At 4:53 PM -0500 2/21/97, Dave Logan wrote:
	[about a 5-nut Disston, concluding:]
>Absolutely nothing left in terms of marking on the blade - rust city.

	I'd just betcha you *could* recover enough of the blade logo to get
a model # and some idea of the era from the logo design, beyond what the
handle and nuts can tell you.
	Not to repeat old threads, but a method I've found quite useful,
with surprisingly good results on what at first glance look like
rust-o-rama, is to make sure that whatever fine abrasive you use to work on
the rust, it is held *flat* against a stiff backing, so as not to abrade
the edges of the logo etching.  That way your polishing tends to shine the
higher surrounding surface, while depositing dust in the minutely recessed
etched logo, enhancing visual contrast.  IOW, rubbing w/ steel wool, even
very fine, can round over the edges of the etched logo and it will be
erased rather than enhanced.
	There are as many opinions on the porch on saw cleaning as there
are for plane reconditioning (I guess we're at about 600 opinions on each,
by now), but if, as you say, it a rust bucket now you seem to have little
to lose, and you might be pleasantly surprised as what is revealed to you
on the blade of an old Disston, if you're careful.
	I would probably take the powdery rust off by soaking the blade W/
mineral spirits/kerosene and rubbing gently w/ steel wool--just to get the
lose stuff off, not abrade the steel, which is *hard* in any case; let it
dry, and gently begin polishing the area where the logo should be with 320
grit sandpaper on a block or backing, moving only back and forth along the
lengthwise direction. The 320 will clog quickly, especially at first, but a
coarser alternative would leave mucho scratches where you least want them.
Don't be afraid to work on it a while, and check the progress frequently,
in light reflected at various angles.  It's there, you just have to let it
be revealed.

>And now the really embarrassing question, how do you tell the diffference
>between a rip and crosscut just by looking at the teeth?

	Pete and other pros may be tired of explaining this, so I'll give
it a shot.  I'd be surprised, if your saw has 10 ppi (that's Points Per
Inch--another story), that it would be filed for ripping.  Most old ripsaws
I've seen start atabout 7ppi and down.  Whatever the ppi, a glance with
little more than a 3x magnifier (or naked eye, if yours are young and
flexible) should show you whether the front edge of the teeth are filed
straight across (or nearly so) *like tiny chisels*; or with a noticeable
rake angle *like tiny knives*.  The chisel angle is rip; the knife angle is
crosscut.
		Tom Holloway
Just Say (tm) I wouldn't have *discovered* my Disston and Son (1 Son) gloat
if I hadn't done something similar to a $2 rustbucket.