New handle for Henry Disston D8

I bought this lovely old beauty recently while mooching around in  Joseph weld charity shop a few weeks ago here in Weymouth Dorset, £3 that was a bargain.

They had what looked like an old  Ottoman, I just happened to lift the lid (you know as you do)  just being nosy, really expecting to find it empty, or, find it full of sheet and blankets,  To my surprise, it was an old carpenters chest which had been covered to look like an Ottoman, still had all the sliding draws etc,  and full of a bit of junk that accumulates in them over the years, most of the tools were already gone.

I couldn't resist a rummage in the bottom of it, buried right at the bottom was this lovely old saw a Henry Disston D8 handsaw with a broken handle.

The Blade was true and straight it had all its teeth no broken or missing teeth either,  all cut evenly on both sides of the blade, the handle was badly broken, but that's replaceable.

 

The medallion inlay ed in the side of the handle is readable and the date as shown is Dec 27th 1887 Philada  ( Philadelphia)

As can be seen from the lower photo is the damaged handle, It could be repaired but I think its always going to be a weak point.

On my way back from returning my daughter and grandson back to Bristol airport I popped into Yandles of Martock near Yeovil looking for some Applewood for the new handle but never found any, Instead, I came away with plenty of Black walnuts to do the job.

Monday tomorrow I'm taking the saw in to be re-cut set and sharpened, I use to do this my self but the old eyesight not what it used to be.

I have had the handle off of this saw from the shape of the end of the blade and positioning of the brass bolts there is no way I can cut a simple slot into a new bloke of wood and then slide the blade into for positioning because of the rounded end to the blade.

I'm going to laminate the new Handle in four thin sections,   two either side then rebate out from both sections sides with a small router half the depth of the thickness of the blade to suit the shape of the end of the blade then laminate both section together., But that's another post.  Stay tuned.