove the corners of every edge and tooth if left to soak too long.

i personally onyl use vinegar on certain things, usually other tools like sockets and wrenches, chromed items. anything like an ax head get cleaned up with wire brushes and sand papers. i like the worn, dark, "patina" look on saws, axes, hammers, etc.. my saws get sand paper, starting usually with 320, if its very very crusty, maybe 220, and work up from there to 600. always and only lengthwise. each tooth derusted carefully and individually. never any of it to a bright finish though, just enough to get them smooth and oiled again.

if you want the saw to be bright steel again, vinegar will work, but be cautious. and you will need one very long shallow dish to put it in!!
 
on another note.

does anyone have any insight on who may have made the old Craftsman bucking saw i posted up above? i know from my hand tool endeavors that all craftsman tools are rebranded from other companies. the older stuff is usually pretty easy to identify.

all i can say is that the Craftsman logo is swooped, underlined, and of a blue-ish color. i cant find a single other identifiable marking on the saw

anyone?
 
Thanks for the advice. I ended up soaking it in vinegar (but kept the teeth out of the vinegar) here's the result.... There's no etching visible on the saw.. but one of the handles has Atkins no. 140 stamped into one of the handles, though the handle hardware is mismatched, and I know that many times handles are swapped out.
 
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