Thread: 2nd line Atkins?

Not a Guru on saws.. This medallion was used as a secondary line for Diston, Atkins,and others..... scroll to the bottom of the link below for info on this.

Diston Medalions

Gaza

The stubby horns and non-brass screws indicate to me likely 1930s/40s
The Warranted Superior medallion is not necessarily an indicator of lesser quality, as any hardware store or retailer could order custom etching on any quality saw to re-sell as their house brand, and Atkins would provide these off brand saws with the warranted superior medallion.
The actual model number of your saw is difficult to determine as your saw handle profile and medallion position was used on several different saw models shown in Atkins' catalogues, so that you might only find the saw model if you can find a descriptive etch on the blade.
The good news is that Atkins used good steel on all their saws, with most of the price difference in different models being due to the degree of finish and decoration on the saw. So your saw should perform well if you take the time to correctly sharpen it

anemul

Welcome to the Forum.

Identifying hand saws with Warranted Superior medallion is fraught with difficulty. Disston did tend to use their "Keystone" symbol but also used the eagle. The eagle normally points to American made as opposed to British made.

Atkins secondary line went under the name "Sheffield." These are the Sheffield saws from the 1919 catalogue:

Sheffield Nos 30, 48, 56.jpgSheffield Nos 57,58,59.jpg

The No.48 appears to use the "perfection handle" that Atkins used on many of their first quality saws. However, this is not definitive. You may need to clean the area of the saw plate where the etch is located to see if it is still there. Do this by using wet and dry paper (with lubricant) wrapped around a small block of wood. Go gently with, say, 240grit. Keep watching to see if anything reveals itself.

I agree with kwigly that the horns seem a little too "blocky' for the 1918 catalogue shown above and your saw is more likely at least from the 1930s. However, it may not even be an Atkins, which is why the etch would help. Unfortunately, out of the Disston, Simonds and Atkins, the Atkins etches seem less likely to endure.

Regards
Paul

In the tender light of day I re-oriented the pic so it was a little easier to see what is going on:

unknown saw (2).jpg

The lower part of the guard has a simple and gentle curve, the horns are "blocky" (as previously mentioned) and the wheat carving is simple. The saw screws look as though they are steel, although they could be nickel plated, but unlikely on this saw as that was reserved for the most expensive models in the range.

Points to look for when identifying from catalogues are the handle shape (of course) but also the positioning of the medallion, number of saw screws as well as the style of wheat carving if present. The other factor is whether the saw is a straight back or a skewback, which we can't tell from your pix. The combination of all these points eliminates many of the contenders. I have not found anything directly corresponding to this saw, but more information would be helpful (straight or skewback, etch?).

Looking more closely at the handle I think dates it later than the 30s I previously mentioned: More like early 50s.

Regards
Paul

It is a straight back, no etching was found.