GG's
-----------------------------------------------
Tom asks...
Correct me if I am wrong, but were the Davis level's first
manufactured in the Middle Ages, or did those come about during the height
of the Victorian era when excessive decoration was at it's peak.

-------------------------------------------------

Davis scroll work??? the height of Victorian excess?
He was restrained compared to the late 1500's and early 1600's

1570
www.petermcbride.com/temp/images/1570.jpg
1644
www.petermcbride.com/temp/images/1644.jpg
early 17th century
www.petermcbride.com/temp/images/early17thcentury.jpg

DECORATION....shame we are in plain text...is there a more decorative font
I can use to write that word???

Saws might be saws might be saws...but decoration is another topic all
together.

Many other craftsmen including the compass smiths were in workshops
probably right next door to the saw makers in the 1500's, and for centuries
after that maybe.
Why deny the saw makers the same creative urge.
2000 years ago In Pompeii, on the walls of the House of Vetti, the using of
tools was decoration on the walls.
http://www.petermcbride.com/jewellery_tools/vetti_cupids.jpg

Why is so hard to believe that decoration for its own sake is perfectly
alright in the mind of the maker and user of tools some 300+ years
ago....or even in Roman times.

The ends of the arms on squares from roman times and through the middle
ages were often terminated with decorative curves...perhaps to warn the
user they were near to end of the square....as a visible warning device to
stop moving the inked nib. :-))

Regards
Peter
In Melbourne, VIC Australia

------------------------------------------------------------------------