I have a lot of saws, but they all have conventional fasteners. I've seen photos of some early ones with steel rivets, however recently I obtained a saw with copper rivets and brass washers. I am hoping with all the vast saw knowledge here that someone can tell me if these are original to the saw. For quite a while I could not find any identification on the saw plate, but finally I found a very tiny and hard to see stamp with letters only 1/16" high. It says TAYLOR. In the photo with the ruler, the 'T' is directly above the 4 inch mark. If the rivets are original can anyone venture an opinion as to the age of this one?
Hi, This is an awful one to have a go at answering. I'll try the easy bit (hopefully) first. The reverse of the rivets (the washer side) look to me as though they have been set into holes that are slightly oversized and could therefore, originally, be meant to house split nuts. I think that the rivets are later replacement fixings, but as I often say, I have been wrong many times before. The next bit is a pure WAG with no evidence whatsoever to back it up but, the shape of the handle's nose and the not enormously deep return curve going back into the handle beneath the nose indicates to me that it is nearer to 1850 than it is to the last quarter of the 19th century. The really interesting part comes when trying to sort out which Taylor it is. There are many Taylor's in BSSM but the ones that crop up most frequently are saws by Taylor Brothers and William Fletcher trading as J Taylor or (possibly) I Taylor. There is no "Advance" trade mark on this saw and this may be indicative that it is not Taylor Brothers. BSSM has "Taylor" only, as a possible trade mark of Fletcher but again, this ascription is only tentative. The Taylor marks on the Handsaws in BSSM are only 18mm long and so are quite small but they do have "London" underneath them and which yours does not appear to have. This may be, of course because it has worn off. In the absence of it being any of the other Taylors listed (and this is not necessarily the case) I would have to go for the Fletcher "Taylor". If you want a discussion of the two Taylors, go to this:- http://www.backsaw.net/forum/index.php?threads/taylor-london-or-taylor-brothers.152/ The interesting bit about William Fletcher starts at Deesinister's post no.10. Fred
Fred, Thank you for your expert comments. I just got out the microscope and studied the stamping. There is no evidence of any other letters either before, after, above, or below 'Taylor'. The 'Taylor' stamping is very small being only 14 mm wide and the letters are only 1.5 mm high. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to examine this saw. Can you advise, in general, when the London-pattern handle design stopped being used? Brian
Hi Brian, On this thread:- http://www.backsaw.net/forum/index.php?threads/taylor-brothers-the-last-london-flat.114/ Kiwi posted an S Tyzack and Son's catalogue page (post no.10) with a "London Flat" handled saw in 1938, but I suspect that they were few and far between by this time. London flats were quite common on (mainly) lesser quality saws in the last half of the 19th century and into the 20th. I don't quite know how to put this, but it is severely embarrassing being referred to as an expert. There are experts who use this site but I am definitely not one of them. I think of myself as a very enthusiastic amateur who fly's by the seat of my pants most of the time. Hence my many caveats on posts that I do, that I am frequently wrong. This is not false modesty, it is merely the truth. But thank you in any case for the description. Fred
Hello Fred, Thank you once more, this time for passing along the good information on the London pattern handle. Wow, what a long run it had! I had no idea it lasted into the 1900's. As far as you being 'an expert' -- well, many things are relative -- I've read a lot of your posts on this site -- to me, and in comparison to me, you have a huge storehouse of knowledge so therefore I am very comfortable thinking of you as an 'expert' in this field. Brian