Saw Screws

[aldel]

Can anyone help?
I have had this request from America


"I have two very old saws. One is a Spears-Jackson, the other a Cope. Both are brass-backed dovetail saws, and are in need of the fixing screws.

Do you have a local source for such items. The Cope has split-head screws, 1/2" wide at the head, and countersunk to about 3/8ths". Brass. But I'll settle for anything.

The Spears takes a screw (male/female), but while it has a flat head, it is not countersunk."

Any suggestions will be forwarded on.

Thanks, Aldel

 

[jasonB]

Find a local model engineer who will turn up what he needs.

Jason

 

[MikeW]

Hi Aldel,

The 1/2" are fairly common on Disstons. I've been able to replace ones on vintage saws I've purchased by buying other saws as parts saws.

Last time I needed split nuts (hey!) I was able to find a bunch of saws at garage sales for less than one dollar each.

However, Dieter-Schmid has them listed at the bottom of this page:
http://www.fine-tools.com/fuchs.htm#zield024

Not cheap, but the real thing.

 

[Alf]

I've been able to replace ones on vintage saws I've purchased by buying other saws as parts saws.

That seems to be the best way, as far as I can tell. I believe someone said you can get split nuts from L-N for a price, but they're unlikely to be a perfect fit whatever he/she gets because the split nuts where filed down in situ.

Cheers, Alf

 

[bugbear]

There are plenty of donor saws out there. Due to years of abuse, neglect, or the simple passage of time, there are many saws with kinked or rusted blades, and wormed or broken handles. The screws survive since brass/bronze doesn't corrode rapidly.

Re-using the screws from these saws is (IMHO) an act of conservation, not destruction.

BugBear

 

[Ian Dalziel]

i would do what has already been suggested with older doner saws but you can also buy them from roberts and lee....unfortunately i'm at work and dont have any contact details for them....last time i looked in their catalogue they were around the £4 mark

Alf are you able to help with contact details for R&L

hope this helps

Ian

 

[Alf]

i would do what has already been suggested with older doner saws but you can also buy them from roberts and lee....last time i looked in their catalogue they were around the £4 mark

Aye karumba! :shock: Gosh, am I glad I bought up those ones at 20p that Axminster were getting shot of...

Alf are you able to help with contact details for R&L

Nope, but a search of the forum brought up one of your posts with this number: 020 8363 6452

Cheers, Alf

 

[devonwoody]

Do they ever keep things in the USA?
I thought it was the c.......aw.y society. :roll:

 

[74extiger]

It was I who asked ALDEL to find a source in the UK. My local hardware store did have screws, but they had a brand name (not Disston), with heads about the size of a Shilling. Definitely won't fit.

As to keeping things in America. When I was in architecture school at Berkeley I was shocked to learn that a commercial building would have a life of 50 years. Here in Los Angeles, where everything is phoney, they knock down a business structure at 20+ years. Incredible.

Look on eBay if you want to see if people keep memorabilia. The trend changes according to locale. In the East, homes had large attics and basements. As one progresses West, there is none of that and hence less archiving.

I now have five sets of chisels - bevel-edged bench, firmer, socket, mortise and carving. Mostly Marples and Sorby, dating from the 1930s-40s. All obtained from London courtesy of eBay-UK. My father, who was a machinist, taught me the value of good Sheffield steel.

Yet I know Japanese laminated steel inimately. Lived there and new a reknowned swordsmith who fashioned laminated steel.

Help me with find a source for my brass-back saws - one an F. Cope, the other a Spears & Jackson.

And I love this forum.

Gary Curtis

 

[devonwoody]

Quote:
I now have five sets of chisels - bevel-edged bench, firmer, socket, mortise and carving. Mostly Marples and Sorby, dating from the 1930s-40s. All obtained from London courtesy of eBay-UK. My father, who was a machinist, taught me the value of good Sheffield steel.
end Quote:

Gary, please keep up the import business. :wink:

Sound if I was incorrect on my thoughts.

 

[MikeW]

Do they ever keep things in the USA?
I thought it was the c.......aw.y society.

Gary, please keep up the import business.
Sound if I was incorrect on my thoughts.

Oh DW, of course we do. At least some of us. But the use and toss mentality is pretty invasive and getting worse.
That's why, no matter what country, 'ePay' does a thriving business--but at least since people have realized that some things have a worth and it is so easy to sell it online it has helped stem the flow to the landfills.

Heck, we have family items in our house predating the civil war. The house was built by my wife's family a while after it ended. Which helps to illustrate how young this side of the US is.

Our friends in the UK live in a house built in the 1700s, which I understand isn't too uncommon. But y'all have been around as a country a tad longer

The ironic thing about Gary's chisels are that while they may have been made in the UK, they just as easily could have made the trip across the pond, been in use here, then bought by a UK dealer and shipped back to the UK for resale :lol: Happens with some infills anyway.

Ah, the world gets smaller all the time.

 

[74extiger]

thanks for all the tips to everybody. I ordered some from that fellow in Germany, Dieter.

Surprisingly, he carries a wide inventory of American handtools. Why? A few well-heeled acquaintances do swear by the Adria a Spehar saws.

Shortly, my Sorby & Marples chisels will get the "edge-retention" test. Then we'll all know about the quality of vintage Sheffield. Is it a myth? We shall see.

I hear that tests conducted by the Canadian infill plane maker (is it Spencer?) show that iron produced by Ron Hock was superior to all others. In plane irons, that is. In 10 days, I'll be visiting the Hock studio in Ft. Bragg California, as it is on the route (sort of) to my new home. I'm getting replacement blades for 6 of my very old Stanley planes. Hock irons ones measure .0125 in inches and are available in both the old W-1 high carbon, or A-2 cyrogenic treated steel.

If anyone on this forum is interested, Hock sells irons at a 50% discount for blemished items. I'd be willing to pick some for those of you interested. Let me know the sizes. He also has cap irons and stricking knives, and such.

You can repay me later. And I can ship to England at a 75% reduced rate, since I just retired fro m an airline.

Look at Ron Hock's website (ronhock.com) for his prices. If I have him initiate the shipping, you would also save the 8% California sales tax.

Just trying to be helpful. Please, no requests from ex-convicts or those who regularly forego church attendance. (4 years of George Bush has taken its toll)

Gary Curtis
[email protected]

 

[devonwoody]

Thanks Gary,
Another helpful and obliging American, what a great crowd you are.
(PS I used to be a choir boy, will that do?)