Hey Ray et Al. Firstly apologies as I have posted this saw before but didn't see the engraving on the back. It is a Robert Sorby Cast.Steel. Interestingly although this would be an early 1830's saw the engraving on the back is 1848. Does anyone know how long the CAST(dot)STEEL went on for or is this just a later engraving. Welcome your thoughts. (Not the best photos either sorry)
It may well be possible to do a custom etching on an existing saw blade, but it also might be that the blade is not original to the back. I cannot really see what the etching says in total, but what I can see is "John Matheson". Unless John Matheson is the owner and has gone to great expense to tell everyone this, the name must refer to the manufacturer of the blade. Could you decipher what the entire etch says? It may help a lot. Fred
Hi Fred, The Engraving says simply "John Matheson" and underneath "1848" (They're poor photos sorry). Its definitely engraved not etched. I suppose what I'm wondering whether the engraving was done 20 odd years after the saw was bought (Which strikes me as odd) or whether its a mid century saw. I fairly confident the blade is original to the back .
If it is an engraving, then I am as lost as you are as truly engraved blades must be as rare as hens' teeth and just as expensive. (I am currently paying £8 per letter to have my grandchildren's birth spoons engraved.) If the blade is original to the back, then you have to take what you have at face value I think and accept that for some reason the owner of the saw in 1848 (perhaps a saw passed from father to son) wanted everyone to know that it was his and that either he was a jolly good engraver himself or he was demonstrating his relative wealth/status. I fear that we shall never know. Fred
I've seen a handful of saws with this sort of engraving, which I have always taken to have been done by an owner; they are usually dated, but since the dates can be at any time up to yesterday, I've not attached much significance to them, except of course that the saw can scarcely be younger than the date. Working on hardened steel plate is very difficult (have you ever tried drilling a new hole for a screw?), but there are engraving tools that will do the job, and tradesmen often know other tradesmen with different skills. As Fred says, maybe this was a proud son inheriting a precious tool. The saw would certainly fit for the 1830s, I reckon.
Hi Simon, Thanks for that, either way I'm rather chuffed having the engraving on there. I get the impression that it was considered an above average saw for the time and worth the effort which is reassuring. I'm rehandling a Disston at the mo (First attempt at a full handle) and yes, by god, its tricky to drill
Watching Derek Taylor, the owner of the Garlick brand in the early 1990s I saw him using a round punch in a fly press to make the holes for the saw screws. Not your every workshop piece of kit, but it certainly worked (and I wonder where the 100 or so fly presses went to that survived in the Smallwood rule factory when it folded in 2002? Ken Hawley and I were lucky enough to go round the place and rescue a vast amount of material for the Hawley Collection, now in Sheffield, but fly presses didn't fit very well into the boot even of a big Volvo).