Ray et al. First the preamble. A friend, Rob B., decided he had too many saws and needed room in the shop to do other work and so mentioned that he would like to pass on some of these "gems" to me. Knowing there might be some interesting saws I couldn't resist the lot and there were a lot of saws. thanks Rob This saw I almost missed concentrating on with some close inspection when I first started going through the lot. I at first thought it was a JV Hill saw but it was unusual from all the other Hill saws I have. The Hill stamp was small and separated from the other name and I couldn't read the second name at first. I had assumed it was Howel but the more I pressed on it became apparent it wasn't. Almost undecipherable at first. "Nichels". I went to Simon's BSSM and sure enough, "Hill and Nicholls" have an entry from 1814-1820. So maybe Simon can confirm the primary source and confirm the spelling of the final name. Was this a registry spelling error or a stamp maker error because I would surely want my name spelled correctly on a product I had produced. There also could be an issue of illiteracy of the maker and so didn't know there might have been a difference. So there's the mystery. Specifically the saw is a 26" hand saw, "early" London Pattern beech handle with three brass fasteners one missing on the back side. The split through the middle of the handle and in the lambs tongue will be left. Too early to mess with and it will never be used here. The rounded nose has had a hole put through it at one time and has a nib. The stamp has three crowns, Hill & Nichels, ampersand tilting and a very light small **** dot steel. The names aren't close to being in line so must have been separate stamps or singles. Well loved but in fairly good condition for a true 200 year old saw. enjoy the pics Joe S.
Hi Joe, Thanks for the report. It's discoveries like this that keep filling in the gaps. One day we'll know all about these early saws, if you keep this up. David