Atkins saw indentification

[Thomas Ziehl]

Hello,

my name is Thomas and I recently joined this site as I am getting more and more into woodworking using traditional hand tools, moving away from power tools. I bought an Atkins saw for the price of 2 CAD yesterday and I am trying to date it. I am currently travelling, so I don'T have any means of cleaning the saw other than a some water and soap..

Here's some info on the saw, along with some photos. It would be great if someone could help me with dating this saw

Stats:

sawblade lenght 26 inches
blade skewed
filed rip
5 ppi
"early" Atkins Medallion
AAA etch is present - see attachment
Another etch reads "Made expressly for Condcon and Marshall Dunnville Ont" - this seems to refer to a company in Dunnville, Ontario. I could not find any information about them, though.

Thank you,

Thomas

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Thomas and welcome to the Creek.

My thought would be to look into Dunnville, Ontario and see if there is a historical society there that can tell you more about Condcon and Marshall.

jtk

[Joe Bailey]

Another etch reads "Made expressly for Condcon and Marshall Dunnville Ont" - this seems to refer to a company in Dunnville, Ontario. I could not find any information about them, though.

Thomas

I contend that they misspelled the name of the concern when etching the saw.
Moreover, I believe that you are misreading that second "c" -- it's actually a "G"
Finally, I think they transposed the letters "D" & "G"

It should read: CONGDON & MARSHALL

This was indeed a hardware store in Dunville, Ontario.
Here is an excerpt from an old (undated) business directory
366063

[Daryl Weir]

My guess is somewhere slightly before 1912, which is pretty close to when Atkins started steam pressing the design (floral or on that order) in the handles instead of carving what we typically call the wheat pattern. Honestly I'm not 100% sure they used steam but have always assumed that. Later on Atkins went back to the carving, but your saw is well before that.

Take care,
Daryl

[Thomas Ziehl]

Jim, Joe, Daryl,

thank you for this helpful information.
I did indeed find a historical society and contacted them - will post an update as soon as I get it.

In terms of the model, can you help with the identification ? - I have found this link (http://hus-saws1.wkfinetools.com/Atkins/tools/dWeir-1900s-PerfectionNo53-28/1900s-PerfectionNo53-DarylWeir-01.asp) from Daryl on the wkfinetools wiki and it seems very similar, if not identical to the no. 53 saw shown.

Thanks,

Thomas

[Noah Magnuson]

I am almost certain that is a 53. I would have to check, but I believe it was the earlier 53 models which had the brass vs. nickel saw nuts and medallion. I know at one point they were brass. One of my good user saws is a 53.

[Rob Paul]

Google says Congdon & Marshall's hardware store (Mrs Mary Congdon & Thos Marshall) was active in Dunnville through at least 1895-1907 (they opened an additional store in Port Colborne in 1907)

[Thomas Ziehl]

Thank you, Noah. If you have some links or additional references regarding the brass vs. nickel nuts, it would be appreciated.

[Noah Magnuson]

Thank you, Noah. If you have some links or additional references regarding the brass vs. nickel nuts, it would be appreciated.
Here is the 1919 catalog entry with brass nuts and medallion.
366138
Here is the 1923 entry with nickeled nuts and medallion.
366139
Looks like you have a pre-1923 as the nickeled nuts and medallion are in the later catalogs as well.

[Thomas Ziehl]

Thank you for that additional information, Noah. Very helpful indeed.
So in conclusion, the saw was definitely manufactured before 1919 (as the 1919 model does already have the stamped floral decor), potentially even before 1912 (as mentioned by Daryl).
I am in contact with Judy from the Dunnville District Heritage Association. She has been very helpful. I have asked her to see if she can find out more about the C&M hardware store, as this could help in dating the saw more precisely. I guess it would be very unlikely for a saw to have been produced for C&M after their Dunnville location was closed.

I for myself will try to find other Atkins saw catalogs to try to find out when exactly the floral handle design was introduced. I found a 1906 catalog that still shows the carved handle design.

366173

Does anyone know in which year the #53 manufacturing started ?

Thanks again for your help.

[Jim Koepke]

Hi Thomas,

Remembered I once downloaded a few Atkins booklets on saws. It took me a little bit of work to track down from whence they came:

https://archive.org/search.php?query=atkins%20saw

That should keep you busy for a while.

jtk

[Thomas Ziehl]

Thank you, Jim.
I came across that link during my research; I have taken the 1906 catalog picture from there.