The question of the saw nib.

[James Pallas]

A mentor of mine gave me a definitive answer on the nib. It is a "trap for meddlers" and you all got caught again.
Jim

[Tom M King]

It's hard to find a good yawn picture. I found some good ones with good looking girls, but they didn't seem to fit.

[Tony Zaffuto]

So,we can address you as "your Nibs"!

George,

i can be called anything, except late for supper.

T.

[Tony Zaffuto]

A mentor of mine gave me a definitive answer on the nib. It is a "trap for meddlers" and you all got caught again.
Jim

Nah, we actually like the talks.

[george wilson]

I have a cat those colors,except he is FAT as a PIG. We got him dumped on us by my wife's
friends.

[george wilson]

McGyver took a rolled up magazine,and 2 watch crystals jammed in each end. Presto,a TELESCOPE!!! It was perfectly focused,etc..Whoever writes this crap should be made to go to a science class!!! It is DISGUSTING.

I was given an old telescope by my customer. It would not work. I had to make it work. I had to call in a physics professor who taught optics($100.00,please!) She didn't care! He told me that it was 2 antique telescopes married together. A wonder the slides fitted! After figuring it out,he told me what lens to order. I was able to make a pretty,finely knurled lens cell(that which a lens is mounted in) from brass,to match the rest of the telescope,and install it. Worked fine. I am not an optician.

But,I never could make it with a rolled magazine and 2 watch crystals. You know,I don't know where he got TWO watch crystals anyway. Neither of which was a lens anyway! But then,I never knew when James Bond knew exactly what gizmo he would need for a sudden death trap(like the jet pack,or the mini underwater breathing thing made from 2 CO2 seltzer bottle type cartridges).

[Brent Cutshall]

You see everybody, this is why we like the talks here. We take saw nibs, move it to McGyver, then to chubby cats, and then back to McGyver. Who knows what will come up next.

[Tom M King]

My best friend that I grew up with, and I, built telescopes when we were teenagers. The largest was a 12-1/2" f6. We built a 12x12 house for it that the roof rolled off of. I ground the mirror in my bedroom, which was a combination telescope mirror production facility, and darkroom. I got started in photography by taking pictures through our telescopes. The yearbook my Senior year won first prize in some national yearbook competition for photography. My friend is now one of the lead scientists at NASA on the JWPT, and other stuff. He was on a team that won the Nobel Prize a while back.

We have campfires often in cold weather. One night Pam's (my Wife) Father showed some guys that showed up how to find the North Star. When they left, Pam's Dad asked who those guys were. I told him they were some of the world's top astronomers. He never lived it down.

[Phil Mueller]

Back in the day, tool buyers were very suspicious of old tools sold as new...recycled if you will. Unscrupulous salesmen abound. So Henry (Disston) and others in an attemp to "prove" their saws were, indeed, new and not recycled used saws, created a projection on the top of the saw that they figured would never last with use. So the presence of this projection would be proof that it was, indeed, a new and unused saw.

After much contemplation, they came to be called the NIB...or New In Box.

[Stanley Covington]

Back in the day, tool buyers were very suspicious of old tools sold as new...recycled if you will. Unscrupulous salesmen abound. So Henry (Disston) and others in an attemp to "prove" their saws were, indeed, new and not recycled used saws, created a projection on the top of the saw that they figured would never last with use. So the presence of this projection would be proof that it was, indeed, a new and unused saw.

After much contemplation, they came to be called the NIB...or New In Box.

The Mystery is Solved! Call the Smithsonian.

[David Carroll]

I have one or two things to add. I have a c.1850 tool chest with a nice panel saw. It has wooden edge guard with a loop of twine around the nib and it shoelace-ties over the lower horn. This may not be the intended purpose of the nib, but as others have suggested, it is a common use, and based on the one in my chest it has been common a long time.

While ripping some long, wide and thick sycamore, another use occurred to me. I was getting into the rhythm of cutting, concentrating on taking long, even, strokes, I was concerned that the plate might jump out of the kerf and I'd kink it. But I got into the habit of watching for the nib to poke out of the kerf on the upstroke and this was the signal to reverse thrusters and drive the cut down. Since the nib is located a few inches from the tip, I could safely use the longest strokes possible. Of course after a short time, muscle memory kicks in and looking for the nib becomes unnecessary. But it helped at the beginning.

Different saws all have different length plates, but if they have nibs, it's easy to transition between them to get full strokes.

So, I don't know what they're for, but that's a good use for them as far as I am concerned.

DC

[george wilson]

Nice NIB(new in box) story. But,the nib goes back hundreds of years. They even dug one up at Jamestown 1607. Bigger nib. We made replicas of 18th. C. Kenyon saws with nibs for the Historic Trades craftsmen. The original saws were never used,nor even sharpened by the wealthy owner who aspired to take up woodworking as a hobby,but never got to it.

[Phil Mueller]

Well, maybe the origin was earlier than I theorized...but the fact that you indicated the saws were never used makes them like NIB. Story holds...just more historic than I realized...those clever Engleshmen!

[Patrick Chase]

That is ridiculous. Original saw nibs are a rounded lump,NOT tooth shaped. Also,the saw is much thinner along the back,and there CANNOT be any SET to a single tooth!! Did he RE FILE the nib into a tooth ? Even if he did,the saw is very much thinner than on the tooth side.

I think this is the best/key point in this thread - As George said, even if you tried to optimize a nib as a kerf starter it wouldn't work very well, unless you did something drastic like mushrooming it to the same width as the base of the sawplate plus set (I'm NOT recommending anybody try that as it would probably just break the nib).

[Patrick Chase]

My best friend that I grew up with, and I, built telescopes when we were teenagers. The largest was a 12-1/2" f6. We built a 12x12 house for it that the roof rolled off of. I ground the mirror in my bedroom, which was a combination telescope mirror production facility, and darkroom. I got started in photography by taking pictures through our telescopes. The yearbook my Senior year won first prize in some national yearbook competition for photography. My friend is now one of the lead scientists at NASA on the JWPT, and other stuff. He was on a team that won the Nobel Prize a while back.

You grew up making telescopes with Mather? That must have been a hoot...