Ebay Lemondade

[jlloydparks]

With all the talk of miter boxes I happened to snag a beauty off the bay. It even came with a saw, which looked to be in decent shape. The reason it went cheap is because it was just listed as Antique Miter Box instead of a Miller Falls Langdon box. When I opened the box and took out the saw here is what the saw handle looked like. The nice thing was this confirmed that this was an beautiful applewood handle.

Luckily it was a clean break. So a little hide glue and a few clamps and put it back together. After the glue set I used a little soapy water and a scotch brite pad and cleaned the gunk off the handles. I found out after getting off the protective layer of gunk that most of the finish was gone. Therefore I sanded the handle lightly with 220 and used a scraper to clean the rest of the finish off then it was off for a couple of coats of oil/varnish blend. While the first coat was drying I polished the nuts with a little brasso so they shined up nicely.

From there it was onto cleaning and sharpening the saw. The saw is made by Disston and has the following logo on the back - "Cast Steel Henry Disston & Sons Philad USA Warranted" The blade has the etch - "Made Expressly For the Goodell Manufacturing Co. Greenfield MA" The plate wasn't exceptionally dirty but a little WD40 and some maroon scotch bite pads and it makes a huge difference. Here are the before and after shots. It may be hard to tell in the picture, but it went from moderately grungy to shiny.

So the plate is cleaned, now what. Well it is time to sharpen the saw. The teeth were in pretty good shape There was only a few short teeth, but the overall they were the same height. The most interesting thing is for a crosscut saw this saw had no fleam (nope none at all). It had been sharpened rip in the past and there was no set on the teeth (nope none at all - confirmed via the dial caliper). With even teeth the job was fairly easy. Lightly joint, shape, set and sharpen. Just because the saw is so long it took about an hour to do all that. By the way, with this many teeth I am not ashamed to use some layout fluid to help me see what I am doing and keep my place. That is the dark color along the tooth line in the next picture, don't worry it will wash off with a little alcohol.

So when it all said and done - How does it cut? Saw dust flies out of the cuts wood like butter. I tested it out without the miter box because the box is still dirty and the saw was now clean, sharp and polished up.

It was a quick project and put an excellent tool that needed some love back into the realm of a real user that will be treasured for many more years.

[leftylen]

nice score. looking forward to seeing the completed project. Used one in my youth working with my dad, cut a lot of trim during those summers.

[Mister Pants]

Nice grab. I've found eBay to be a good source for quality old tools, if you're willing to put in a little work. Most bidders seem to shy away from stuff that isn't in use it instantly condition.

[jlloydparks]

So I finished rehabbing the miter box. It took about two hours and three scotch brite pads. It cleaned up wonderfully well. I greased all the parts that needed to move and then tested it out. Wow, why didn't I get one of these sooner. It cut through hard maple like butter and the best part it was square. No light could be found beneath the Starrett square. After cleaning the label I was able to figure out that this is a No. 72. One of the nice things is the positive stops that are extremely precise. I'll have to do some more research to find out the history of this box. Here are couple of completed shots: