Can anyone recognize this brand name

[Gadge]

Can anyone recognize this maker? It's a long story but worth telling for you to understand.

I bought a few old ryoba nokogiri for about $10 each just to practice metate. I was making an axe handle the other day and ripping a piece of spotted gum. I didn't want to use a good saw on such hard timber so thought I'd use one of the old ones I'd bought. The one I chose had large rust spots all over it and a number of teeth missing. The rip tooth pattern was for soft wood but I though I'd give it a try anyway.

The old saw cut the spotted gum like butter and was beautiful to use. I have a couple of hand made ryoba but this felt like the best saw I had ever used, missing teeth and all. I showed this photo to a Japanese work mate who said the characters looked very cheap and he was convinced the brand had been put on by someone who was not a Japanese speaker.

The tang is not welded and the sen marks look too straight and even to be made by hand, so I think it's machine made.
Any help in solving this mystery would be appreciated.

Regards,
Garry

[Schtoo]

Hi Gadge,

It's possibly an older, hybrid type saw where the blade blank was manufactured, but the teeth hand cut, set and sharpened. The engraving is very much Japanese, tell your workmate he's wrong but don't feel too bad, most folks here can't read these things anyway.

They still make saws like that, and they're always above average. Manufactured plate, hand finished. You get most of the performance of a top end saw without all the extra time, effort and money spent paying to work a lump of steel into a saw shape.

And no, I don't know who made it. Even if I could read it, it might not mean very much at all.

Stu.

[Gadge]

Stu,

Thanks for the reply. As I said, it's a beautiful saw to use even with missing teeth and rust spots. My work mate was able to read some of it, he said one of the words was a person's name; first name.

Your explanation sounds right. I appreciate your input.

Regards,
Gadge