Check out this saw!!! *LINK*

Wow!

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>There�re pieces of art not saws...

Why?

Jack Guzman from Maine

>I'm not questioning the making of such a beautiful saw,just wondering what it's application is.

Wayne? Has a halfback saw been produced in the past? What for? Anyone else that knows feel free to chime in.---Jack

Re: Why?

Todd Hughes

>I have two original ones.The saw that really got me collecting saws was a rare open handle Mcniece half back. Me and a friend was at an auction where they sold a big pile of saws for $5...back then [maybe 7 years ago] big whoop I wasn't interested in saws because they were a hard sell at shows, I was more interested in primitive tools.Boy scares me to think of what other tools I missed! Anyway the guy picks up the saws and this beautiful little half brass back saw falls on the ground. Even slow head me knew that was an unusual saw. My old tool friend looks at me and said "Sh*t how did we miss THAT!?" I'm not shy so walked over to the buyer and asked him if he wanted to sell one of those saws. Asked which one and I pointed to the small half back. he said sure he paints them and that one is kind of small to paint give me $3[!]...Now who knows how many hundereds of saws later that was the one that started it.

Looking in my old 1919 Disston catalog it says that thier half back saw [a no.8] combines the advantage of a Hand saw and a back saw. I believe the thinking here is that you can have a thinner blade like a back saw but still be able to cut though a board like a bench saw.Judging by the large number of these saws I don't see I don't think it was somthing many people thought they needed.

This new saw looks to be very well made, no surprise there seeing who made it but is a little to "busy" for my conservative tasts .....Todd...p.s. will dig around tomorrow and try to find an old half back to show you all

My first gloat

Christopher Schwarz

>You know, I've never openly gloated about a tool. But I cannot resist.

That's my saw.

Wayne built it for me a few months ago and it is � hands down � my favorite saw.

Halfbacks are rare birds. Several saw makers made them, though never in great numbers. The idea never caught on with consumers. I've always wondered about them and after getting beat out on eBay on a couple of them, I asked Wayne to make me one based on the Disston version.

After a few months of heavy use, I've concluded that halfbacks are like the Stanley #62 plane. They're rare, but they're useful today in a world that values versatility of a single tool over having a large quantity of specialized ones.

The halfback excels at cabinetry and chairmaking jobs. It's long enough to crosscut most stuff for cabinet-sized work. And the short brass back makes it stiff enough for a surprising number of joinery operations. I've notched out a fair number of corners with it, even defined a few dado shoulders.

It also is fantastic for chair work (which I've been doing a lot of lately). The shorter blade gets in spaces my full-size saws won't go.

Wayne and I both spent some serious time researching the saw, and I convinced a couple people to send me measurements of their tools (thanks especially to Pete Taran). We found that the Disston blade was indeed taper-ground and resembled almost perfectly the same thickness grinding found on the Disston #12. I pulled photos and measurements of vintage halfbacks into CAD, scaled it all, sent it to Wayne and (using a donor blade) he took it *completely* over the top with the swan shape at the toe and the beautiful brass work.

The handle also is a little thicker than the standard Disston model, but it is a perfect match for me.

I look for excuses to use it.

Thanks so much Wayne. You deserve my first ever gloat.

Chris

OK Chris-

Dave Anderson Chester,NH

>You know the drill. There is a standard Old Tools reply for such a gloat. So I won't bother...

You.....

Congratulations to both you and Wayne. It's truly a beautiful saw.

Re: OK Chris-

Christopher Schwarz

>You don't know how long I've waited to hear those two little words...

Thanks Dave!

cms

Re: My first gloat

Matt Dworman

>Chris, that is the most well deserved "You Suck" I have ever seen. What a beauty! Use it in good health and write a bunch about it in your next issue!

Matt

Re: My first gloat

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>So, will you be taking it along when you teach that LN class? :)

Pam

The swan is a stylistic master stroke!

Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia

>Can't say that I am likely to buy one myself for purely financial reasons (No, I do not want to know... :-) but from a purely stylistic point of view, I don't think we will see better.

To quote briefly from Keats (Endymion):

A thing of beauty is a joy forever

Though a humble tool, it is surely worthy of that description.