At a guess it must be roughly 1900, that is as early as I think so far. The stamp on the spine Says "A" does that mean the saw represents the top of the line in quality. If that is what is meant by the "A" prefix, then am I to assume that some one has replaced the handle at some point, as I would not of said the handle was a good representation of top quality. Or was the Ebenezer range in saws a line 2 or even 3 for Drabble & Sanderson
Hi Steve, Drabble and Sanderson's/ Ebenezer Saw Co's. lettering (A,B etc) is not as clear as it could be in BSSM (to me at least). Without touching upon the apparent contradictions in the "K" type D and S saw, BSSM seems to be saying that the "E" type, also marked with London Spring is a higher quality the their "D" type. So there is some evidence that their quality marking system is a little upside down. Now, assuming that the Ebenezer range is, generally speaking, a second quality range and the markings in BSSM are "A" and "B" for these saws, this would support the reversal of quality marking notion with "A" being the lowest quality. (Where is the "C" range - we need an example of one.) This may be akin to saws being marked "Best Steel" actually being one of the worst grades. This can, however be nothing but a WAG, unless there are catalogues out there which can solve it. Fred
Thanks Fred, you took the words out of my mouth, I would be more than happy to turn my paperwork (catalogs ) into PDF format so everyone can have one, the more of us doing the research the better. If anyone else has catalogs that they are happy to share please let me know, Spear & Jackson, Slack Sellers, the list goes on & on, it would make things that much clearer all round. Re copy right, I think most of them will be well outside them realms. Regarding Drabble and Sanders being back to front, and the terms, "Best", just like Marples with the term "Special" Thanks for your input Fred
I share (I would, wouldn't I) Fred's confusion over the marks on Drabble saws; my confusion arose from the fact that we don't have any useful catalogues of the firm, and because there aren't enough examples that I've seen of their handsaws for me to me clear about what the marks "K", "E" etc denote. Steve's is a good example of a Sheffield cheap saw of maybe 1900 – iron back, two small flush screws. no medallion, no etch on the blade, machine made basic shaped handle. It would be interesting to get it sharpened by a real master, and see how it stood up to some hard work. I believe (and could well be wrong) that even cheap Sheffield saws usually had steel that could be put into good shape, but I'm not sure how long they could put up with being well used.
Hello Simon & Fred, I have a good one for you, might be worth a few moments of your time. What I am referring too is the method by which the saw makers list there saws with the quality descriptions back to front so too speak, I refer to the Special (Marples), this with the lettering in the Ebenezer range, as Fed pointed out "Best Steel". I am sure with the likes of the Spear & Jackson range, now the brands I am thinking of are Mermaid & leap Frog, I am sure over different years the grades of steel used in a specific saw range have , for instance the good old 88, a fine saw. At one time, I am sure I have seen Mermaid brand of steel used for the 88 and then later on, I am sure I have seen the 88 with leap Frog brand steel, I wonder if that is just my imagination. Maybe it was a promotion, Back to the saw quality range being back to front, now most of the people on this site have seen if in fact they do not own several saws. It can be plain to see quality, if you have a whole range of saws laid out in front of you, now 30 or even 100 years ago, these would be saw shoppers will not of seen masses of examples, the Trades people I guess would be expected to know what they were looking at, but for the DiY guys or the guy who has to do it himself , what a night mare.