A friend send me pictures of his Shurly and Dietrich. The cut of the saw blade seem unusual to me. The horns of the blade reach fare in the handle wood, but instead of improving the conection, it weakens the wood. Anything to know about this saw? How old might she be? Cheers Pedder
Hi Pedder, Shurly & Dietrich introduced this design as the 1913, 1914, 1915 “Post Boy†saw, with the marketing hype that this was the best/strongest/most durable handle design ever developed. With saw plate extensions through the top and bottom horns of the handle and extending 1/16†proud, it protected the handle if the saw was dropped, and S&D claimed it was “to all intents and purpose, unbreakableâ€. Also, "the greater spacing of the screws that can be achieved with this design gives a more rigid connection for more efficient sawing". (Seems to work, none of my handles are chipped or loose) It doesn't seem to be an especially rare saw around here (Ontario), I have 3 of various minor variations and see others at estate auctions from time to time. There is also a 4 screw version, a later second line saw with a plain oval handle hole for the grip. This design was also marketed with pruning saw style teeth. A bit of an ugly duckling in my view. Not a design that appears to have been copied by any other manufacturers. Shurly & Dietrich did develop a lot of different and unique handle designs, which makes for fun collecting (some examples below). The 1902 catalogue can be seen courtesy of Toolerama at http://toolemera.com/Trade Catalogs/tradecatalogs190.html