I picked this up from a dealer a few weeks ago. He told me that Simon had seen it so it's probably not that interesting! What I'm unsure about is which one of the Tyzacks made it. Was it made in Sheffield, or London. My main reasons for purchasing it were one, I got it cheap, and secondly it fits my hand rather well. A lot of saws I pick up just feel to big for my grip, but I tend to find the earlier saws are smaller. Mind you, I'm not even sure how early this saw is. Would anyone like to put a date to it?. The blade is 14 inches and the brass back has a slight taper from about 15/16 to 13/16 Cheers, Richard.
Hi Rich, I am not going to be an enormous amount of help because I do not know which of the many possible Tyzacks (London or Sheffield) made this. But the only London marked Tyzacks that regularly come up for sale are "S.Tyzack of the Railway Arches, Old Street" and they are normally marked as such. So I am pretty sure that is is not one of theirs. I think that in the last 40 years of the 19th Century companies use "LONDON" as a marketing tool and many Sheffield sawmakers had offices in London, so it could quite easily be a Sheffield saw. But the saw has a brass back but only 2 screws and which may make it a little earlier than the 1860's and which then cuts down the number of makers based in London appreciably. I really don't know. I hope that someone else does. Fred.
Tyzack, London This mark is one that is fairly familiar, but as always with such an abbreviated "signature" it's impossible to be 100% sure. If it helps, this is what I've got on file for the London branch of the family TYZACK, Henry Saw maker; son of Samuel Tyzack of Sheffield (his uncles were Thomas & William, and another one of his own brothers was Joseph). In 1839 he moved to Shoreditch, then expanding rapidly as a centre of cheap furniture making, and therefore potentially a good market for Tyzack saws. His eldest son was Samuel, with the business continued under the latter’s name by succeeding generations until in the 1980’s it merged with Thomas Parry. It is by no means certain that the names and addresses hereunder are a complete record of this firm’s many changes. 53 (36) Old Street Road 1852-1861 7 Winckworth Place, City Road 1864-1865 7 Somerset Place, Hoxton 1875-1878 65 Bevenden Street, Hoxton 1875-1881 278 Goswell Road 1882-1885 10 Kingsland Green 1892-1904 29 Oxford Street HIGH WYCOMBE 1876 In 1869 he decided to leave Shoreditch (leaving his own son Samuel in charge there) and to try selling saws in another furniture-making area. The business was run by Henry’s son Walter, who remained, with his descendants, in High Wycombe, one moving into furniture making in 1907. The shop in Oxford Street there said “Henry Tyzack Sawsâ€, but Henry himself had soon moved back to London. TYZACK, Samuel 8 Old Street Road 1860-1871 347 Old Street [renumbering of the above] &153 Shoreditch High Street 1873-1875 345 (Railway Arch) Old Street & 153 Shoreditch High Street 1876 345 & 347 Old Street 1877-1904 TYZACK, S. & Son 345 & 347 Old Street 1905-1950> Tool dealers. Many tools were factored under this name and the preceding, with a substantial catalogue issued until at least 1950. The family history of the Tyzacks indicates that some saw making, and certainly a lot of saw repairing, was carried out. In spite of the numbering on some saws, 341 & 343 were never included in a trade directory address.* TYZACK, Sidney 10 (& 9) Kingsland Green 1905-1913 Saw and tool makers and dealers. So this saw could in theory be as early as 1839, or soon after, but it looks a bit later, I think - maybe 1860-1870? One of those lovely old handles that seems to grip you as much as you grip it.