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Snips... ;-)
An "embarrassment" of saws
I acquired 6 saws, four stones, a 2-gear Boker breast drill and a
nameless (subject to further inspection) 5" (as stamped on it)
ratchetless brace for Oz$12.00 last Saturdee. Saws consist of 2 x
26" crosscut, 1 x 26" rip, 2 x 20" panel crosscut and one ex 26"
crosscut with 4" of its tip neatly snapped off.
Oldest saw (apparently) sports a badge reading "Thomas Turner & Co,
Encore, Suffolk Works, Sheffield" and the ever-mysterious nib; two
saws appear nameless but bear the words "Warranted Superior" along
with questionable representations of the British Crown's coat of
arms with its accompanying motto, "Dieu et Mon Droit"
or thereabouts; two other saws are Disstons, one (apparently the
most modern) from Canada, the other from "Phila"; and last, a
panel saw, with no name but two only fixing nuts or rivets on the
heads (or caps) of which appears the expression "Pat.", leaving one
to ponder whether one is thereby commanded to advance some form of
affectionate gesture, otherwise reserved for one's dog, to the tool;
whether a particular saw-making Irishman is proud enough of his work
to inscribe his name thereon; or whether the saw's anonymous
manufacturer is intent on claiming some sort of intellectual
property rights regarding what is, after all, a very common tool and
means of fixing it together.
Who out there knows what about Thomas Turner & Co, with nib and
"split nuts", or the Loyalist "Warranted Superiors"? "Pat.", the
panel saw of two nuts, must remain, it is thought, forever Anon.
Stones were a 6" x 2"combination stone with a dished coarse side and
a flat fine side but a remarkably good cutter of steel on both
sides; a razor stone named "Swaty Stein Rapid" by its, as yet,
indecipherable maker; a stone apparently of the same material as the
razor stone with a pattern of approx. 1/4" holes in a
symmetrical pattern of 3, 4, 5, 4, 3 holes on one side?; and
(premature gloat?) an 8" x 2" (natural?) stone of **extremely**
fine texture, dark & shiny, with flecks of reddish brown throughout
after it was cleaned up a bit, very flat on both sides with signs of
pointed tool workings on the edges. Have I scored an Arkansas,
Washita or Whatever?
Inform me, O Oracles of the Porch!
As I crossed the household threshold in triumphant mode, laden with
my captives, the distaff side of the establishment voiced a comment
somewhat less than as complimentary, I suspect, as that usually
proffered the hunter successfully come home from the hills. I
rather fancy I heard the words "more saws" uttered in less than
appreciative tones. Pondering upon the strangeness of this as I
added the six specimens to the pile of their
fellows to make 40 or 50 or so varieties of this species I resolved
to mend my ways and, for the future, to stay well clear of the
household threshold with the fruits of my hunting until darkness
descends. I have no wish to be responsible for having the collective
noun for saws rendered as an "embarrassment" of saws.
John Manners
December 07, 2005 |
