Yesterday I had the need for some of that wood stuff so I went into Portland, and wouldn’t ya know it but my pick-up just happened to veer a little – about a dozen miles – just into the parking lot in front of Wenzloff and Sons, Saw Makers.
Behind that door lay the land of saw wonderment. Coils of steel glinting at you, hinting of good things to come.
I asked a fellow as he looked up from his work – a saw handle in his hand, if Mike was around. He gave out a big friendly smile and a strong hand and escorted me to the loading dock. There was Mike and one of his sons.
He turned and greeted me like the long lost family member he hadn’t seen in 30 years. The fellow with the handle was Mike’s nephew.
Thus started a magical tour in the land of panels, half backs, dovetails. Wherever I turned their were wonderful woods waiting for their rebirth as a working wood sculpture. Marvelous machines that softly went “chink, chink, bump, chink, chink, bump” manned by yet another son. Other machines from a more romantic time that when armed with the right templates could deliver endless precision. Saw dust gentle on the tables. All in a shop that radiated good things and happy people. And the finished products gleaming like sentries at the door showed the care involved.
I wondered how he set the fine ones- the 20 tooth ones. He does every tooth by hand…..Then we compared diopters on our respective spectacles!
On the order tables were saws with marvelous strange polished woods, in the final stages for their owners.
I saw the new Kenyon Dovetail reproduction prototype. As Mike said, 1 of 100. We talked some of zero clearance DTs and a saw for very thin drawers. He stroked the Kenyon (smaller than the Seaton) through a test piece and this is the saw for it. As is said in basketball, “Nothing but net”. Sweet.
We talked of cutting handle kerfs with no margin for error and of woods that destroyed rasps.
Mike showed me how to knock down some of the set of a saw with a brass hammer and a wood anvil. I needed that info for one of my more grabby DT saws. Not an MW.
We talked outside for a bit – of old shops, of old methods, of cabbages and kings.
All too soon I had to go, still had to pick up wood and drive back down the coast but I had many pleasant things to think on.
I had met a gracious straight forward artisan and given the quality of product he and his produce, very modest and totally unpretentious.
If you ever get a chance to see fine tools being made, take it. What ever detour is need, if you have the opportunity, take it. My side trip to Mike’s will be one of the highlights on this long road.
Boiler
Replies
BB,
I yam envious of your proximity to that faerie grotto of the saw. If there's one bloke on Knots I'd like to visit in his den it's Mr Wenzloff. Of course, I would be taking a coat with large inside pockets in it (poacher pockets I thinks they're called) as there would surely be neglected saws lying round that needed tidying away.
Actually there's quite a few other blokes on Knots who I would like to peek in on when in their sheds (I mean shops). It is a place full of useful and exciting characters, is it not? But Mike Wenzloff has always impressed me as the very model of a civilised fellow, as well as one great sawmaker.
If only he would put his prices up enough to reduce the waiting list to zero.... but with large discounts for former customers that just happened to equal the price increase to the other customers. Now this would add that teeny extra attribute to his character that would cause me to deem him purfek. :-)
Lataxe, a very happy Wenzloff user.
Since it's more than a minor detour off my regular routes I don't think I'll be able to stop in there any time soon, so thanks for giving us a peek.
regards,
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?lang=e&id=1
boiler,
next august we'll be up in eugene, by way of portland. i'll have the better part of a day there. you've inspired me to go on a mission, if but the wife agrees...
good story.
eef
Nice write-up! Somehow gave me the impression of a saw mfg. business from the early part of the last century, with great visual images.
T.Z.
Ah, John, we be blushing here!
Enjoyed the heck out of your visit. A wonderful detour from the madness--and all too short. Next trip, we'll break out the food and wine (just a wee bit for the driver, though).
Take care, Mike the blusher...
Got a brother in Portland...
Haven't been out to see him and his wonderful wife and my wild nieces in a bit...
Gotta make some money this year.
Boiler
And then you went for a 4 pound shimp with sauce!
Well... actually... caught again.
Hugs!
