Selection of Cross cut saws from Charlie Smith
Saws and handles courtesy of Charlie Smith, Huntly. The attached PDF shows a close up of the handles and attaching mechanisms.
As a former and still working sawmiller Charlie has gathered a collection of old wood working tools over his 65 plus years that he has worked in the wood business. Featured in this photograph are three cross cut saws in fairly rusty condition but could be resurrected by an enthusiast. Unfortunately it was not possible to see the maker’s names on any of the models but Charlie is almost certain the middle one is a Scandinavian saw because the gullets are narrower than his thumb. This is not the case with the bottom saw where it is easy to insert a thumb into the gullet between the set of teeth and the raker and leads one to think that this is very likely to be an American made saw possibly a Disston. It is thought that it is getting on for a century, possibly much more, since some of these saws were made.
On the top saw according to internet sources, the saw tooth pattern of sets of three peg or plain teeth separated by a gullet is a common American arrangement and sometimes called a Crown or Great American tooth pattern which was designed for use on dry and medium to hard woods rather than softer woods of conifers. The wide body of this saw, and widening towards the middle, almost certainly indicates its main used for cutting through large pieces of wood or trees lying horizontally in an operation called cross cutting in this country and bucking in America. On checking the gauge of the blade metal it was found to be the same throughout the body of the saw from front to back and end to end. This would be described as a flat ground saw its length being approximately five feet. Charlie believes this is a very old saw.
The middle five foot saw, possibly Scandinavian, consists of groups of four cutters set alternately separated by an unset raker with gullets on each side. The "bridges" between the teeth form the perforations that give the saw its name of a perforated lance tooth pattern saw. The bridges give added strength to the teeth as well as reduced chatter when cutting harder or frozen wood. This pattern of saw was very commonly used in this country for felling softwoods such as pine and spruce. The gauge of the metal thins to the back of the saw fairly evenly across the length of the blade and it would seem this is an even taper ground saw.
The lower six foot and possibly Henry Disston saw has groups of four cutters set alternately separated by an unset raker with gullets on each side. The "bridges" between the teeth form the perforations, leading to the name perforated lance tooth saw, give the teeth strength as well as avoid chatter when cutting harder or frozen wood. This pattern of saw was very commonly used in this country for felling softwoods such as pine and spruce. The back of the saw was examined fairly carefully and it was noted that the gauge of the metal at the back near to the handles was less than the gauge of the metal where the teeth were formed. Further measurements confirmed that on the back towards the centre the gauge of metal was thinner yet again confirming that this was a crescent taper ground saw. At manufacture the blades would have been ground (crescent taper grinding) on an arc parallel with but starting well back from the curve of the front toothed edge, the grinding being more pronounced the further from this edge. The end result was on the back edge from the handle to the mid point the metal became progressively thinner and thickens again towards the other end. The gauge being partially maintained at the handle ends leads to a stiffer saw blade less likely to buckle and vibrate when sawing fast through a long kerf. It is said taper grinding is not now carried out anywhere in the world as the machinery has long since been discarded.
The saws in the photograph all have pin type handle attachments which are all similar but differ a little in detail. The pin is usually split part way up at one end to accept the saw blade and drilled to house a hand tight rivet which passes through one side of the pin into one of the holes in the saw blade and through to the pin on the other side. The solid part of the pin then passes through two small metal plates which saddle the wooden handle and finishes off with a wing nut which tightens the assembly firmly onto the saw blade. It was noticed that on some of the little handle saddle plates the inner one had integral mouldings which could allow the handle to be fixed to the saw blade when it was at right angles to the handles. This would be very unusual but sometimes tight felling situations might warrant this position. Some of the pins have a little over arm over the rivet hole which keeps the rivet captive when the handle is removed from the saw. In this case the rivet has a peened top at the arm end and can only be knocked out from the saw blade towards the captive arm. Other pins were split part way up and one half removed altogether and a rivet fixed in the remaining side standing proud to locate the hole in the saw blade (very similar to attachment for a hacksaw blade). The design points in these simple attachments are very elegant and practical, the result no doubt of decades of refinement.
We would welcome any observations and pointers to the makes of hand cross cut saws used in the past, information on taper grinding, sharpening experiences and the merits or otherwise of the American and Scandinavia versions. Very little of this Scottish information appears to be recorded anywhere.