I love old hand tools.(Hell, I like the new ones too!)
But the antiques and vintage lot always seem to have a bit more of a story to tell. Maybe that comes with age?
This past summer, my Uncle (Wipper) asked me if I wanted an old miter-box he had in his work shop. It wasn’t seeing any use for a decade or two and belonged to an older family member before that. I didn’t find a name on the miter box/sled but the saw is a vintage Disston. My best guess for the miter box is either a Craftsman or Millers Falls. Not quite an antique but my guess is maybe 1960’s, 70’s? If you know the make on this one please chime in and leave a comment. The saw plate is 26-in. long and there’s still 3 7/8-in. under the back.
Since returning to the city in September, I’ve been waiting to scrape away a bit of the rust and see if this ‘ol dog was still ‘workable’. Since finishing off the wood working portion of the new book, I actually had an hour last night and a half day today to start the miter make-over. My goal isn’t to completely re-build this thing but more to see if it can be restored to working order and put it back to good use here in the wood shop.
Vintage tools are great to find, but sometimes they’re better left alone. This one has some bad rust but it looks like the blade is still straight and with a bit of work, it should be a daily user. A good cleaning and then some oil will determine if any of the parts are broken or seized.
To begin, I remove the saw plate and clean the rust off. The saw nuts are tight but with a little elbow grease they come loose. Once the tote is removed, you can see the line of surface rust that needs to be removed. Enter the realm of green death. I call it green death but it’s a rust remover that seems to work pretty well. I’ve used it before on vintage hand tools and it works. The label says for chrome but it does the job on steel as well. The rust remover is applied and using an abrasive pad, the plate is well worked over.
Ten minutes later, the green gel is left to dry and then the saw plate will be well rinsed with water and quickly oiled. I use Jojoba oil on all of my hand tools.
Besides a few deep pock marks in the steel, the plate came out pretty well. From here I turn my attention to the tote. It really isn’t anything special as far as the shape goes, but I scrape away the old finish still remaining and ease some of the grip areas to better fit my hand. A rasp, file and finally a bit of sand paper and the tote is ready for some oil.
With the aesthetic elements complete on the saw itself, I dismantle the miter box and give it a good cleaning.
From there, the oiled parts are covered and the body is painted with black enamel spray paint. A quick coat outdoors and I let it dry for an hour before re-assembling.
With the miter box painted I turn my attention to the most important part of the equation. The saw blade. It hasn’t been sharpened in decades and the teeth are in pretty bad shape. To begin, I joint the teeth will a mill bastard file. This gradually brings the teeth down to the same height and I do my best to level out the run over the length of the blade.
Once the blade is jointed, the teeth need to be shaped. This is done with the blade in a saw vise and beginning from one side of the blade, the teeth are formed. I file every other tooth down one side of the blade and then turn it in the vise and do the opposite side. This step isn’t sharpening but only reshaping the badly worn teeth of this old back-saw.
The saw file is held at 15 degrees off of the center line of the saw blade. Once the teeth are shaped the blade is lightly jointed again and the entire process is repeated but this time using a lighter stroke and I’m concentrating on sharpening and not just shaping.
The photo above shows the blade after one side was shaped. The blade is rotated in the vise and the opposite side is dressed.
After the saw is sharp I set the teeth. This is about an 11 TPI (teeth per inch) and I adjust my saw set to the required setting and working every other tooth, I move down each side of the blade to finish the job.
After the saw teeth are set I reassemble the parts and take a few test cuts- success! The saw cut fairly quickly and left a pretty decent kerf behind. I’m far from a saw sharpening expert but this is definitely an improvement.
The miter box is re-assembled and a few more test cuts are made.
A few hours spent restoring this vintage miter-box and saw was worth the effort. Vintage tools can often be found for little or nothing and with a bit of time spent cleaning and tuning, you can have yourself a working hand tool in no time at all.
Cheers!
Beautiful work!
I’m fixing up a two-man crosscut saw I found ($15 !) right now, so this strikes a chord.
There’s so much rust on my saw blank (and the blank is so large – 5 feet!) that I’m going to give the electrolytic process a try – need to bash up a long trough from MDF and line it with plastic sheeting first.
hi there ….the saw looks really nice….just like new…..i’ll let Whipper know he made your story on line…..the original owner was Poppy Shepherd who would be 95 yrs old today if he was here now…………
enjoy your mitering ….lots of straight cuts…….love aunti col
Hey Tom, I’ve truly enjoyed your work and writing for a couple of years now. Would you mind mentioning the name of that rust remover? I’ve tried several with varying degrees of success. Here in the Northern Irginia area, humidity is a constant problem.
Thanks,
Steve
Steve, I appreciate the comments- thanks.
The rust remover I use is actually made right here in Ontario. I’m not sure how available it would be south of the border. The manufacturer is Dominion Sure Seal Ltd. and the product is called Gelled-Rust Remover. They have a website you can check into- http://www.dominionsureseal.com
Hope that helps and all the best.
Tom
Bravo on the restoration. I have done two in the last year. The first one was a Stanley 389. Unfortunately the cast guides were damaged and I was unable to find replacements. The saw however, is in good nick – now and if someone wants it? I subsequently found a complete Miller Falls that most required sharpening and is in pride of place in my shop.
Cheers
Ray
Tom,
That box and saw restoration looks great and you will likely get quite a bit of use out of it. It isn’t a Millers Falls as they didn’t use that sort of guide. I suspect it was made by Stanley for Craftsman as it looks like a Stanley Mitre Box. I have a couple of Millers Falls Langdon Miter Boxes, a 72 and a 74. I started with the smaller 72 but was given a 31″ back saw that was too nice to refuse but it had 5″ of blade below the back and the search was on for a larger box. Now I have the 74 which will take the larger saw. I find these very handy for doing mitre cuts when making frames for my wife or small boxes as it easy to go from the mitre box to the shooting board to get the fit just perfect. I like to rise early and am usually in the shop with a fresh coffee on Sat morning by 5 AM and with the mitre box I can get a lot done while the family happily sleeps for a few more hours.
Thanks for the feedback Eric- I agree with you, pretty sure it’s a Craftsman.
all the best
Tom
Where can I find replacement parts for the saw in the article ?
Mark,
thanks for the question. Unfortunately, I don’t know of any resource that sells parts for vintage hand saws and/or miter boxes. You may try Mark at Bad Axe Tool Works- he sometimes restores vintage saws and may have an idea where to look.
all the best,
Tom
The restoration project you did is quite nice and quite interesting. I have a vintage miter box and saw that I cannot seems to find any information about on the web. There are absolutely no markings on the box but it does have a Fulton saw. I was wondering if there is someone that you may know that o can send picture of this box to in order to further my search.
Jay,
thanks for the comments and question. Mark Harrell at Bad Axe Tool Works would probably be your best bet.
Best of luck !
Tom
I found a miter box and saw last summer that was solid rust. I was fascinated by it and bought it for $28. I then found your website, restored and I dove head first into the hand tool realm. It’s been a blast and just finished a crib. I use this saw a lot. It is a warranted superior (disston line) for craftsmen. So thanks a lot for your website and knowledge. You’ve created a monster!
Aaron,
thanks for the comments-
I’m happy to hear we’re in the monster business-; )
all the best~
Hi,
My dad has a miter saw like this, but hasn’t used it for many years. We can’t figure out how to get the angle adjusted. We see there is a lever on the bottom that releases it from the groove on the circular piece, but it still will not move. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Paula
lift up on the piece that fits into the groove. they can be a bit sticky.