Swords & Halsted Back Saw

Discussion in 'Forum: Saw Identification and Discussion' started by sawnuts, Aug 28, 2013.

  1. sawnuts

    sawnuts Member

    Messages:
    14
    I am looking for any info that you may have on this maker.

    One curious aspect is how the makers name was stamped. It was as if the two names were stamped separately. The font looks a little different between the two words and the spacing between the two words and the "&" is not equal.

    There may have been a partner added at some point and the saws were re-stamped. I would guess that SWORDS was added.


    Thanks

    Mark
     

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  2. fred0325

    fred0325 Most Valued Member

    Messages:
    1,084
    Hi Mark.

    I cannot help at all, unfortunately, but this is just to let you know that I have looked.

    Well, looked for Halsted that is, not Swords yet as I suspect that will be a much larger search.

    In the UK online directories there are 115 that have a Halsted, but only 280 odd entries. I haven't looked at them all, just the London, Sheffield and Birmingham ones - and a few random counties like Sussex for some reason.

    And nothing!!

    I think that the saw must be pre 1840 and so I have looked at all the Halsteds pre 1850 (only 13 of them, I think) and still nothing.

    Unless someone knows the name therefore, we may not find out much at all. (Unless I have missed something or it is in a County directory that I have not looked at.)

    Fred

    I have just looked at all the Swords pre 1850 (surprisingly only 27 of them) and still nothing.:(
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2013
  3. sawnuts

    sawnuts Member

    Messages:
    14
    Swords & Halsted

    Thanks Fred,

    I appreciate your research.

    How did you date it to 1840 or before?

    Mark
     
  4. ray

    ray Administrator Staff Member

    Messages:
    671
    Hi Fred, Mark,

    I'm not turning up anything of substance on this one, the only thing I've found is an FL Halsted & Sons listed in Erwin Schaffer's Handsaw Makers of North America, the reference given is just "SAW" no further detail, I'd be thinking it's a UK maker, and so continuing to search along those lines, I found a Halsted & Sons that was based in Portsmouth.

    Maybe we are looking for an Ironmonger in the Portsmouth area?

    Regards
    Ray

    PS .. On the pre 1850's date, the low position of the mark, is a good clue.
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2013
  5. fred0325

    fred0325 Most Valued Member

    Messages:
    1,084
    I have been meaning to ask ever since I saw it, if there is "Cast Steel" on it (which looks like there might be), is it "Cast(.)Steel.

    Fred
     
  6. sawnuts

    sawnuts Member

    Messages:
    14
    Swords & Halsted

    Fred et al,

    The bottom of the letters of CAST STEEL are somewhat blended into the bevel of the back. There does not seem to be a "dot" between the two words.

    Mark
     
  7. kiwi

    kiwi Most Valued Member

    Messages:
    355
    Mark,
    Longshot WAG; If this is an American saw it might have come through New York hardware merchants. There seem to have been several Swords and Halsteds involved in the hardware trade there, sometimes together. I didn't see a "Swords & Halsted", but there was a "Swords, Halsted & Corning" in the late 1830s, supplying "hardware, cutlery, German goods etc....for the Western trade"
    (this was William, not "H F", Halsted , so doesn't tie in with the HSMONA saw report)
     
  8. fred0325

    fred0325 Most Valued Member

    Messages:
    1,084
    Hi Kiwi and Mark,

    You have to be right Kiwi. I should have taken the elementry precautions of Googling it because in 1840 there is a Swords Halsted and Loomis, and the various Halsted combinations are certainly not co-incidence.

    But I will still swear to my dying day that it is a British saw. It sounds as though Halsted in his various incarnations was a supplier and not necessarily a manufacturer. So there is a possibility that it was imported. (Where is the "grasping for straws icon"?)

    But never mind, I have been wrong before.

    Fred
     
  9. Araldite

    Araldite Guest

    Swords & Halsted

    Hi folks,

    I too have researched Swords & Halsted because I also have one. Mine has a steel back and a closed handle and the blade is 16" long. It also has the spacing between the Swords & and Halsted and under magnification you can see different fonts were used to stamp the two names. My research turned up nothing more than whats already been said in this thread. I thought you might like to see a few pictures of mine. Click on the second picture to get a good blowup of the stamp.

    Vince
     

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  10. Deesinister

    Deesinister Most Valued Member

    Messages:
    60
    D c halsted

    Hi All,
    Theres a DC Halsted making razors sheffield around the 1860's. Maybe a connection?
    Cheers
    Al