"My oldest tool, to my knowledge is a Disston panel saw from between 1878 and 1888. This by the medallion guide on the Disston Institute site."
Can I ask a stupid question? What is a panel saw?
"My oldest tool, to my knowledge is a Disston panel saw from between 1878 and 1888. This by the medallion guide on the Disston Institute site."
Can I ask a stupid question? What is a panel saw?
"The key to a long life is when you start to die, don't"
Panel saws were a little shorter than a Hand Saw. I think the typical one is 20", rather than 26" for a Hand Saw.
Gotcha! Thanks!
"The key to a long life is when you start to die, don't"
As Tom said, most old hand saw catalogues will list anything less than 24” as a panel saw. There is some debate over why it was called a panel saw, but I tend to think they were appropriate for sawing thinner “panel” material. Today, many refer to any hand saw as a panel saw as a way to distinguish it from a powered saw.
I admire Tom’s willingness to neatly modify and old tool and keep it in use. Tom does historic restoration, he is uniquely qualified to do so, in my estimation.
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
My current oldest tools are a couple of mortise chisels. They were purchased on ebay many years ago:
James Cam & Newbould Mortise Chisels.jpg
Here is part of the text from the description:
The handles have been replaced.The wider chisel has a cutting edge of 3/8" and is stamped NEWBOULD, a mark used by Samuel Newbould. He is listed as an "edgetool maker" on Sheffield Moor in the Directory of Sheffield for 1787. This example has two early features. The bolster where the blade enters the handle is not the integral, faceted one that is usual; instead, there is a disk that the blade passes through and a very heavy, hand forged ferrule behind it (see photo). The disk is like that on a Samurai sword. The other early feature is that the chisel has a steel edge welded to an iron backbone, much like early axes. The steel will hold an edge much longer than iron, but wrought iron is tougher and less brittle for the body of a tool. The line between the steel and iron can be seen along the edge of the NEWBOULD blade (see photo). The chisel is about 9½ inches in length. The length from the tip to the beginning of the exposed wood in the handle is about 7 inches.
The second chisel is lightly stamped JAMES CAM, who started in Sheffield in 1781, according to Goodman’s book on British plane-makers.
One of my scythes has a Shapleigh trade mark. This was changed to Diamond Edge in 1864.
Some of my Buck Brothers carving tools are from before the buck's head was incorporated into their trade mark circa 1870.
Buck Brothers Marks 2.jpg
One of my Stanley/Bailey planes is a type 4, 1874-1884.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
The wood on this Vesper joinery knife is 10000 year old Black Red Gum ...
See if you can beat that!
Regards from Perth
Derek
My oldest tool is a D. R. Barton drawknife that I can date to sometime between 1849 and 1874. It's my only drawknife and gets quite a workout whenever I decide to turn anything on my pole lathe.
I have two non-users...too brittle...There is a Disston from the 1850s..a No. 7, made before the eldest son joined the firm
There is also a rip saw, patent dates are on the underside of the split nuts....from 1868. Both are retired, just like me.
I think Derek wins! Very cool. I’ve always thought it would be cool to have a piece of a 1500 or so year old Cypress that a meth head burned down here in Florida a while back, but 10,000 years old is impressive.
Indeed! Where would you even get something like that?
"The key to a long life is when you start to die, don't"
I like Jim's Cam mortise chisel (upper one) the best so far. 18th century chisels like this are quite a bit lighter than the late 19th century joiner's mortise chisels we often see.
I have a nice James Cam skew chisel for turning. It is 1 1/4 inches wide and tapers from 5/16 down to less than 1/8 at the tip. It was probably around 3/32 thick at the tip when new, which makes for a nice tool. It has very fine steel. Quite a bit more skewed than the picture shows.
Cam skew.jpg
Last edited by Warren Mickley; 02-29-2020 at 9:34 PM.
Being up against you tool collectors leaves me in the dust. I won't even mention my father's hammer which I still have and treasure, ca. maybe 1950.
Now my #1 hobby, building vacuum tube audio equipment, here's a single-ended triode amplifier (foreground) with RCA Cunningham engraved UX-45 output tubes made in 1937. Still going 2.8 Watts per channel strong.
IMG_4506.jpg
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)