A pretty special Richardson Bros. Saw (pics warning)

[tshiker]

Absolutely fantastic! That saw is literally a piece of history! It's interesting to me how little we know about the tool makers of the past and every once in a while a new clue is found. The one Richardson saw I have is a small backsaw and has the more common X medallion and no etch. Thanks for sharing!

[Daryl Weir]

Thanks for the kind replies everyone!

Mark aka sawnuts, I don't know much about the "Challenge" on the ribbon or banner, but if I were to speculate it might have been Richardson putting a challenge out to other saw manufacturers to produce a better saw than they were making. I used the SWAG method to come up with that!
 Some of these makers have little information out there to go on. Wiktor (wkfinetools) has some good information on his site but nothing really about the Challenge meaning.

Joshua, if you believe that's the saw find of the year, that means something to me, as I know you see quite a few tools in your neck of the woods.

Pedder, I'll see if I can get the handle scanned in the future. My 88 year old mother has been in the hospital so that's the reason for my slow response here.

Daddo & Admiral, This saw hailed from around the Milford, Connecticut area, at least that's where the seller was from. I did a little search on the Seymour name and there was a prominent family in that area that appeared to have some wealth. I'm sure this was a pretty expensive saw in it's day, one that I'm sure not every Tom, Dick & Harry could afford. By the looks of it, it lived a pretty sheltered life but as to where and what in, I'll probably never know. It is pretty amazing a saw that's more than likely 140 years old can survive in this condition.

I also did a little search when I first bought it to see if another one existed. An earlier Richardson No.15 turned up on Matt Cianci (used to go by Mattsworld on here I think) site . The only thing is it doesn't have a Rosewood handle?

[RonB1957]

I think of the same questions when looking at many vintage tools. I guess those thoughts come with age, of both the tool and the observer.

     I would tend to agree. Perhaps because when you develop a history with a few favorite tools they bring back memories. And that takes time working the tools to achieve a goal. Funny thing. I don't remember as much about the power tools I have used over the years, but the hand tools I seem to recall. Perhaps the tactile feel during use is what triggers it. Who knows?
    Hey Darrell, I do like that handle on that saw. The lambs tongue, not so much.
I was wondering how high the center of the grip hump from the bottom of the tooth line when sat on the work bench is. It would affect the balance. I have been looking at the range of the grip heights on various saws recently. It seems 4.5" to 5" is a pretty good height. Searching for that magic ratio of grip height to plate height and length. :
A curious fool wants to know.
Best wishes

[Pedder]

Daryl, sure no need to rush! Hope your mother is doing fine!

Cheers PEdder

[Daryl Weir]

Ron,

The grip height is right around 4.5" which would have been higher than that originally, as I know the blade is not at full factory width.

I don't mind the lambs tongue on this one but everyone has varying opinions on what looks good and doesn't, just read the all the woodworking forums. That's just the way it is and always will be. Some individuals, on other forums especially, get pretty blatant about what's right and what isn't . Their eye is the only good eye because they have had proper training. 

The world would be a pretty dull place if everyone liked the same thing!

---

Pedder,

My mother is doing fine right now and is out of the hospital. Her bypasses from about 15 years ago had started blocking up and they were able to go put 3 stents in to open them up.

Here's the scanned pictures, sorry for them being a little blurry. For scaling purposes, the medallion is 15/16". The maximum dimension from the top of the horn to the bottom of the lower horn is 4 13/16". Hope this helps you out and anyone else that is interested.

[Pedder]

Hi Dave,

thanks a lot for the scan. I think I'm going tio change the theme of our bigger handsaws in the direction of Richardson.



Cheers
Pedder