Thanks for adding me to this group. I have a small collection of saws, mostly a working set of fairly common types, but I have a few older examples and just acquired, much to my own surprise, this Sykes and Co 12-inch backsaw which seems quite early to my eye. I've learned a lot by reading the relevant threads on this forum, but I'm interested in your opinions about the age of this saw. Am I right in understanding that the oval cheeks of the handle are a feature which predates the more pointed style which appears in the late 18th century, but that the oval form continues to turn up on saws occasionally into the 1820s or later?
Hello J.K., and welcome. To your question about the oval cheeks/rounded boss, yes, that detail both predates the more pointed cheek and does continue to be used into the 19c. BSSM has a Sykes & Co backsaw mark the same as yours, from a saw which Simon dates to around 1810. BSSM has working dates for Wm. Sykes from 1786 to 1823. It would be hard to pin your saw down within those dates, but I'd probably not date it later than 1810, myself. For what that speculation is worth. I've attached an image of a Kenyon, Sykes & Co backsaw with a similar cheek detail. BSSM has K,S & Co working dates of 1809-1820. David
Hello both, From the nerd in me, that's a nice reclining ampersand but alas, it is of little use for dating here. What I do find interesting about this saw (and David's as well) is that the square cut egg shaped boss(es) of Joe's Barnard and Dalaway saws:- have been modified in your two later saws to have the beginnings of a chamfer and definitely a chamfer stop. They both however retain the egg shaped look of the boss. It is good to have such concrete examples of this development. Fred
Thank you both for your observations. It is interesting to see the development of handle shapes, even if "evolution over time" is probably too simplistic a scenario. Nevertheless I will consider this saw old enough to have earned a respectful retirement and I won't be putting it back to serious work.
That's a fine addition to our knowledge of early Sheffield saws: looking just at the saw, in my mind I put a date of 1800 at the latest, but that's always got the element of guess work about it that dating saws involves. The iron back strikes me as unusually deep, and is it without any taper towards the toe? The screws look as though they have either been taken off or seriously readjusted at some time (and I wouldn't myself touch them, except perhaps to offer a bit of very cautious tightening, if the handle feels wobbly). Trying to write the chapter on the dating of saw handles was much the hardest part of completing BSSM, and it remains the part which in my opinion would benefit the most from an update, chiefly because of so much extra information and re-thinking that has come up on this forum. Thank you, JKVernier, and I hope you will allow my lifting your nice picture of the saw and its mark for the updating database. Simon
You are quite welcome to the photos, and if you need any more I am happy to take them. The iron back is 21.5mm at the heel, and 20.5 at the toe. I'm pretty sure the screws have been off in recent years, and repositioned rather badly, but everything feels sound. i measure the screw heads at 11mm or just over.