So, this sad looking piece of machinery was in my chest of stuff. It was calling out my name in hopes of a new future. It was made by Eben Moody Boynton, Saw Manufacturer and Inventor – New York, N.Y. It seems he made saws in the mid 1800’s to the early 1900’s.
Its broken handle concerned me and it was rusted pretty bad. The long ago repair was so imbedded. some of the wood screws refused to come out. Trying to make a strainght cut with a hack saw in wood, is always a challenge, but we had to give it a go. I needed to straight clean surfaces to glue a new lower handle piece. A cut with the hack saw and a hit or two on the disk sander and we were in business.
Even the teeth had a good coat of rust built up. It had a cool little nib though. It definitively has character.
First i needed to get the handle glued up. I knew I could never match the wood in the handle close enough to hide the repair, so why even try. I have a two tone mentality anyhow. I love the looks of mixed wood. Off to find a piece of light colored wood. The piece of hickory wasn’t quite wide enough. The maple scrap fit the bill. I marked it out, cut it and with some sanding and fitting, glued it up for the night.
Next was the blade, Slap on the old derusting gunk and after working it in a little with the pretty blue brillo pad that comes with it,let it sit and work. The instruction say 10 minutes. Lets try an hour or so.
Now back to the handle. I little carving with the dremel tool got it close to the shape I think it was. Working the handle to shape gave me some time to think. I wondered how upset the owner was when this got broke. I wondered how he broke it. Maybe he dropped it from a second or third story building. I did that twice. Once with a brand new circular saw. Bent the guard all to crap. That was about 20 – 25 years ago. I still have that saw. You can still see remnants of the bend guard. It was never any good for finish cuts after that. The second time was a framing nailer. I had to have the case welded. I wondered if he swore like I did, or if he was a more gentle natured kind of guy. A little slower in his pace. I wondered if his fix was meant to be perminant, or if he intended to do what I did one day, but just never found the time.
Its starting to take shape. Sand, starting with 36 grit, right up through 500. I often think of the days when I had to worry about time when doing this kind of activity. What is the ROI (return on investment) when buying or fixing a tool. The ROI on this saw would be about 500 years, and .0001 percent. Man, I’m glad I’m not in it for the money! It would be a shame to pass this project by.
The thought of staining the handle with a darker stain crossed my mind, but I opted for the natural look. A coat of BLO (boiled linseed oil) and set it down. Wait, did that soak in already, lets give it another coat.
Back to the blade again. It took three coats of rust remover to get it all off. I then wire brushed the entire blade, including the teeth, knowing fully well It would need sharpening.
Its a rip saw, about 5 teeth per inch, so it was fairly easy to sharpen. Once sharpened, a quick coat of Fluid film and it was time to turn my attentions to the saw bolts. Wire brush and polish the brass. Nothing hard about that. But what about this one:
It had snapped during removal. My plan was to steel one from one of the other old saws, but of course, nothing matched. Plan b. What’s plan B? OK, ordering one would be a pain, and shipping would cost more than the bolt. Lets go down to the local true value. Sure they are sure to have an 1860’s saw bolt in brass.
How about we save the day. Lets drill and tap the head end, making a double nutted bolt. 8-32 seems to be close. Lets give it a try. A little prick punch action:
And drill and tap action, (i haven’t drilled and tapped anything in a while).
Add a 8-32 bolt with the head cut off. Slightly peen’ed on the head side, and we’re back in business.
A few more coats of BLO. The old wood was really soaking it up. I’ll bet I added 4 or 5 more coats before i left the shop. A coat of wax on the blade, and a test run. I think I can call this project complete.
I’ve already started to like this saw. I need a place to start hanging my restored saws. I have to rethink my wall space.
________________ As an Amazon associate, we earn income from qualifying purchases when you click on a link. Your link clicks help us fund our website. ________________