On 10 Aug., Gregory Isola wrote:
> Fellow BAG Michael Suwczinzky and I hit the local flea last Sunday morning,
> and I grabbed a rather glitzy sawset. Fully nickel-plated, it says TAINTOR'S
> POSITIVE No 7 in big fancy letters on the handle, and it has (count 'em)
> five patent dates on it, ranging from 1891 to 1907. (Yes, I'll be spending
> some time with the DATAMP.) A knurled setscrew locks a ten-sided anvil in
> position for setting. I've never set a saw in my life, so I'm hoping I've
> got a decent user here. Anyone?

Greg,

I have a Taintor's Positive #7 that I've used for setting the teeth on a
couple of backsaws, and it's worked well.  The only problem I've had is that
the rivets on which the upper and lower handles pivot have worn and so there's
a bit of slop in the alignment of the hammer (?) as it comes down onto
the sawtooth.  I have to be a bit careful.  Plus the return spring is
missing.

I think I have (somewhere) a copy of instructions for use.  I'll see
if I can find it and send it along.  There's a washer that can be
placed under the anvil to fine-tune the amount of set.  On mine, I found it
under the knurled screw.

My missing spring leads to a Galoot-ish question.  Has anyone ever tried
fabricating simple wound wire springs? I'm guessing it would require some
process of anneal, shape, then heat treat.  But IIRC from machine design
(oh so long ago), ordinary steel wire isn't suitable.  As usual, it would
probably be simpler to just find another saw set, but...

Norm
in Fort Collins, Colorado