Stephen Shepherd in the State of Deseret
>At the local swap today, I picked up a few nice old tools from a fellow I have bought stuff from in the past. He wanted $5.00 for a socket chisel, rosewood handle putty knife, tapered square reamer (nice long old one) and a folding corkscrew (nice old one).

Then I noticed the box that had the old tools and inquired. He said $30.00, empty. I got the box a diminutive reinforced tool box made mostly of poplar, in the mid nineteenth century, cut nails, nice old green paint on the outside. He threw in the other tools and I got it all for thirty dollars.

When I got home, I noticed something under the inside edge of the bottom and removed the blade shown below. It is a 10 tpi, 14" (between holes) 7/8" wide rip web blade made by PS Stubs. It has no set, is ground tapered (not on each end) and has never been used and it appears it has never been sharpened other than at the factory. It has a belly to the saw but it is uniform, the back side is concave and the tooth side is convex.

I am not sure what to do with it nor exactly how old it is. If it is an older blade in original condition, perhaps it should be preserved. I am tempted sharpen it up a bit an use it but maybe I shouldn't. There is also what might be remnants of a paper lable on one side.

I think this blade slipped under the side of the tool box and remained hidden until today.

What do you think I should do with it?

Stephen