Spear & Jackson Back/Tenon/Dovetail Saw

I picked this one up yesterday, cleaned it up a bit, and took some photos. I've never acquired a Spear and Jackson before, then yesterday I buy two saws -- this one and a Lloyd Davies, which I believe is also a S&J (also a tenon, dovetail, or backsaw). Here are the specifics on this one:

-- 12", 13 PPI, Spear & Jackson SHEFFIELD on the spine, steel spine, split nuts, I believe original handle (no extra holes), blade thickness = 0.025 in

The handle was painted dark red, so I stripped that off. It looks like part of the handle had been burned at some point (maybe that's why they painted it).

Here are my questions:

1) According to my "Hand-Saw Makers of North America" book, it appears to show S&J beginning in 1915. If so, then why the split nuts?
2) Should there be an etch? (none is visible)
3) Every one I see on eBay has a brass spine, but mine is steel -- is mine the exception, or maybe a later model?
4) Curious why the SHEFFIELD stamp is slightly off-center from the Spear & Jackson stamp above it (others I've seen have SHEFFIELD centered)
5) What type of saw is this -- Back, Tenon, Dovetail?
6) Any idea on age?

Regards,
Dave

 

Hi David,

I can give some tentative answers to some of your questions.

If you are serious about British saws, you should really get Simon's book, British Saws and Saw Makers from 1660, it is a lot more comprehensive than HSMOB and in some instances more accurate as well.

He has S and J starting in 1833 although he has Jackson becoming a full partner of a company that included John Spear in 1825.

As far as dating and split nuts go, the "Sheffield" mark that you have (without serifs to the letters) looks a lot like an 1890 - ish mark in BSSM. British saws had split nuts, generally speaking up until about the 1st World War. I suspect that there were exceptions but I haven't seen many, and I have seen some saws with split nuts that can be dated to after WW1.

Although this saw is well into the era of etching, we did not etch our saws to the extent that saw makers in the USA did and I would not expect this saw to be stamped and etched.

Both brass and iron (not steel apparently) were used for backs. Brass I would think would have been on a more expensive saw but I don't know if the steel blade would have been of a better quality on a brass backed saw. This may well not have been the case with S and J as their trade second quality lines would have been sold as brands. BSSM has these down as Aetna, John Cockerill, Mermaid, Leapfrog, Goblin and LLoyd Davis (Davies).

You really want Simon or someone else to comment on the stamps and I have no idea how many separate stamps it took to name this saw. I suspect that "Sheffield", in any event, would have been a separate stamp from the S and J part and as such the person applying it was probably having a bad day or let his concentration slip and made a slight mistake in placing it.

As for type of saw, it is certainly a backsaw but whether it is a tenon or dovetail is debatable. BSSM has dovetail saws going up to 10 inches and tenon saws from 14 inches onwards. Yours is 12 inches, so take your pick.

Fred