Sharpened Disston No. 16 - 26", 10 ppi, Crosscut

This Disston No. 16 comes out of Pete Taran's personal collection, and it has one of the nicer handles I've come across on this model. Sharpened and set to cut straight out of the box — a good user saw, no etch, a broken nib, priced for exactly what it is.

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. No etch left to protect on this one, so I cleaned the plate evenly without worrying about fading a stamp.
4. Jointed and shaped. Toothline jointed and refiled for crosscut work.
5. Sharpened to 15° rake, 20° fleam. Standard general-use crosscut geometry.
6. Set. Minimum set applied — just enough to let the plate glide in the kerf without binding.

Honest condition

No etch remains on the plate — whatever it once showed has worn away completely. The nib at the toe is broken off, a common loss on a saw this age. The tooth line has a story of its own: this saw was originally stamped 8 points per inch, but at some point in its working life it was retoothed. It's currently filed at 10 PPI crosscut, which is what I sharpened it to. None of that affects how it cuts.

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