[masraum]

Originally Posted by daepp

Ok, I'm the idiot in the room, what's that "nib" for on top of the saw blade?

Originally Posted by Crowbob

To scribe the piece to be cut instead of sawing through your thumbnail. Invert the saw, using your thumb as a backstop for the saw, make a notch with the nib, right the saw, make the cut, invent a new swear word.

I'm a member of a few facebook old hand tool groups including one that's dedicated specifically to saws. I've heard that a couple of times.

I've also heard more than one of the resident experts say that's probably not the case. More than one person has said "try it and you'll find the nib will break off".

The current consensus among the most knowledgeable folks is "it's for decoration". Most of the saws with nibs are old, and that's back when "simple" tools were still very expensive and had more decoration.

Originally Posted by Zeke

I have looked for the reason for the nib and the overwhelming consensus is no one knows. It's been there since saws were made on some.

If you do as you say on a cross cut, it will rip the corner off the board giving you the last thing you want to see. On a rip it might not make any difference but you mostly see nibs on crosscut saws. At least that has been my experience.

I have a small collection of old saws and I've sharpened and set a few with mixed results. Nothing beats a machine but old timers had to sharpen on the job. I suspect as with anything, some did it better than others.

I worked as a super for a 2nd gen contractor whose father was a Swedish carpenter from the old country. I worked with another Swedish carpenter old enough to be my dad. These guys taught me a lot.

One of the great stories was about hand saw sharpening. As it was told, once done with the saw, the carpenter would angle the saw down say 30º with the teeth up. He then placed a needle at the handle end and it was expected to slide down the row of teeth between the sets and sharpening angles. Each tooth is sharpened at 2 angles WRT to the blade and then set.

Running the outside of the teeth gently along a stone one time produced perfection.

That's fascinating info. Thanks for posting.