Did not want to hijack Jay’sexcellent thread on hand saws, but some there got sidetracked by the ‘nib” (Still jealous, Jay’s got more handsaws than me)
Attachment is a pix of a #7 Disston ‘nib’., or tisch’ others called’em.
BS as to just decoration per one website, you can put the BS detector on the following also. <G>
IMHO, GP and Pa are the ones to be beleived. Most of you young guys (those under 55) never grew up not knowing a sidewinder till a teen. Us ol’ folks had to learn hand control early to keep the kerf straight.
So, this ol boy learned to start a hnadsaw cut by putting your thumb up next to the line, and push/pull. Those big teeth on a ripsaw occasionally put a small cut in your tender thumb.
Now to the ‘nibs’. You collectors will note that the ripsaws (as the #7) usually have a nib while fine tooth crosscuts seldom do (just went into the shop and checked, I do not have a single 12 tooth or more saw with a nib).
What does that tell you – well, as Pop said, you put the straight part of the back of the blade against your thumb to start the cut, stroke about 10 times and the nib puts a small kerf in the board. Then remove your thumb (no cuts), turn and start the saw in the small kerf, and presto!, no more sawn up thumbs at the end of the day! I just tried it out again, and on a 1×6 oak plank, the saw started in the nib cut real slick.
Now the quiz, did JH just make this all up, or did Pop really tell me this??? – Hey with the woodshed gone, who is there to look at to test your IQ and BS detection quotient.
BTW, being from the same part of the country, I bet Boss Hog can add to this thread?
BTW2: That ‘living alone’ pix on PBS, they showed the guy sharpening his saw at the start of the show, but cannot tell what saw he had? Almost looked like a Disston #196? Anybody know?
Replies
Well all I know is this internet is one wonderful thing.
Free speech leads to a free society.
I worked at Colonial Williamsburg ..under the tutledge of the esteemed Roy Underhill...and I'll tell ya , it's all bogus.
The part in question, is nothing more, than pretty.
It may have uses, that have been concocted..but, as far as the consortium has gleaned...it was a decortive makers mark, nothing else, nothing more.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Sell your cleverness, Purchase Bewilderment"...Rumi
it's my reality, not yours!...
it's a sight..
it's for snagging lines..
it's for starting a rip cut..
and disston was just continuing the tradition.. which probably pre-dated disston..Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Back scratcher.6 16 17 97 99
another vote for decoration.
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
OK then U guys, if you ain't gonna beleive my Grandpa, how about this one?
A seminar on problem solving included the advice ' don't always take the advice of experts, they are often wrong', aka Roy U.; and for instance, Rutherford when he said people and pigs couldn't fly because they were heavier than air.
The Roman Emperor Diocletian was confronted with a case of the carpenters guild complaining that the sawmakers of Nicomedia were including too many carbon and slag particles in their stone saws, which were pretty pricey at 35 denarii (about $4K today) and that was impacting the construction of his retirement palace. He intended to retire as emperor, (one of the few who did) in part because of his desire to build structures.
Thus, it came to pass, that the Roman sawsmiths were required to have a small nib on the back of their saw to show that no slag particles larger than the nib were inclusions in the saw metal. This led to the famous phrase "vos miles militis mihi an improbus talea impumentum"! The solution Gaius came up with was to require the nib on the end of saws to show that a small circle could be forged on the iron, thus showing that there were no regular slag inclusions larger than the nib.
This explanation would have been lost in antiquity had not the phrase " Vos vilis puer non familiaris , Volo bonus chalybs!" led to the truth of the nibs as described in the chronicles of Dr Snezall Defrites in his description of finding Pompey's diaries of 79 AD, which included a description of saw nibs 200 years before they were decreed mandatory by G. Diocletian.
Don't have to be envious. As I said, I sold a lot of them over the years.
What makes me envious is your wealth of curiousity that can take you as far back as the Romans in search of an answer.[or the b*lls to fabricate such a story] Either one has impressed me. Thanks.
Tell us about the guy who put his eye out with the Yankee screwdriver.
6 16 17 97 99
What the...?are you sure it was me who had that story?I don't think so , but I'd like to hear it.
I'll buy that explanation Junkhound...no one would waste that many big hard to type words if it wasn't true.
blueJust because you can, doesn't mean you should!
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. There are some in here who think I'm a hackmeister...they might be right! Of course, they might be wrong too!
Junkhound
I would never argue what your pop's told you but I have to go along with the Sphere on this one.
Doug
I agree that the nub is purely decorative but..
I believe all the ideas as to it's use are correct. All of us in our trade use our tools in different ways than the manufacturer intended. Given time as with this nub everyone begins to think that was it's original purpose.
My grandfather taught me that it was useful for three things, to tie the leather string to that held the wooden tooth guard, to push against a nail while using one of the teeth to support a pencil striking a radius and for starting a kerf for sawing.
I never felt this was the intended purpose I always appreciated my grandfathers ingenuity to find a purposeful use for a seemingly useless item.
"being from the same part of the country, I bet Boss Hog can add to this thread?"
I don't think so, Tim.
Believe it or not - I've never seen a hand saw with a nib on it until I saw the picture you put in your post.
From the 1919 Disston catalogue:
"The "Nib" near the end of the handsaw has no practical use whatever, it merely serves to break the straight line of the back of blade and is an ornamentation only."
smooch..
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Sell your cleverness, Purchase Bewilderment"...Rumi
Actually, all I wanted was for somebody to take the time to do a web translate of my old high school (3 bad years they were) Latin and tell me how bad it was an' what it actually translates to.
Really? I can. And did.
cometicus su cesaruius, et novit un cum ladre.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Sell your cleverness, Purchase Bewilderment"...Rumi
I long ago quit believing everything that was printed in tool catalogs!