Independence Tools Carcass Saw

[Jim Barrett]

I have an IT (Peter Taran and Patrick Leach) dovetail and carcass saw. A few weeks ago I attended a week long hand tool class at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking with Christopher Schwarz. It was one of the best woodworking classes I have taken. Chris is really an excellent instructor and just a fun guy to be around. It was fun to share a few beers with him and another student in my Motor home and talk woodworking!
The great thing about these classes is that everyone brings their own tools. So you get to see and possibly use some of the saws, planes, etc that other classmates bring to the class.
I showed Chris my 2 Independence Tools hand saws. Chris was very interested in the IT carcass saw. He had never seen or used one before. He asked to use it throughout the week and of course I obliged ;) Chris thought that there were not many made.
So I am curious if the IT carcass saw is that "rare"...does anyone else have one?

Jim

[Bill Moser]

I have the LN dovetail and carcass saws w/rosewood handles, I guess from just after they bought the company (?). They're inscribed with both "Lie-Nielsen" and "Independence", which the current LN versions are not. Yours might me rare, but I doubt mine are.

[Jim Barrett]

The saws I have were manufactured before they sold to Lie-Nielsen. The dt saw has a serial number on it the carcass saw does not.

[Tony Shea]

I would agree that the carcass saw is something they made very little of. Their dovetail saw is odviously not rare and one can find one all over. But I have absolutely never seen a carcass saw by IT. But then again Im no expert in this and someone else may be much more knowledgable. You might be able to ask Patrick himself how many they made, not sure if this is possible or not but it seems there is a chance you could find him. Facebook maybe.

[Jim Galvin]

Patrick is very much around his website is www.supertool.com

[Jim Barrett]

I sent Patrick an email and he replied this morning. He said the carcass saws were produced after he left Independence Tools so he had no idea how many were made. I sent an email off to Pete Taran.

Jim

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Jim

If your saws have numbers, then they were made in the early to middle period of IT. My dovetail IT does not have a number, indicating it was from the last lot made. Actually Pete recalls my particular saw (!) as it had a distinctive piece of wood, and probably easier to do because it was a late production.

I had not heard of an IT carcass saw before. However I was aware of some tenon saws.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Barrett]

I heard back from Pete Taran. He made ~ 2000 of the dt saws and ~ 500 of the carcass saws....rare? Maybe if he made less than 100...otherwise...

Jim