Hi,

My name is Tom Opfell. I have had an interest in and collected handsaws for 
about 20 years now and own over 1000.

I believe that the actual purpose of the saw nib was, as Sandy Moss 
correctly stated, was to warn the operator that the end of the blade was 
near to prevent the saw from freeing itself from the kerf and perhaps 
injuring the hand holding the board. In his book "The Carpenter's Tool 
Chest" published in 1933, Thomas Hibben's states "the little nipple on the 
top of our saws has survived from the days when saws were pulled. Such a 
mark would serve to catch the carpenter's eye as he pulled back on the saw 
so that he stopped his pull before the blade came out of the cut."

Disston literature published circa 1900, states that the nib is purely 
decorative, serves to brake up the straight line of the back and serves no 
useful purpose. This would indicate that by this time most saw makers had 
forgotten the original purpose of the nib and retained it mearly as a 
decorative element of the past that gave the buyer sense of tradition and 
high quality. Disston was one of the last of the American Saw makers to 
retain the "nib" on it's "old line" models up until 1928 when the company 
redesigned it's product line.

The "skewback" handsaw, patented by Henry Disston in 1874, never had a "nib" 
because the curved shape of the back was not only a decorative element in 
itself, but was also a radical departure from the traditional look and was 
intended to have a "new" and "modern" look. The "nib" would have looked 
totally out of place on such a modern handsaw.

The carpenter's folklore tales of the nib being there to secure a leather 
(or string) strap of a wooden blade guard, using the nib to start a cut or 
to cut through nails, or the owner of a new saw snapping off the nib to test 
it's temper, etc., were apparently believed by about 25% of the saw owners 
of the late 19th- early 20th centuries, judging by the number of saws seen 
with their nibs broken off.

I would also like to comment on the other saw topic of late, "16th Century 
Handsaws". Most of the saws in use by carpenters and cabinetmakers in Europe 
at this time were frame or bow saws. This would encompass a wide variety of 
shapes and sizes but could be defined as being a narrow web(blade) held in 
tension by a wooden frame of some sort. Handsaws (thin metal plate with a 
handle on one end) have been known since the bronze age, but were much less 
commonly used than the frame saw in the 16th Century.

Paintings, drawings, etchings, etc. of the 14th- 16th Centuries show 
handsaws looking somewhat like a toothed sword or a long knife with a 
straight handle and often a curved blade anywhere from 10" to 50" in length.

Circa the 17" Century these sword like handsaws began to evolve with a 
curved or "L" shaped handle, with the curved handles resembling the handle 
of an umbrella and the "L' shaped handles often have a small bump (horn) in 
the corner near the top of the operators hand. The blades were fairly narrow 
and usually had a tang that the handle was driven on to. The handles were 
often made from bone, horn, or wood.

The modern handsaw began to take shape in the 18th Century with the "T" 
shaped handle taking on more of the form that we now call an "open handle", 
that was becoming more gracefully carved with three horns. These saws would 
look more like what we know as a "table or pruning" saw today. Also after 
1700, rivets began to replace the tang for holding the handle in place. 
After 1750 when cast steel began to replace iron, the blades were becoming 
wider, more often cutting on the push stroke, and the larger "closed' handle 
started to become popular. By about 1780 the flat head split screw started 
to became popular.

Most people tend to date their saw much earlier than it's actual age. Very 
few pre 1800 saws exist today. Saw makers continued to produce "old style" 
models 100 or more years after "new styles" had come in vouge. Some English 
makers continued to produce saws that were nearly identical to some 16th and 
17th Century carpenter handsaws up until the 1850's and sold them as pruning 
saws.

Please consider all dates given as general guidelines and try to realize 
that two saws that look as if they could have been made 200 years apart, 
also could have been produced on the same day in 1840. The best way to date 
an early handsaw is with an established maker's mark. Without that it could 
be anybodies guess and value will be determined by the overall appearance of 
the tool.

Tom Opfell

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