This is a bit of a favourite in my family of saws at present, a 10" John Sanderson open handed dovetail saw, that arrived from Canada. The spine has a pronounced taper, 3/4" in front of the handles nose down to 1/2" at the toe- that's a 1/4" taper. The John Sanderson mark is 18mm long not including crowns, & the stamped letters are tiny, just under 2mm high. There is only the name stamp & 3 X crowns visible, no Sheffield, no cast steel, measuring across the mark including crowns is 39mm. Amazingly the handle is near perfect... looking at the sanding marks on the split nuts the handle may never have been off this saw. I suspect it my be old, in BSSM John Sanderson is listed as having operated from 1818-52, so any ideas from the forum members on what date they think this saw may be from is welcomed. Regards Mari
Hi Mari, BSSM is not a lot of help with the mark as, whilst they have a John Sanderson, it is a mid century one and not much like yours. If the dot just above the chamfer and below the "D" of Sanderson is indeed a dot and not corrosion, then it should be around the 1830 mark. If it is corrosion, then I don't have the faintest idea as to age. But it does look like a dot to me. Fred I really like the three crowns around the mark, and being partial crowns , to me at least adds to their interest. I have just re-read your post and see that you think there is no "cast steel". I think that what appears to be corrosion marks under the "N" and the "A" of Sanderson are the remains of an "A" and a "T" and just the other side of what may be the dot, is the shadow of an "S". Or is it my imagination?
Hi Fred, thanks for your reply.. There are no visible letters or remnants of stamps under the arched "John Sanderson", just the name & 3 X crowns. I've studied it under 30x magnification & still no signs of letters or stamps other than what is visible, the corrosion patterns are misleading but just corrosion. Regards Mari
Here is another John Sanderson, 14" plate, the spine tapers 1/8" from front to back, the stamp is 3 x crowns John Sanderson & German Steel. The interesting thing to me about this saw is the daisy wheel / hexafoil Apotropaic marks on each side of the cheeks, has anyone else come across these kind of marks on saws before? I have some other tools marks with various protective symbols from previous owners, but this is the first saw I've had with such marks. https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.atlasobscura.com/articles/apotropaic-witches-marks-carvings.amp Regards Mari
Hi Mari, your 10" Sanderson saw is a really nice looking saw and as you said the handle is in good shape. With regard to the tapered spine, it is the first time this has been brought to my attention, I have not seen this feature on any other saw before, I wonder if it was intentional or was there a fault during manufacture??? and then you show another saw with a similar feature, what were they thinking at the time??? Graham.
Hi Graham, thanks for your reply, from what I've learned on here & handling many older saws, the tapered spine appears on too many backsaws to be an accidental folding error & can be an indication of an earlier saw. Regards Mari