On Jul 11, 2008, at 5:11 PM, Tom Opfell wrote:
> 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."

	I share the skepticism of Mr. Reynolds and others regarding the  
explanation advanced by Thomas Hibbens, and I wonder what his source  
might have been, beyond being a member of club of "the nib MUST have  
a practical, functional purpose, so I'll invent one."  And if "saws  
were pulled" means that they cut on the pull stroke, just when was  
that, in Europe?
	I don't have 1,000 handsaws, but I do use my handsaws, including  
several with their original nibs.  I watch the cutting line, not the  
top edge of the blade, and like others have said, the saw is moving  
too fast to see the nib in action.  "Catch the eye," indeed.  Anyone  
who uses strokes so long that he pulls the saw out the top of the  
kerf needs to improve his technique, I think.  I will go further, and  
suggest that the idea that the sawyer watched the rising of the nib  
in order to avoid pulling the blade out of the kerf, is insulting to  
the many saw users who preceded us.  They had more sense that that  
then, and we ought to have more sense than that now.
		Tom Holloway

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