An antique hacksaw with original blade I just bought.

[george wilson]

All of the details I have just described,plus the completely invisible pins make me think the blade is original,plus 39 years studying tools in a museum. The curator of tools also agrees. I was the Toolmaker for many years at Williamsburg.

 

[Dranreb]

Nice find, Could it be a surgeons saw, cutting bone would most likely never blunt it, and smoothed off pins would make it look more special maybe?

Bernard

 

[Jimsehr]

Update: My plan of forcing a knife blade between the blade and the frame worked. I was able to make the pins sink in just enough to tell where they were. I was able to punch out the front one,but had to drill out the rear one most of the way and punch the rest out.

I measured the old blade,and,surprisingly,it is .045 thou. on the cutting edge,and .030 on the back for .015" of clearance for the teeth.

The "new" blade I put in is an antique itself. I have a box of old blades from the 1920's that have no paint on them. AND,EACH tooth is set on the Starrett blade I selected for the hack saw. It is not wavy set. It cuts a nice clean slot about the same width that the old blade would cut. It is also thinner than more recent blades. As clean as it cuts,I may use it for slotting screws.

I had to shorten it about 1"(or so) to fit it into the 9" frame of the old saw.

George
I love that you found the saw . How did that happen? I tried to meet up with you last time I was in Williamsburg but you were not there that day. Dang it. I would like to see your home shop .Bet you have some cool stuff.
jimsehr I'm the guy that makes the balls in a ball or balls in a cube . whatever.

 

[george wilson]

The saws surgeons used were different from every day run of the mill hack saws. There are 18th. and 19th. C. catalogs that list these tools with carefully drawn illustrations. We know exactly what they are.

For 1 simple thing,surgeon's instruments were highly polished. This was because highly polished steel does not take blood stains rapidly as non polished surfaces. If they were soon wiped off after use,they stayed clean and professional looking.

Surgeon's instruments were much more carefully made than woodworking or metal working tools. Doctors wanted their tools to reflect their status. Their equipment was state of the art at the time.

As toolmakers,Jon,my journeyman,and I also made surgical instruments for the Apothecary Shop in the Historic area. We made saws and amputation knives,blood letting lancets and inoculation lancets also. I'll post a quick picture of one of our amputating knives. You can see how refined it is on all surfaces,and how much more carefully made it is than your average workman's tool.

The hack saw was never polished this highly. It has filed surfaces on it as does the blade.

If you want to learn about surgeon's saws,Google them. I cannot spend a lot of time on this tonight. Everything is at your fingertips in the computer.

Jimsher,next time you are coming to town,PM me here well in advance so I can give you my address. I haven't worked at the museum since 2009.