A reader's Tools question: New saw handle?

David G.   from   Argyle, United Kingdom   had this New saw handle question.

Hi Bill, I've been a joiner 30 years now and was interested to see your old panel saw. Looks exactly like mine with the broken bit (fell off a roof 25 years ago). I was trying to find a source to buy a new one, do they still make them?
Cheers David (Scotland)

Bill's reply

Hi David, I think that you will be lucky to find a replacement handle these days, and even if you could locate one it would cost a fortune.

I still use mine as it is, got used to the broken handle.

You could try making a new handle of course :-)

I took a couple of my hand saws (both Sandvik) in to get sharpened the other week (my eyesight is going to pot) and the first thing the guy did was study them to make sure that they were sharpen-able ones, that is, not the throw away ones with the heat treated teeth.

Modern times, throw away hand saws. Of course throwing away saws is not new.

Years ago when I had apprentices on a regular basis I used to go to our dump shop (recycling center nowadays) and they always used to throw any old hand saws in a 44gal. drum.

Quite often I'd poke about in there and get a couple of good quality saws that people had thrown out, too hard to sharpen them.

I'd take these saws back to the job and get an apprentice to clean them up and then show him, how to sharpen them. I'd then leave him to it.

At the end of it, when they were OK I'd give them to him,(not telling him were they came from of course), and saying some pithy remark about him looking after them as they had a lot of hard graft and sweat in their time.

I wonder if any of those are still being used, or if they finished up at the dump again?