She saws seashells by the seashore

I was poking around in my parents’ garage the other day and found something I’ve never seen before.  This is especially strange since their garage is well organized and I’ve spent a ton of time there over the last 15 or years or so.

Nevertheless, there hanging up on the wall was a collection of handsaws.  That wasn’t noteworthy but in that collection was an old wooden handled panel saw.  I’ve been looking for a crosscut panel saw; suspension and curiosity immediately set in.

The blade was fairly rusty and the handle was chipped along with other wear marks.  The teeth, from what I could tell, looked to be in good condition.  I told my mom that I was interested in it and would gladly replace it with a new, crappy saw (my words exactly).  She told me to take it; neither her or my step-dad do yard work these days requiring a hand saw.

Time to clean it up and really see what I have here.

That saw is roughly 26″ long and looks to be 8 TPI (more on that later).  I didn’t have a container large enough to soak the entire blade so I grabbed the lid off a plastic container and went to work.  I used white vinegar and various grits of sandpaper and a Scotch-Brite pad.  The combination worked well but like a moron, I didn’t wear gloves at first.  The rust and vinegar stained my fingertips to a nice dirty brown color.

For the handle I lightly cleaned up the brass and then wiped the handle down with some furniture oil.  I like the look of it and didn’t want to remove the history of the handle.

 I let the saw sit overnight and then wiped it down again with WD-30 and 3-in-1 oil, which I use on all my tools.

I like it.  And after cleaning off all the rust I found an “8” stamped just south of the handle.  Turns out I can count.

The handle feels nice and smooth as well.

To find out how sharp the saw was, I grabbed a horrifically cupped piece of pine, drew a straight line on each side and started cutting.  But first, I had to grab my saw bench.

That’s right, it’s plastic. Suck it, Paul Sellers.

Other than my screwing up, the saw actually cut straight.

Originally, I was thinking of sending the saw over to Bob at Logan Cabinet Shoppe for him to sharpen.  But since I don’t think this saw will require much work I may order the files and attempt it myself.

 That’s it for now, I think I may try to make a “proper” saw bench this weekend and mull over which path to take for sharpening.

Until next time, have a good one.

Eat a peach,

Jonathan