An answer for the person who bought the St. Catharines saw

[sarir]

A short time ago some one posted a request for information about a saw they had purchased. The poster said that the etch was degraded but he thought he could read St. Catharines Ontario and the letters McM. I checked my usual resources and came up almost empty. Someone mentioned there was a reference in North American Saw Makers but no information. I appealed to a historian friend who works in Washington and he put me in touch with Sandra Enskat at the St. Catharines Library special collections department. She has kindly supplied me with this information.
The company name was McMillan & Haynes and they operated as the Lincoln Saw Works
Company History 1856-1887 operated by C R & J P Haynes (Charles & Jacob)
1887-1893 operated by C R & J P Haynes & A McMillan
The saw works were located at 100 St Paul St. Rear which would place it on the raceway for the 1st Welland Canal. They were about 2 blocks away from the J Flint Saw Works and ½ block away from the site of the R H Smith factory. I was not aware of this firm prior to now.
I also believe that Cosmo Shurly operated the Beaver Saw Works in this area. Sadly most of the factories in the area have been demolished and the downtown area of the canal filled in. They are presently building an Arts Centre & an arena where these buildings stood. I hope this helps.
Larry
Ps I'm interested if you have a desire to sell.

[Ryan in Edmonton]

Larry, always good to have more information on the various makers of that time. I picked up a half dozen Shurly Deitrich saws at the recent tool sale at Lee Valley in Edmonton. I have restored one of the backsaws so far. I'll be sure to keep you in mind in any of them have the McMillan & Hayes mark your talking about. Would love to see pics too.

[peter gern]

Hi Larry, I sent you a PM

Peter Gern

[kiwi]

Thanks for posting that information Larry.
I'm interested in St Catharines sawmakers and was wondering what type of saw was in the earlier post ? (backsaw, handsaw, bucksaw, 2 man crosscut ??)
The only McMillan & Haynes item I have is a jointer for crosscut saws, so I assumed they were making logging saws.
(Have also seen a C Haynes & Co Hamilton jointer, but don't know if there is any connection to the St Catharines Haynes)
G Haynes.JPG Mcmillan & Haynes.JPG

[sarir]

Hi Kiwi,
I believe it was a handsaw that he had. Sandra at the library has promised to dig some more and hopefully get some more info. I will post anything she can find.
Larry

[Aylmer Tom]

I'll be watching for one too. I picked up two Disston's a S&D, A Disston knock off(W/S with D8 style tote and bolt pattern) at one yard sale and a Disston backsaw of later make last week . That makes for way too many saws in the shop lol.

[Cowtown_eric]

Ryan...Down here in cowtown we was aware of the Edmonton LV sale, and quite frankly wondered if it would appear in some reiteration here in Calgary.

We all surmised and were generally in agreement from the description that the offerings had already been well picked over before heading west....

Can you comment on what was there and what pricing was like. Were there actually any "scarce" stuff or was it run of the mill fodder. I note that yer a saw afficianado, and saws particularly out of the CDN perspective are undervalued in the old tools world. Common disstons are a dime a dozen, but a Shurley or a Welland Vale just tickles me pink. It wouldn't suprise me that you bagged a deal or two, as most of the collector activity concentrates around planes. But even then, afficionados of the CDN plane makers are a scarce commodity east of the Lakehead.

My PnJ is a panther head...whats yers..

Recent scores are a DDD (disston dubble duty xcut/rip d17, and and F. Shurley meatsaw.....just in case I come across a dead cariboo eh!

Eric in Calgary,

sawrack2012.jpg

[kiwi]

That's a fine display of saws Eric.
(Looks like the rack is full tho, and you might need to add a dowell across just below the saw tips so that you can install another full row of saws with the blades pointing upwards)

Never mind the panther head saw, I've seen pictures of several of those yankee saws, what I'd like to find is the Canadian made Shurly & Dietrich "Princess" (and/or an "Empress") saw handle,
see p43 of the 1902 S&D catalogue on Toolerama.com http://toolemera.com/catpdf/shurlydi...Cat1902Sec.pdf

Regarding St Catharines made saws, I'm also interested in seeing a Welland Vale handsaw, can you post pictures ? (etch, medallion, etc ?)

[Cowtown_eric]

you'll notice there ain't no backsaws in that rack! That's another story. How that rack got that big is a story in itself too! And mind you, there is a stash of handsaws in the truck, and another few in the production shop. I do love my handsaws, and keep thinking I should take the pledge....hello my name is Eric and I'm a user......but somehow another interesting tidbit turns up at some garage sale, and next thing you know, there's a few more saws in the shop!

I'll try and dig out the welland Vale saw.....they were one of the companies who merged to form CCM making bicycles.it's one of our canuckoid way-back companies!

Regards

Eric in Calgary