Here are pictures from my latest tenon saws. For one I was working with a really old pattern, not only the rounded cheeks that I like so much, but with a style of fasteners predating the brass split nuts.
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| Left side |
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| Right side - castellated style of nuts |
I replicated the castellated style of nuts used on a few of the early to mid 1700 saws that exist in several museum's collections. I couldn't bring myself to peen the rivet end into place, so I did an experiment with fine threads. Looking through my books I am aware of three saws that have this style. The White saw in the collections of the Stanley-Whitman House; a William Smith pictured in Tools for Working Wood In Eighteenth Century America, by Jay Gaynor; and this one pictured in Classic Hand Tools, by Garrett Hack.
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| White Tenon Saw |
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| William Smith (1718-1750) replacement handle |
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| Hack |
The rivets on the saw from Hack's book are hard to see, but they are definitely square. They may or may not have the decorative filings that appear on the Smith saw (I also have it on very good authority that the White saw has the same style).
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| Smith saw rivets close-up |
One of these days I'll make a saw and rivet it in place, but in the meantime, I'll stick to the split nuts.
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| Dad's Christmas present -18in tenon saw |
Gaynor, James M., and Nancy L. Hagedorn. Tools: Working Wood in Eighteenth-Century America. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1993.
Hack, Garrett. Classic Hand Tools. Newtown, Conn.: Taunton Press, 1999.
