On 1/25/2009, "Peter Evans"  wrote:


>Interesting how much the saw looks like a Sheffield one from this period.
>Can one really talk about a US saw industry before the 1870 or so Disston
>innovations? Or are the US makers really a "branch" of Sheffield, just like
>Birmingham?
>

At the risk of inflaming transatlantic passions,  at that time (1850's),
the Sheffield made saws were superior to US made product and
that the market wanted saws that "looked like" Sheffield saws.

Remember, that most saw makers were importing their steel from
Sheffield at that time anyway. And,  Henry Disston was a bit coy about
letting the market know where his early crucible steel came from..

So the environment was one in which US saw makers were simply
copying Sheffied because that's what the market wanted.

Disston's innovations, that "Disston Style" came later.

Now, we can ask,  (hushed aside)  why did he bother to copy the nib?

Regards
Ray
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