Disston No 4 Tenon Saw Restoration - Walnut is my new favorite wood.

A month or so ago, I found a really nice old Disston No. 4 12” Back saw on Ebay. Only one problem. It did not have a handle. The blade and back are straight. Nice heavy steel back. It was even reasonably sharp. Anyway, I already had a Disston No. 4 and I thought I could just copy the handle from it. In my preparation, Mike Wenzloff from Wenzloff and Sons was generous enough to send me the PDF files that they use for saw handle templates for their saw that is based on the old Disston No. 4. Anyway, for a quality 100+ year old back saw, I wanted a nice quality piece of wood to make the handle. I suppose that Ideally, this would have been made of Apple wood, but none of our local suppliers carry that. I went to Woodcraft on Saturday and I picked up a short lenght of Walnut, Cherry and Maple and decided I would decide when I got home which I would use. I had never worked with Walnut, so I decided to give it a shot. I now know why this wood is a favorite for many. It works so beautifully. I was most amazed at how I could take such fine paring cuts with a chisel when cutting the mortise for the back of the saw. I think this turned out very well. The screws are some that I salvaged from an old Disston saw that I picked up at a flea market that the blade was just too far gone to do anything with. This saw would have originally had split nut screws, but I think these old original Brass Disston Screws finish the saw off nicely. Finally, about 5 coats of wipe on polyurethane and it is ready to cut some tenons.

-- Hey, woodworking ain't brain surgery. Just do something and keep trying till you get it. Doc