Nice write-up.... thanks! I love my Wenzloff saws and would love to tour the facility.
now for you folks at Taunton... here's a (small) article idea for some future issue- a factory tour of Wenzloff (and L-N & Veritas) on the making of these fine saws...
Boil,
Very good.... but why did you not take photos so we could all gawk. Go back and take some.
I hoped you noted the pleasant smell of Imbuia, if he still uses this finest of timbers.
Philip..
I have a great camera.. A Sony.. My grand baby takes better pictures with it than I can. And she is just 5 years old!
Hi Philip,
Schwarz did a blog entry following a visit almost a year ago. Not many pictures--though one person (Narayan Nayor) who was part of the class did. I'll have to find the email link he sent.
http://blog.woodworking-magazine.com/blog/A+Visit+To+Wenzloff+Sons+Sawmakers.aspx
BoilerBay (John) did suggest we should snap some...one of these days I'll get around to it. I think...
There have been equipment and people additions. Machines like punch presses, shears, a new mill and the like.
Take care, Mike
You have a great talent as a writer. Thanks for the 'mental journey'.
Jerry
Frosty
"I sometimes think we consider the good fortune of the early bird and overlook the bad fortune of the early worm." FDR - 1922
To Mike/Boiler -
More details on removing some of the set with a brass hammer and a wood anvil please! I've several small saws that suffer from just this very problem, and the trick of clamping it several times along the tooth line in a wooden vise didn't help much...
David,Mike would be more help than I, but as he showed me, the size of the mallet is dictated by the general set and number of teeth.
I.E. a 8 point crosscut hand saw might be served by a 2 lb. brass mallet whereas a 16 -20 point DT might be better done with a much lighter hammer such as LV's Plane Hammer. Something in the 8 to 12 oz. range. Brass.
The wood anvil at Mike's was Jatoba and set up so as to use the end grain for the anvil surface. He used it on the floor. It was about 10/4 - maybe 12/4 X10 X 24. Wide enough to allow a significant portion of the blade to rest across it and thick enough to allow the teeth and a good chunk of the blade to lie flat against it.
The process is to work a small line of teeth at a time with the mallet force a little stronger than would feel comfortable hitting your palm. -- more than setting a nail but not entirely comfortable when hitting you palm. Use your intuition and start light as you can always increase the force. Work your way evenly along each side and if it's satisfactory fine, but if not you can adjust and go again with care as it's not reversible as to reset the teeth afterwards creates a fragile tooth base and many would probably break off. The solution at that point is nothing but re-pointing.... UGHH.
The anvil absorbs the shock, is just soft enough to receive the downside set without distortion, fleam sharpness and provides enough resistance to let most of the mallet force transmit, whereas the boards in a vise don't have momentum.
I think the secret is to sneak up on the set slowly. Much like a golf club, the head weight will give some guidance as to force. I hope this makes sense -- it's not so much of a TAP....TAP....TAP but more of a tappy,tappy tappy. - It's not Brubeck either :-)Mike, I hope I got that right. If not I'll bring the wine.Bon ChanceBoiler
Hi David--John got it right (he can still bring the wine--or we will on a trip to the coast...).
Just light taps, just enough force to cause the slightest of bounce-back with a light hammer. Like John said, for back saws I use a LV plane hammer. Work both sides, starting at one end and go to the other with slightly over lapping taps, flip and do the other side.
The wood "anvil" allows a portion of the tooth tips to impress, but not so much that the anvil needs renewed very often. I have probably trimmed the end on this piece once in three years.
For hand saws, I use a piece of Jatoba (same chunk) but use the face grain side. Same process, a little heavier hammer (well, a 2lb one). But still light taps. The goal is to not do enough. Much better to do it 2-3 times than knock all the set out and need to reset. Resetting can result in a snapped tooth, especially if one cannot tell on a rip which side they were originally set to.
Well, time to pack saws and go home.
Take care, Mike
Thanks, guys, I'll try it. The saws I need to remove some of the set from are a Disston DT saw and 16" Disston D12 crosscut. I don't have a 2 lb. brass hammer, but I do have a plane-setting one, so I'll give that a try on the DT saw.
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