I need help with a saw I picked up a couple months ago. It is 26", 5ppi (4ppi) rip, handle is worn with 3 screws and has a flat bottom. A little bit of nib remains. After removing some rust my heart beat went up as I could see "NYON", with a barely legible "KE" in front (maybe my imagination). Any comments would be appreciated. Pardon my pictures, I hope they upload -first post rookie.
Hi, I think that you may have a Kenyon, in fact I would bet a lot of someone-else's money that you do. Which is not a bad start for a first post. (Gross understatement, you would be hard pushed to get better). Congratulations. Having said that it has brass nuts by the looks of it so it may not be an extremely early one - but with a Kenyon, who cares. Fred Ps. I really need a jealousy icon on here. That's two saws within a week!!!!!
Hmmm I'm with Fred here I think, The only other possible candidate I could come up with is "London" and perhaps a makers name above. I can see the "e" or at least the bottom of it but the k looks distinctly like an "s" to me which made we wonder about orientation. As for the "london" idea I think its unlikely as the "y" section looks very "y" like (if that makes any sense). Congrats Al Fred, Ive sent you a PM.
Welcome to the forum! The "NYON" is pretty clear, I won't even guess the first part. Fred, Jealousy is a tough one, how about these... Toby
...if I'm lucky Thanks to all for you very informative replies! Assuming that I'm very lucky and this is a Kenyon saw, what dates would work for when it was made? HSMOB has quite a few Kenyon's mentioned over a wide range. Apparently the brass nuts rule out it being very early. BTW -Is there some magic to getting the timeline to appear. I've tried two different browsers and all I get is white space where the timeline should be. Thanks again!
Thanks guys, I think there is a problem with the MIT url to the timeline javascript, I might have to change to a local copy of the timeline.js... Check again in a couple of days and I'll see if I can fix it. Thanks for spotting the problem. Regards Ray
Hi, I think that you will have to wait for Simon to give you anywhere near a definitive answer on age, but if you look at the general shape of the saw, it looks very "Seaton tool chest" - ish, if you can imagine a greater blade depth, nib and undamaged/worn handle. The Seaton chest was 1796 or 97 depending upon where you get the information, so certainly latter part (15 years??) of the 18th century and how far into the 19th, if at all I do not know but I suspect not very far. Thank for the Icons Toby. The apple looks to have a little bit of anger about it, and which does not at all come into my feelings. The little one with the sign board is a lot more like it. The face looks nice and smiley. Any chance of putting it on your message icons Ray?? Fred
Old British saw Note that the query is absent - this is surely a) old b) British [nay, lad - it's Sheff'uld] and c) Kenyon. Interesting features - I've seen another Kenyon handsaw of similar date with the KE actually missing altogether - maybe the punch used then was getting worn, those letters got struck less deeply, and then after some grinding and polishing they got even less legible. It's certainly early, and without it in my hand (if only!) I'd be hard put to date it after 1800, and quite possibly a decade or two before. As these 18th cent saws are so rare, could we be told anything more about its history? Where acquired, etc? What a beauty. Have added a Kenyon mark from a compass saw of c1780 - note the curly initial K, identical to the handsaw mark?
...thank you Simon, Thank you for sharing your time and knowledge! I wish I had a better story about the saw's provenance, but I got it off Ebay. Here are some more pictures. My spouse calls it the Jane Austen saw, because it is contemporary with her favorite author...has anyone seen a Bill Shakespeare saw?
I'm sure this is well-known, but it was new to me ... and having read about this Kenyon recently it particularly attracted my attention. http://www.davistownmuseum.org/toolSaws.html 18th C handsaw marked "Browne German Steel" Cheers, Paul Kenyon
old British saw The Browne saw is new to me, as is the name. I'd be pretty certain that it was made in the US, but I haven't got my EAIA directory to hand. The shape is classic 1800 plus or minus 10-20 years, as the pictures from Smith's Key show- and the Kenyon [earlier, I'd still be putting my money on that .
From http://www.backsaw.net/index.php?option=com_jfusion&Itemid=58&jfile=showthread.php&p=2043#post2043 Toby