This table saw question leads me to ask for a comparison to the "ship 
saw" offered by Disston and others. Is the ship saw a renamed "table 
saw". The Disstonian institute says they were for cutting curves in 
ships but the scarfing/kerfing makes some sense. This is actually a 
fairly common practice in all forms of carpentry for final fitting, I 
saw my father do it when needed on many projects. Many carpenters 
carried a well worn old saw with a narrow tip for a reason.
Mike

ruby@m... wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:57:41 +0100
>  Richard Wilson  wrote:
>   
>> Peter asks about table saws:
>>     
>>> Ray, and other Sheffield saw freaks...
>>> I would love to know what these table saws were used
>>>       
>> for.
>>     
>
>
> GG
>
> I looked it up in Salaman's and here is the gist of a long
> description:
>
>
> tapering narrow blade, open handle, 12-26" long, 7-8 teeth
> per inch,  SOME DESIGNED FOR PULL STROKE!!!
>
> in later times - largest blade in a nest  (Marples in 1965
> had this)
>
> Holtzappfel "intended for cutting sweeps of long radius"
>
> Has not come across this saw in ship work, and no
> convincing description has come along (as of 1975).
>  Conjecture about cutting out table tops seems unreasonable
> as shops would have a Bow Saw.
>
> Plausible theory is for trueing the tabling of scarf joints
> in beams and girders.  A narrow tapering saw used in the
> pull stroke would be an advantage. This may be why tool
> dropped out of use about 1920 as this type of construction
> was replaced with reinforced concrete and steelwork
>
>
>
> Seems to this humble part time shipbuilders that if it
> worked for the scarfs of beams and girders, it would work
> for the scarfs of ship construction - I had best get one of
> these!
>
> Ed Minch
>
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