Tyzack backsaw

[richarddownunder]

Hi Folk. I came across this small 15 tpi Tyzack sons and Turner backsaw (the best of 4 saws I got for the total of NZ$20...10 quid). It looked like it had been rattling around in someones toolbox un-loved for quite a while judging by the scratches and dents and some of the teeth were a bit dinged and quite blunt - but very little rust. However, after a bit of work, it now cuts like a dream. The plate thickness is 0.61 mm which is marginally thicker than my Pax dovetail saw at 0.5 mm but it cuts just about as well and perfectly straight (now it has been sharpened and set...I need to get some new glasses, those teeth are a bit small!). I thought I would post as it surprised me how well the saw worked with relatively little time and effort invested.

Cheers
Richard

 

[sunnybob]

I have one and discovered that the brass back is only pressed onto the blade. you can straighten it back up very easily to give you a deeper cut.

 

[AndyT]

From the medallion style, Simon Barley dates that to the 1960s-1980s. It's a good saw and looks much more attractive after you cleaned up the scruffy handle. Should be good for a few generations worth of use.

 

[nabs]

I have one and discovered that the brass back is only pressed onto the blade. you can straighten it back up very easily to give you a deeper cut.

I remember reading a theory that some older backsaws (18C?) were made with a deliberately tapered blade, but I am pretty sure that the vast majority of saws you see like this have simply been dropped at some point, pushing the blade up into the folded metal back.

As you say, it is easy to put right by putting the blade in a vice and using a claw hammer to gently ease the brass back away from the tooth line (a bit of tweaking may be needed at the other end of the brass back to make sure the blade is under tension after you do this).

IME this also fixes blades that have a slight 'weave' (as opposed to being simply bent)

 

[ED65]

That's looking a lot handsomer now that it's had some TLC!

 

[rxh]

That looks like a good clean up job.

From the medallion style, Simon Barley dates that to the 1960s-1980s. It's a good saw and looks much more attractive after you cleaned up the scruffy handle. Should be good for a few generations worth of use.

Yes, I bought this one new in the mid 1980s:

 

[richarddownunder]

Ah, you learn something every day. Thanks for the replies. There are so many that are tapered like this I thought it was intentional. But now I have tapped it down at the handle end and lifted it at the tip of the blade, it looks a lot more intentional. I ended up using a bit of flat 4 mm x 40 mm stainless and a small hammer to tap the brass up rather than levering it up. Seemed to work well with no obvious damage to the saw and the plate is still nice and straight.

rxh, nice to see tools in such great condition!

Cheers
Richard

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I'm also sure most of these saws began parallel. But they become tapered through normal use, not necessarily being dropped. The back holds the blade in tension, if straightening is needed a hammer tap at the heel and toe pulls it straight. After many repeats of this, the plate which was initially only say 1/4" inserted into the back bottoms out. Uneven sharpening might make it worse as there's little wear at the heel.

Apologies to those bored of hearing me say this, but I reckon in this era of slotted and glued on backs there's a risk of how proper backsaws were meant to work being forgotten.

 

[nabs]

both good points - indeed you can often straighten the blade by turning the saw upside down and then sharply tapping toe on your bench which certainly causes the toe end to move further into the back.

I remember seeing a good picture (on this site I think) explaining how the tensioning works - it showed a bit of A4 paper held between pinched fingers at the two top-most corners. if you pull the corners away from one another and try and create a small arch on the top edge it stiffens the bottom edge - the suggestion was that the back on a back saw does the same thing.

 

[richarddownunder]

So, presumably, if the tension isn't right, it is evident as a wave in the plate as you look down it and you can't cut straight. Is that right...or what is the best way to check? Then you tap heel and toe to re-tension. Anyway, in this case dispite my hammering of the back upwards, the plate still looks OK to me as far a I can tell and it cuts well enough (some very quick test cuts below). Might have just been lucky this time.

Cheers
Richard

 

[AndyT]

both good points - indeed you can often straighten the blade by turning the saw upside down and then sharply tapping toe on your bench which certainly causes the toe end to move further into the back.

I remember seeing a good picture (on this site I think) explaining how the tensioning works - it showed a bit of A4 paper held between pinched fingers at the two top-most corners. if you pull the corners away from one another and try and create a small arch on the top edge it stiffens the bottom edge - the suggestion was that the back on a back saw does the same thing.

It was in a long rambling discussion about saw tensioning in general, here

post1039363.html#p1039363

Probably quarto or foolscap rather than A4, back then. :wink:

 

[ED65]

...I bought this one new in the mid 1980s:

Well kept that man!

 

[Cheshirechappie]

both good points - indeed you can often straighten the blade by turning the saw upside down and then sharply tapping toe on your bench which certainly causes the toe end to move further into the back.

I remember seeing a good picture (on this site I think) explaining how the tensioning works - it showed a bit of A4 paper held between pinched fingers at the two top-most corners. if you pull the corners away from one another and try and create a small arch on the top edge it stiffens the bottom edge - the suggestion was that the back on a back saw does the same thing.

It was in a long rambling discussion about saw tensioning in general, here

post1039363.html#p1039363

Probably quarto or foolscap rather than A4, back then. :wink:

Oh gawd, yes - I remember that thread. Far too much typing. Good luck to anyone reading it.

There was another, subsequent thread, the first post of which attempted to summarise 16 pages of blurb, and added a couple of other findings.

post1055017.html?hilit=tension in saws#p1055017