Sharpened Disston D-8 - 26", 5 1/2 ppi, Rip

This Disston D-8 was hand-picked by Pete Taran from his own collection for restoration. It's a good, honest Disston — sharpened, ready to work, and priced for the woodworker who wants real Disston quality without the collector premium.

What I did to it

1. Disassembled and inspected. Every part came off the saw and was checked before cleaning.
2. Cleaned to preserve character. Handle and hardware were cleaned in a way that keeps the saw's age visible — no over-polishing.
3. Plate cleaned. Cleaned properly while preserving the etch.
4. Jointed and shaped. Toothline jointed and refiled for rip work, preserving the saw's graduated tooth pattern — finer near the toe, coarser toward the heel.
5. Sharpened to 5° rake, 0° fleam. Standard general-use rip geometry.
6. Set. Minimum set applied — just enough to let the plate glide in the kerf without binding.

Honest condition

This D-8 is stamped 5-1/2 points per inch, but it's actually filed on a graduate: about 7 PPI at the toe, opening up to 5-1/2 PPI at the heel, with the teeth getting progressively larger as you move toward the heel. That's not a flaw — it's a period rip-filing technique that makes the saw easier to start at the toe and lets the cut get more aggressive as you push through toward the heel. I preserved that pattern when I sharpened it. The etch is good, clear and legible. Nothing else notable.

About Disston

Henry Disston founded the company in Philadelphia in 1840, and by the late 1800s Disston was the largest saw maker in the world. Disston saws were the standard against which every other maker was measured for nearly a century.

Questions about this saw? Email me at aaron@benchandchisel.com — I answer them all.
— Aaron, Bench & Chisel