Hand Saw: Plate, Teeth, Temper and Handle

Hand saws were made like this in the saw works of the 1880s. Steel plate is sheared to the outline of the blade and the teeth are punched in a press. The toothed plate is heated to a light cherry red and plunged into a bath of oil, tallow, rosin and beeswax, which leaves it as brittle as glass; it is then flattened between heated dies until it reaches a blue, the colour of spring temper. After smithing and grinding, the teeth are set, bent alternately left and right, and filed sharp, and a wooden handle is riveted on. Today the plate is laser cut and the teeth are ground and flame hardened.