I didn’t know Frog Tool Company was still in business! I have no idea who the maker is, but someone else may know.

Good luck with your handles.

Stephen

This blade looks great although it is not properly sharpened and bears a logo of 3 crowns with the words “cast steel made in Germany” dose any one know what company this is? The man at Frog Tools did not know and I assume this saw may have been siting around frog tools storage facility for some time by the looks of the bird crap on the box.

Welcome and good luck in your search. If you find one or more let me know.

Stephen

Thanks for the comment, I will have to look into the India source as I would like to get a pit saw myself, and I don’t know why? As for the big bandsaw blade and the high hook tooth not being able to use human power to operate could also be a result of lack of weight in the frame.

Also pit saws, open or framed were used for cutting green unseasoned logs, which cut much easier than dried and seasoned wood.

Stephen

I also tried to make a frame pitsaw using big bandsaw blades. The high-hook teeth were too aggressive for human power when I tested them in a temporary set up. I may still re-grind the teeth and try again.

Tom Dowling

Thanks for your comments and I will try and I will try and address your questions. It is not unusual to see boards cut on an up down saw and the edges dressed with a circular saw, a function that it does well.

The roughness and unevenness can be a result of the particular log, the dullness of the teeth and the moisture content of the wood, but almost all wood was cut green. The unevenness that may look like planer marks may be shrinkage during drying and seasoning over the years.

The carriage that holds and moves the log is generally operated by a rack gear mechanism, some had weight driven carriages, which would produce irregular marks, whereas the gear mechanism the spacing is much more uniform.

Maybe others will add their comments.

Stephen

The thing I’m most puzzled by is why there’s so much shagginess to the surface of the 18th century period boards, the same surfaces that also show the straight saw cuts as described, but not on all such boards either. It looks kind of like they were run through a primitive planer in a wicked hurry, and it could be one of those was available at the same mill nearby I surmise, but I don’t see the usual telltale planer marks at all. Of course, where the boards were finished on one side for paneling, there’s good evidence of hand-planing, but the shagginess I’m referring to is not at all like that. I’ve never used a scrub plane, but I would think that would leave marks more like a spoon leaves when dragged across ice cream, as I do see here and there where things were clearly hand planed.

Do the huge teeth, when combined with a rapid feed rate on up and down saws, perhaps especially when dull, leave such shaggy surfaces, almost as if it were riving almost as much as cutting? I would welcome any comments on this ranging from definite knowledge to rank speculation.

And BTW, though, I mean if you were going to create a pen-name for your wooden prose, wouldn’ you pick something like “John Strong Oak” or “Frank Teakwether, as opposed to “Joe Cottonwood?” And if you really wanted to go in that direction anyway, why not go all the way, with something like say “Jo Tulipopple?”

I don’t know currently if they are available, there are a couple of saw makers talking about making them. So they may become available again, or maybe they are still available somewhere.

Good Luck, I will look around myself.

Stephen

Ron