Rusty Tenon Saw - Restoration

Antique tenon saw restoration.

I bought a bag of old tools off of a guy having a outhouse clear-out and this was one of the old tools in the bag. I decided to bring it back to life using a series of easy to do techniques.

I began by dismantling the saw in its entirety. This was a bit difficult due to the age of the tool and everything was really stuck together! The saw blade itself had burrs around the screw holes which held the handle firmly in place. I decided to drill these out because I didn't want to break the handle by trying to spread it over the burrs.

The handle was sanded with 100 grit sand paper to take off the old wood sealant and varnish - I used Colron wood dye (jacobean dark oak) as I wanted to create a strong contrast of dark wood and bring shiny brass. I think this would have looked nicer if I had oiled the wood after I used the wood dye … one for next time maybe.

I then removed the spine, WD40 really helped me with this as it loosened things up a bit. I submerged all metal parts in a solution of * Vinegar and salt* to remove rust and patina - I seen this technique online and it seemed to work well but I'm sure there's better solutions to use. The metal parts were all submerged in solution for over 12 hours.

The metal parts were then rinsed afterwards to removed the dissolved dirts, rust and patina. The brass parts were then partially polished using a solution called 'Brasso' this is a really good product for bringing shine back to brass. I applied it using an abrasive pad but a regular cloth can be used.

The spine was suffering from HUGE scratches and dents that needed to be removed using a small file for the dents and a mixture of sand papers for the scratches ranging from 100 grit upto 800 grit (Be warned this take AGESSSSS)

I seem to have forgotten to add the clips into the video but I polished all brass parts using a buffing wheel on my bench grinder and polishing compound to give them a really nice mirror shine.

The saw blade was the last part of the saw to be restored, this was again submerged for 12 hours in Vinegar and Salt, once removed it was brushed with a brass brush to remove the rust and then buffed on buffing wheel on my bench grinder.

The saw teeth needed to be sharpened a bit so I drew a flat file across the teeth twice to create an even surface then I used a small file to individually sharpen each tooth of the saw blade.

Once all that was done the saw was reassembled and ready to go!

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Cheers,
Antique Restorations :)


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