Put the brass hardware in a cordless drill with some extra fine sand paper . This works fantastic. Do the same with the medallion but use 0000 steel wool. Works amazing !

Great video! Its awesome to see how much of the history of the saw you were able to find. keep up the good work!

The steel nuts and bolts in my Disston saw were so badly rusted I had to use an impact screwdriver and heavy hanmer to remove them.  That of course  also destroyed the handle.

I enjoyed your video as I have a few of this type of saw and didn't know how to get started and now you have given me the inclination to start on them and resurrect a great symbol of our past.

Old video but not as old as that saw.  Nice job not over-restoring it.  It looks good.  Better less than more.

Great tip on saving the etch! Also like your approach on not taking away too much of history.

Every time you run across a Diston saw at flea markets, etc, BUY IT/THEM if not too expensive....you could always keep what you want and sell the others or pass down to a legacy...

Just found one today just like this one.  Thanks for the guidance.

That handle mustve barely been used or taken meticulously well care of, the edges are all so crisp if it werent for the color and patina it could be almost new!

Use a small throw away brush to apply oil.  It saves oil and you don’t wind up with a rag that is saturated in linseed oil which is dangerous!

Nice job with the date research!  Very cool.

I'm going through my grandfather's old tools getting some refurbished to pass on to my grandsons. The five Disston saws I have are in far better shape than this one. The etching is clear as day on all of them.  Even the oldest just needs a little touching up. Other than the handles, I may just leave them alone.

A card scraper would remove paint in those areas and would not damage the tool handle. The scrapers that I am talking about are used by cabinet makers as well.

I have about 3 dozen old Disston panel saws that need restoration. Two of them, one crosscut and one rip saw, belonged to my father and are the only tools of his that I have. The rest of them probably came from lots of antique tools that I used to buy at auctions. Do you do your own sharpening?

Cool.  I have 2 and never knew they had etching

I have found taking pictures at different angles and changing the tint can show the etching and wiping with oil  and repeat and oil with 0000 steel wool are all pretty good starters if you don’t want to remove the “oldness” or patina much if at all and of course the famous green scrubby

There is also a way to boil rust used to restore gun barrels and not remove the original bluing.

Good old vinegar soak works too.  Restored a rusty motorcycle gas tank to almost new using it

Sweet idea I am going to have to try the scraper. thanks for the idea

Nice work

"phila?'...means Philadelphia, PA. It a state in the US!

awesome! nice find!

5 yrs and no one saw the bug go under the saw at 2:27