Tenon Saw Help

[Kevin Olson]

Hi guys, I'm a new poster. I've been reading the site for a while though. I was lucky enough to find a beautiful old tenon saw at an estate sale for $2. After cleaning the blade up a bit, I found out that it's marked Tillotson Sheffield Cast Steel. I believe it was made in England. Not sure of the date or how to date it accurately. Any Ideas? The handle has a crack that I can fix. It was held on by split nuts. One of them is broken and half is missing. Does anyone have any idea where I can get replacement split nuts? This is also the first time I have attached a picture to a post so I hope that it comes through all right. Thanks for any help you can give me.

[David Weaver]

Nice saw.

Take the second small split nut out and measure three things:
1) the outside diameter of the heads
2) the diameter of the screw shaft if there is a non-threaded area that isn't square
3) the width of the square locking part of the nut

I'm assuming you have a caliper of some sort to measure that.

Then, call mike wenzloff, the guys at tools for working wood, etc until you find one that has a split nut that will fit. Mike W has three sizes. I haven't dealt with anyone else.

[Matt Evans]

Not a customer or affiliated, but you can get em here:

http://www.badaxetoolworks.com/16-inch-large-tenon-back-saw.html

Oh, and that is a nice saw. Hope I run across one or two soon, but I haven't had much luck with that lately.

[Marv Werner]

Hi Kevin,

Badaxe Tool Works has screw sets that he has designed to fit the saws he makes, but will also sell them separately, however I doubt if they will fit the holes in your handle. If you are willing to modify your handle and the holes in your blade to accept the Mark Harrell's screws, they will work out just fine. Same goes for Mike Wenzloff.

There's an online auction site, (I have somehow forgotten the name,:rolleyes:) where you can sometimes find a few of those old screws for sale. That's a pretty slim chance though. You might find someone who has a lathe and the capability to make some for you. They will cost you more than what you paid for the saw.

If it doesn't bother you to modify the holes, you could just go with the kind of screws and nuts you find on most handsaws made during the 1900,s. Those you can usually find on the auction website that has slipped my mind.:rolleyes: In fact I saw some there today.

Marv

[Ray Gardiner]

Hi Kevin,

Welcome to the forum.

Tillotson were merchants in Sheffield from 1822 to 1852, they also did at least some manufacturing, but as far as I know they made table knives.

There are a number of Tillotson branded woodworking tools including chisels,saws,braces.
Most likely these were made for them by another maker.

The london flat pattern handle tended to be more popular in the earlier half of the 1800's with most makers following the fashion towards dolphin or "fishtail" handles.

As a rough date for your saw, I would think 1840's give or take 10 years.

Great saw, and good luck with the restoration.

Regards
Ray

[Kevin Olson]

Thanks for the advice everyone. You've given me a few ways to go. I'd like to make this saw look as good as I can but I intend to use it also. It's cool to be able to save a piece of the past for the future. I'll post a picture of the finished product when I'm done. Thanks again for the tips!