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Jonathan McCullough
10-08-2010, 2:23 PM
One Saw a Week
26-inch Atkins 200 rip saw – 5 ½ TPI

Well, one saw a week more or less. I’ve been busy and some of the project saws have been giving me fits. Submitted for your perusal today is a Borg-Warner–era Atkins “The 200” rip saw in nearly pristine condition. It came in a pile from “That Guy”—the guy who always exposes pristine saws to water just long enough for them to become just a little less pristine.

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/One%20Saw%20a%20Week/DSC02924.jpg

I don’t know the history of the Atkins saw company, but as I understand, it became Borg-Warner, then Nicholls (of file fame) and thence to oblivion. In what I interpret to be a prologue of the labor arbitrage so many Americans are enjoying today, this saw was made in Mississippi rather than Atkins’s traditional hometown of Indianapolis (Disston was also made in Virginia after HK Porter shut down facilities in Philadelphia).

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/One%20Saw%20a%20Week/DSC02925.jpghttp://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/One%20Saw%20a%20Week/DSC02927.jpg

Though better than much of what might be widely available today, the handle is what I think of as the penultimate degradation from the high standards of the turn of the century golden-era of saw manufacture. This one is still okay to use, but the oddly-shaped appearance arises from the exclusive use of drill presses, band saws, shapers, and the spindle cutter machine thing to make the wheat carvings. Gone are the pride-of-craftsmanship embellishments that were the hallmark of the Atkins No. 53 with its “Perfection” handle, though you can still the basic design concept and hang angle as Atkins conceived it in the 1870s. While okay to use, it is miles away from the hand-rasped ergonomics of yesteryear, and features what I call the “ham-handed handle” which you grab like a baseball bat with coarse, hairy, stubby cretin fingers that have calluses on the knuckles from where they drag on the ground as you walk, as distinct from the “three fingers and a pinch” type handle featured on older saws.

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/One%20Saw%20a%20Week/Perfection.jpg Turn of the Century Atkins "Perfection" Handle.

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/One%20Saw%20a%20Week/BorgPerfection.jpg Early Borg-Warner - era Perfection Handle.

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/One%20Saw%20a%20Week/PenultimatePerfection.jpg Decadent Amorphous Blob Era Borg-Warner Handle.

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/One%20Saw%20a%20Week/WTFPerfection.jpg Contemporary State-of-the-Art MBA-"Perfected" Handle of Shame.

Atkins's premier saw was "The 400," and the marketing on this must have been that this saw was not as good as "The 400" but still pretty good. Maybe "200" good. The saw plate thickness is not particularly tapered, and it has a more conventional “noodly” feel to it; I doubt that the saw plate was ever tensioned with the smithing process. The saw was used maybe once or twice before one of the previous owners got frustrated trying to use a rip saw and decided to file some “starter” teeth. I find this interesting because it sort of fits the era.

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/One%20Saw%20a%20Week/starterteeth.jpg

Imagine if you will (cue flashback music), It’s the 1960’s. Joe Accountant has had enough shop classes to know he needs a rip saw. He’s too cheap to buy a circular saw. Using a rip saw is a skill not nearly as widespread as before. He tries to use it and it jumps and chews up the wood. He gets frustrated and decides to show the saw who’s boss by filing some teeth down. Finally he gives up, has a heart attack while watching his personal hero Johnny Carson, and eventually “That Guy Who Lets Pristine Saws Get Rusty” gets it a little rusty in preparation for me, the self-taught saw guy who fixes old saws.

Overall, a typical okay later saw. It'd be good for its intended purpose: Someone who needs a rip saw only occasionally. It'll get the job done. Out of 400 I'd give it 200.

David Weaver
10-08-2010, 2:28 PM
Something about the font on the etch just makes me think lincoln logs and charles chips.

Or flinstones and bewitched.

Pretty clean.

I've got a couple of later saws like that. While they work just fine, they offend the senses in use, both the hands and the eyes.

Unless you're trying to operate in a zero set environment, it's nice to have a couple around to tell yourself that a nice working saw doesn't have to please your eyes and hands for art and perfection in hand comfort.

Marv Werner
10-08-2010, 3:39 PM
It is shameful to use the Atkins name on a saw like that. Some of the best saws I've ever filed and used were older Atkins. The printing on the blade looks like it was silkscreened. :(

The same can be said about the Disston saws made during the 40,s and 50,s. Just plain hard on the eyes.:cool:

Marv

Dan Andrews
10-08-2010, 5:06 PM
Another good saw info post Jonathan. I enjoy and always learn somthing from these. Keep up the good work.