Hello all, I came across what I think is a British saw stamped with the name Edward Fellows. "German Steel" is stamped below the name and a partial insignia (I think a crown) is visible. The plate length is just over 18 inches. I did some searching online but came up empty. Does anyone here know anything about Edward Fellows? Any idea of manufacture date? Thanks! Joe Photos:
Hi Joe, I am going to stick my neck out (again) here and say that this is probably an 1860's+ "not top of the range" saw, and a brand to boot. Either that or it is early. I think that it is a later saw because:- The handle looks to me to be quite narrow (thin). It is a simple name with no place of manufacture. "German Steel" on a later saw would indicate that it is not a premium grade saw. The name stamp looks to me to be very lightly done ie. a stamp put on later in the manufacturing process than the "German steel" and the visible crown. (I may be wrong on this as they do not look particularly deeply impressed either on looking again) I have forgotten the terminology for it now - "Bright struck", I think, or something like it. It is not in HSMOB and whilst that would not mean a lot in isolation, if you cannot find it in the online directories, then that is an indicator (to me at ,least) of a brand. I have done a quick search of the Sheffield pre 1850 ones and there are some Fellows in the manufacture of tools but no Edward(s). It bears too much of a resemblance to my "Kingstone" saw. http://www.backsaw.net/index.php?option=com_jfusion&Itemid=58&jfile=showthread.php&t=91 This thread is full of more waffle than normal but if you go to post no. 9 I try to summarise my thoughts. And even then my dates are out by about 30 years!!! As indicated by Simon in the next post. That one was a particularly hard learning process. I searched for hours for the name in the directories. Fred I hope that I am wrong and that it is early, or at least not a brand.
I spent part of this morning cleaning up an identical-looking saw which I firmly gave the same description as Fred. The only difference was that it was by a maker - Beardshaw & Son - but it was also marked German steel, and was graced by 3 crowns, but it was indubitably an n-th quality tool, made down to a very very cheap price, I'd guess, in the period 1880-1910. I'm as sure as I can be that EF was indeed a brand, yet another to add to the vast list of "Not identified", so many thanks for the info.