Thread: Early 19th century handsaws.

Hi Stewie,

I've got that book, it's a great read, and gives a reasonable overview of the history of the saw.

My general feeling is that early small saws ( dovetail saws particularly) had fairly high hang angles rather than lower hang angles. The example that springs to mind is the Duncan Phyfe saw that was the inspiration for the Grammercy DT that TFWW sells, the early Kenyon dovetail saws, from the Seaton tool chest all had fairly high hang angles as well.. A few other early Birmingham saws like Dallaway and Barnard examples also had high hang angles.

Here's some samples.

This is a Barnard, made in Birmingham around 1790 ish, name was stamped on the saw plate rather than the back.



Mike Wenzloff's copies of the Seaton tool chest..


The Grammercy 9" DT saw, copied from the Duncan Phyfe toolchest, fairly extreme example of high hang angle


My left handed copy of the 1780's Kenyon DT


Another Birmingham maker, Dallaway.. again high hang angle..


The engravings of the saws in Smith's Key (1816) show a lower hang angle for the DT saw, but the picture looks like a longer looking Joinery saw...


Here's a Birmingham saw by Dallaway that looks a bit more like the Smith's Key saw.. ?
Saw Discussion Forums - View Single Post - New to me. Dalaway?

Regards
Ray

Thanks for your thoughts Ray. Nicely presented as well. Of interest the 2 shorter backsaws shown in the Smiths Key engravings (dt & carcass) both have canted blades.

Originally Posted by planemaker

Thanks for your thoughts Ray. Nicely presented as well. Of interest the 2 shorter backsaws shown in the Smiths Key engravings (dt & carcass) both have canted blades.

Hi Stewie,

Yes, also the longer ones too.. Canted blades seem to have drifted out of fashion by the mid 1800's.. You'll notice the spines are tapered as well, although, not as much as the Kenyon that Matt Cianci described on his blog.

Regards
Ray

Originally Posted by RayG

Hi Stewie,

Yes, also the longer ones too.. Canted blades seem to have drifted out of fashion by the mid 1800's.. You'll notice the spines are tapered as well, although, not as much as the Kenyon that Matt Cianci described on his blog.

Regards
Ray

Your right Ray. I failed to notice the canted spines. Yes, the extra long early Kenyon backsaw that Matt shows on his blog certainly exhibits a lot of cant in the blade. I notice the backsaw that Matt rehandled for Peter Follansbee using a Kenyon Sykes design, IMO lacks a certain appeal when fitted to a constant depth blade. Maybe this handle shape needs to be matched to a canted blade to give it that right look. You mention that canted blades drifted out of fashion by the 1800's. Whats you personal thoughts on the mechanical advantages from their use, apart from the slightly lighter feel in front of the handle.

Stewie;

Could the canting have some crossover to please the eye from the shape of panel saws? I only say this because the cant is quite extreme in the etchings and the proportions see similar to the panel saw. Nothing historical to back this up just my personal observation.

Originally Posted by DSEL74

Could the canting have some crossover to please the eye from the shape of panel saws? I only say this because the cant is quite extreme in the etchings and the proportions see similar to the panel saw. Nothing historical to back this up just my personal observation.

Hi Dale. Most standard hand saws have 26" long blades - those with shorter blades that still look like a classic hand saw are known as panel saws. Panel saws are quite simply just shorter saws where the blades are from 16" to 24" (some say 14" to 20") in length and are usually crosscut.

Stewie;