Old Timey Saw Blade: Part 5

I said I didn’t want to go down the rabbit hole. Yet here I am.

I’ve ordered a 30″ bowsaw blade from Amazon (link).
It’s not what I wanted but it’s cheap and it’s what I can find. I’m reasonably sure it’ll work even if it looks less than cool. I’ll keep the more massive old blade until I can get it sharpened and in the meantime consider the saw “sporterized”.

There will be an after action report once Amazon delivers and I test the saw.

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I started wondering about the age of this critter. I suspect chainsaws are what put bucksaws in the retirement home. Chainsaws got serious maybe sometime around WW2? So that indicates bucksaws went full Betamax around 70 years ago? (It’s just a guess.)

As an antique it’s worth jack shit. People hang ’em on walls in restaurants and stuff and it’s worth well under $50 as a wall hanger. Nobody gets worried about “provenance” if it’s just a decoration. Thus, I don’t know how old it is.

I did find this:

The Saw In History says “Fig. 22 shows an excellent type of this saw [bucksaw] in it’s modern form.” I take “modern” to mean “when the book was published” and that’s 1916. Mine isn’t exactly the same. I’m sure I’ve got the Walmart version that’s a little planer and it’s possibly slightly newer. Nevertheless it looks like 102 year old technology. Cool.

I’m all for preserving at least the knowledge of, and ability to use, old things. Hmm…. suddenly I feel like shooting some of my older rifles. No! What am I saying? Time to bring out one of my muzzleloaders and blast away at the 80 yard target (an old barrel). I’m sure the saw will approve.

Adaptive “Rabbit Hole” Curmudgeon