Hello all, I am going to offer these two up as candidates for updates to BSSM. Both I am reasonably sure are British saws, with Kington being unrecorded in BSSM, and whilst there are two entries for Baker, there are no images attached to the entries. I could not say which one's work (if either) this saws provides an example of. But I do like the stamp "Warranted Good". As far as I can see, there are no Kingtons as manufacturers (or brands) in Sheffield in the 1830's, and I am pretty sure that this mark is a very good example of a mid 1830's mark. As for the rest of the Country, this is where things get a little complicated as there is at least one place called Kington and so you get an unsearchable number of entries in Historical Directories. Anyway, do as you will with them Ray. At least I have started the ball rolling, unless of course you include David's Sykes and Sanderson and Kirk in which case I am coming a close second. Fred
Interesting secondary marks Fred "Warranted Good" seems reported to occur mostly on saws by Groves & Sons, but hs also been noted on a Clegg & Barton saw, (also used on non-saw tools by different Manufacturers , so probably not diagnostic for an Original Manufacturer). The Kington "GRM-STEEL" mark is interesting too. [I imagine I see a couple of faint horizontal lines above the "Kington grm-steel" mark and wondered if there was originally another name up there, but can't see any actual letters so that's probably overactive imagination (your c1830s age estimate looks good to me for this saw)]
The Kington "GRM-STEEL" is actually 'GERMAN STEEL'. Commonly used on Sheffield saws between 1790 and 1840. It was mostly imported from Austria-Hungary, and was considered superior to Blister Steel. It was superceded gradually when crucible-cast steel became widely available. But some sawsmiths continued to claim it - right up to August 1914 . . . . .