Tenon Saw Sizes

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pitch pine

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I have just bought another joblot of saws. In it is an I&H Sorby tenon and the blade is 15 inches long. I thought that there were 14 and 16 inch available new but not 15. Is this cut down from a longer saw? Also in the same lot came a lovely 8 inch Robert Sorby dovetail saw with a really comfortable handle.
 
I'm pretty sure catalogues only listed even numbered sizes, so yes, it's likely that your saw has been trimmed down.

I know what you mean about finding a handle that really feels right - it's not something you can see, you need to feel it.
 
If the standard length was 14 or 16 inches it may well have been an adapted tool-chest-fit for the original owner.

I must confess that my interest in old saws is always enhanced when I see the name "I Sorby".

I bought an absolute beauty about 30-odd years ago from 'Penny-Farthing' in Salisbury. 10 inch plate, I have adapted it to 12 TPI, never any slop in the handle at all and I still use it regularly. More importantly, the pistol-grip handle is such a perfect fit, hand wise, that I used its profile to make a template for subsequent restorations. It has I Sorby 'Northern Tool Works' on the spine.

It must be the thick end of 150 years old.....unusually for a saw of this age there are no marks or pits on the plate. Nor is there a 'Mr Punch' anywhere on the saw.

Sadly, proper tool shops are extinct now but that place was a handy half-way stop to Blandford and you could park in the street outside in those days.
 
Last edited:
@Argus You weren't going to Blandford to go up the long hill to school were you?
 
Some photos:

20200831_134121.jpg
20200831_134212_2.jpg


And the dovetail saw:
20200831_134610.jpg

20200831_134343.jpg
20200831_134343.jpg
 

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