Ressurecting Old Handsaws

I love old saws.  They have the patina of years of hard work, often the name or initials of the user, and usually are excellent metal.

Problem one is another set of years of disuse and neglect resulting in rust, dull or misformed teeth and dry or cracked handles.

Lacking a saw filer in my area, I decided to do my own.   After cleaning the blades of rust and putting a fresh coat of boiled linseed oil to the handles, I will convert these old saws to great tools again.   In addition to the others in my shop, I have one from each of my wife's grandfathers... One worked for the Spokane Public Library as a carpenter and custodian, the other built houses when he wasn't driving truck.  A real treat to have a tool of theirs --  W A Braim and Quade:

W.A.Braim and (Bob)Quade   --Wife's 2 grampas

saws all clean and ready to file

In the vise and ready to start sharpening.

First, I'll even out the teeth with a 10 inch mill file fixed in a wood holder.  The rest is just file each tooth.   To see a rundown on the actual filing angles, see this link.

The saw of WA Braim's is a D-20 pre 1928 model.   The saw marked with Quade name is a Disston Pacemaker, a low-cost line.  My other two are both D-8 models - one crosscut, one rip  -- and all four are filed 8 tpi.