The Unknown Tooth
Char Miller-KingDescription
I’m not a huge hand tool guy, but I do have some nice handsaws in my shop. A few of them were given to me by my mentor George Johnson. One of those saws, a rip saw, has a weird little tooth or hook on its top edge, near the far end of the blade. I’ve often wondered what the deal was with that tooth, and took advantage of Char Miller-King being in the shop to talk it through.
Char’s guesses
Char had a few ideas about the tooth. Is it an indicator of where to stop on the pull stroke so you don’t pull the saw out of the kerf? Could it be related to nails in boards?
From George
Some people say it could have to do with hanging the saw on a wall, but there are reasons that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Maybe it’s a “starter tooth” that you would use first to create a starting point for cuts.
The bottom line
At the end of the day, neither Char nor George know exactly what The Unknown Tooth is all about. But it’s very fun to speculate why it was once added to handsaws. If you have an idea, leave it in the comments.
More about handsaws
Whether you’re a hand tool user or not, handsaws definitely have a place in a wood shop. Get the lowdown on handsaws to help you choose the best saw for your shop.
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5 Responses to “The Unknown Tooth”
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I've been an eighteenth century restoration blacksmith making tools and hardware for over fifty years. If you really do some research you will find that the "nib" you are talking about goes back to at least the 12th century. It can be found on hand saws of all types even curved saws. The older the saw is the more elaborate the nib is, basically because like many older tools it was a form of decoration with no technical purpose at all.
To quickly identify a rip saw instead of a cross cut
According to Dilltons and sons handbook for woodworker the nib has no purpose other than breaking the line of back of the saw and as a decoration
I would guess it is a 'nib' (not a tooth) to hook one end (or a leather loop on that end) of a full length tooth guard around, as the other end would just hook onto the heel of the blade. Seems more plausible than what George and Char were proposing. Those nibs were on saws for a couple of centuries or so. There had to be a practical reason to create that much more work for the saw maker.
could it be a buffer??