Atkins Backsaw Restoration

I had no idea that a grubby little backsaw I picked up on eBay was a nice Atkins. Although Atkins saws aren’t rare it unusual to find many this side of the pond. I like the down to earth look of these saws. They have all the right ingredients for a quality tool without all the fluff.

Sadly when I unpacked it the handle was broken. Thankfully this is unusual for eBay purchases (in my experience at least) and nothing that some epoxy can’t resolve.

After wrestling the handle into traction for 48 hours to let the 90 minute epoxy cure it was time sand. Gluing up the handle shouldn’t have been difficult. I did my dry run and that was the issue, my dry run. Once the epoxy was on the joints is would have been easier to play catch the greased eels. You can watch the Benny Hill montage in the video. I think it’s good to share these parts of the process. We all bang our head up against a brick wall now and again and we try to learn something from it.

Thankfully the repair was clean with no grizzly glue lines and strong too which is ultimately more important. I don’t care for sanding, that’s why we like hand tools, right? However the abrasive and trimming with a chisel did a fine job of revealing the apple. I can see why this wood is atop pick for saw handles, it works beautifully and has a wonderful colour too. I couldn’t help but get a little reflective when cleaning up the handle. This saw was made in a professional saw works in the US and intended for serious work. It was shipped across the Atlantic and sold in a bricks and mortar Tool or Ironmongery shop, remember those?

Although grubby and mistreated this saw never saw much work. Just about all the saw plate is still there, teeth are in good shape but just dull and the tooth line is level too. I hope I can have it contribute a bit more to actual work over the years I own it.

I worked with abrasives and WD40 to clean the plate. I wasn’t aiming for factory fresh and there is certainly some character left. I have some other saws to work through over the coming years and I will experiment with different methods of cleaning. All methods work but I’m a lazy restorer (I see that as a good thing) and I might want to speed the process up next time.

Polishing up the nuts and medallion is very easy work, a bit of metal polish and blue paper towel cuts through the crud. I must admit, although the plain slotted screws don’t have the allure of split nuts they are really practical. Anyone in the field can lay hand on a good screwdriver and the slotted screws are more robust. I’ll take reliability over sexy any day of the week.

The handle was finished with some coats of sanding sealer which was then waxed. I’m pleased with the results and also pleased that this saw gave me the chance to share a video on how I sharpen a crosscut saw. This saw will be perfect for tenon shoulders and precise work at the bench.