So I picked up two small saws one 14 backsaw and can't find a name or letter to even give a clue. All i can say is its heavy and thick around 7/8 × 1/4 steel back. And a riveted Handel. Took a picture next to my other backsaw
Hi Kelsey, To me it looks like an oldie, I'd be very careful in cleaning the spine- most of the old name stamps are tiny & can be very worn, sometimes on the bottom edge of the spine, sometimes off center, it just takes a bit of looking & careful cleaning. If your saw is 18th century, sometimes they stamped the plate & not the spine- again careful cleaning may reveal something. Even if there is no name & it's worn right away, it's still a lovely early saw... Regards Mari
Hi Kelsey, It looks to me like the rivets are original to the handle, from the backside view. And the handle certainly looks early with that wide cheek/boss it has. Of course, we don't know if the handle is original to the saw, nor could we find out without removing it, which I certainly wouldn't do. I'll just assume it's original. And if it is, then the rivets point to an early date. Possibly even late 18th century. And I'd think that the crack in the handle was caused by shrinkage, which would also indicate that the handle was put on a while ago. Does the wood look to be English beech? The 7/8" spine also looks really wide, which is more common on the earlier saws. The best I can do for an identification is to say that it looks pretty early. I'd suppose first third of the 19c or maybe even earlier. Are you sure there are no marks low down on the spine? Or perhaps even somewhere on the blade? Without a mark, it's pretty difficult, almost impossible, to identify the maker of an early saw. By the time I finished this post I saw that others had posted, which may make my comments redundant or even useless. But here they are. David
It looks like beech yes. I'll try looking more at the plate to see if something I missed. And the bottom edge of the spine.
Been playing with lighting located what looked like a mushroom on the spine. So worked that area a little there's a shadow of maybe a name looks like starts with an O space A R and possibly an A on the plate.
It sounds promising Kelsey, perhaps could the "mushroom" be a crown? Some photos may be helpful, a lot of the forum members have large saw collections & have handled many saws & can help with joining the dots..... How exciting! Regards Mari
Ok so picture 1 is what I was looking at as the mushroom shape. 2 is the letters I think. And 3 is the plate A. Plus an end picture. The back looks to taper 15/16 to 7/8.
Great stuff Kelsey I don't know how many times I have stared, squinted, held a saw at inscrutable distance and prayed to the saw Gods that the stamp would miraculously appear like the "tears of Fatima". I hate to say this but this will be a tough one. The camera is so good at finding the hardest to see but this doesn't look real promising. Nice early saw though. keep the faith Joe S.
Yeah I think it's probably a wild goose chase Even with out a name it goes well with my Kenyon hand saw. Just will keep looking for the next one. Thanks for ever ones help
It's a hard one Kelsey, I think I can see a faint crown in the patch of corrosion that I've highlighted , but I could be mistaken, there looks to be an "o" below there as well...... Hangman anyone? Regards Mari
It's probably just damage but I took a better picture to share what I thought was a mark. I taped and marked possible letters. It's also at the 6in mark on a 12 in back.