Originally Posted by
IanW
My first thought was that's an absurd price to pay for a saw! But I then thought, "what did an equivalent saw cost in say, 1920?" I did a bit of googling and found a 1920 catalogue for W. Tyzack, and a 10" backsaw could be had for 22 shillings, which I'll convert to $2.20 for those born after 1965.
A bit more googling brought up the average wage in Aus. in 1920 as 200 pounds/year, which divided by 52 & converted to dollars comes to $7.69 a week. So if you bought the saw above, it would cost you almost 1/3rd of your week's income (28.6%) if on an "average' wage.
According to one site, the average annual income in Aus is now $90,000, or approximately $1700 p.w. So the LN will cost you only 19% (approx) of your weekly income. It's a bargain! :U
I think a true bargain might be a good old saw from pre-WW2, which can be had for $40-80 that would perform just as well as a LN after a bit of minor attention....
Cheers,