Old handsaw,made by whom? (now with restored pics)

[CroppyBoy1798]

Howdy!

Picked up an old handsaw in a car booth yesterday up here in wee 'norn iron' :lol:. The saw was only £3 and is in decent enough condition, an 8tpi skew back cross cut which hasnt seen that much use, is pretty straight and has one one tooth missing, the teeth have been sharpening with care in the past. It has some light surface rust but nothing that wont clean off via the process of electrolysis.

The handle has the common 'warranted superior' medallion and through the rust and grime on the blade I spotted an etching , from what I can make out I can see:

(large curving text of what I assume is the brand name)
888 (what I assume is 1888? Year company was set up)
Warranted Crucible Steel
Made in U.S.A


Not that its of much importance, but I'd like to know if anyone has a saw with a similar etching so that I could place a name/date on the saw. Hopefully I'll get her back up and running before long!


Here's another saw of mine which was a little worse for wear, in case you havent seen it! 8)
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/a-la ... our%20love

 

[Tom K]

You may find a clue here.

http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/medallionpage.html

 

[CroppyBoy1798]

The saw is now brewing away in an electrolysis tank and I've been able to make out the text, barely, it says:

CAMDEN
888
Warranted Crucible Steel
Made in USA

Havent been able to find anything on CAMDEN unfortunately thus cant put a year on it. Wonder what the '888' refers to? Its a 7tpi cross cut (perhaps it was once an 8tpi? a copy of the D-8?)

 

[Tom K]

Text lifted from the Disstonian.

Warranted Superior medallions are found on secondary lines manufactured by Disston and other major saw makers with other brand names on the etch. Some smaller 19th century saw makers may have bought sawnuts and medallions from the bigger factories.

After 1900 or so the "small guys" were actually secondary lines of the "big guys." The small companies were bought up by bigger ones and some of their products were continued for a time. Harvey Peace is one example. Most American saws from the 20th century, regardless of brand name, were made in the works of Disston, Atkins, Bishop, or Simonds.

In the case of Disston, their replacement medallions were stamped Warranted Superior rather than "Disston." I would speculate their rationale was they didn't want their name on lesser-quality saws. Brand identity and loyalty in the U.S. was much stronger in the first half of the 20th century than it is today.

Agree with post below probably Camden is a hardware store. How long is it? Wondered if the 888 could 3x8 is 24"

Edited for clarity.

 

[Peter Evans]

Made in USA suggests very late 19th century at the earliest. Neither of the references available lists a Camden, so unlikely to be the maker, probably a retailer.

 

[CroppyBoy1798]

Cheers for the help and info Tom and Peter. When did silver plating saw components become the norm as the screws/medallion are plated, not brass and I would have preferred and I suspect would have made the saw possibly a bit older.

It appears its a 7tpi, I made a mistake. Even though the blade is stamped '8', must have been converted? The blade is 26".

Anyway, heres a few pics of her not looking so good.

Picked up on the same day was this Mathieson & Son draw knife, anyone ever hear of them?? Gonna need new handles me thinks.

Before pics:

Put this one in the electrolysis tank and it came out really well!

 

[Dibs-h]

Cheers for the help and info Tom and Peter. When did silver plating saw components become the norm as the screws/medallion are plated, not brass and I would have preferred and I suspect would have made the saw possibly a bit older.

It appears its a 7tpi, I made a mistake. Even though the blade is stamped '8', must have been converted? The blade is 26".

Anyway, heres a few pics of her not looking so good.

Looks remarkably like some of my Disston's.

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/post ... ht=#481465

Dibs

 

[CroppyBoy1798]

Looks remarkably like some of my Disston's.

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/post ... ht=#481465

Dibs

Yeah I think its just a 'Disston' clone, like those Rapier No.400 planes (just a straight copy of the Stanley/Record No4). Or the S&J '88' Camden, or whoever made this saw just called it an '888' 8)

 

[bugbear]

Anyway, heres a few pics of her not looking so good.

Skew backed, round bottom to handle, slotted (not "split") saw nuts.

My guess would be mid 1930's for that, plus/minus a decade.

Looks like a good working saw - is the blade straight?

BugBear

 

[CroppyBoy1798]

Thanks for the additional info bugbear.

There is a very very slight curve in the blade, but nothing that affects its performance. Got her topped, set and sharpened and I'm very happy with the results.

Here she is currently, just needs to finish the handle and she's all set for action again. Dang, I love bringing old tools back to life!!!