Hi everyone, I just paid a whopping 12.00 for this old tenon saw. I have a couple of Robert Sorby saws, but this is my first I Sorby. I was planning on using it. It's in great condition, and the plate is nice and straight. I'm wondering if anyone can help me date it. I has the flat bottom on the handle, which some people have said that makes it pre 1870. Is that right? Thanks! Matt
Hi Matt, This is how confused we were only 6 years ago http://www.backsaw.net/forum/index.php?threads/i-sorby-handsaw-another-early-handle-late-stamp.100/ and I still don't have it straightened out in my mind even now. It depends on who used the I Sorby trade mark (sometimes incorporating Mr Punch) and when. BSSM states that the Mr Punch trade mark was acquired by Joseph Turner in 1856, but of course, yours has no such mark on it and the the only I Sorby marks in BSSM without him are dated after 1900 with the mark closest to yours being put at about 1910. Both Turner Naylor and Marples (1876 to 1887) and Turner Naylor and Co. (1895 to 1907) possessed the mark and were to be found at the Northern Tool Works, so around the turn of the century is possible. The flattened bottom horn on a saw can be quite late, viz. "Today I was looking at my S Tyzack & Son catalogue No 640, which is reputedly from about 1938, and find a London Pattern saw listed there." http://www.backsaw.net/forum/index.php?threads/taylor-brothers-the-last-london-flat.114/ post no.9 by Kiwi. So it is definitely not reliable as a dating aid. I hope that it is clearer to you than it is to me. Fred
The history of I. Sorby mark is documented in this article: http://www.wkfinetools.com/hUK/TurnerNaylorCo/history/TurnerNaylorCo-01.asp. Geoffrey Tweedale is well known historian of Sheffield industries and can be fully trusted.