saws that was used by the printing industry.

The saw shown in the pics above appears to my eye that it might possibly have been made by a skilled craftsman, perhaps a pattern maker or someone with similar skills, rather than manufactured as a commercially-sold machine – although the latter also is possible, because I have seen wooden “saw tables” dating from the late 1800s.

It has some similarities to my F. Wesel saw, but to my knowledge, F. Wesel machines were always mostly cast iron and steel, not entirely wooden as that one is. My theory is that this saw was made by a talented and skilled craftsman. And I would place its age at more around the turn of the 20th Century, like 1890s – 1920s, rather than 1940s, but that’s just my SWAG based on lots of other machines I’ve seen.

Whatever it is, it’s a way cool machine!

“Regarding the saw the guy got from a printing shop, at first I thought it might be a Hammond Glider Saw, which is highly sought after by woodworking people because it is so accurate and has a calibrated sideguide which can accurately take a “hair” off something, etc., etc. But the Hammond saws, as were all other brands too, all were completely made of metal.

The saw that’s shown is not something which was made commercially, for I have never seen anything like it in the many shops I have visited over the years. If it came from a printing shop, it most likely was used for cutting wood blocks to underlay “cuts” (illustrations) which were made by a photoengraving process. But as I say, it’s likely homemade . . . probably someone got tired of the inaccurate cutting of the wood underlayment and created this saw to make the work more accurate.”