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Thread: Saw nib

  1. #31
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    I don't actually have a saw with a nib so I can't experiment, but if I did I would give two things a try to see if they amount to anything. I would try the idea of using the nib as a nicker to create a starting point for the saw cut by holding the saw upside down(teeth up) and running the backedge of the saw along side my thumb and drawing back the saw to nick the corner and create the starting point. This would produce a slight roundover that would seem to make starting a cut simpler.

    Also, I am now thinking, since the nicker idea doesn't seem to be flying, is that the nib might be a simple way, coupled with a straightedge, to simply scribe a line on the board for the intended cutting line. Use the same tool to mark the line and then cut it. Who knows, it just might work?

  2. #32
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    The nib is so you can use the saw as a compass. Drive a nail and hook it with the nib, put your pencil point in a tooth gullet and swing an arc.

    Brian
    The significant problems we encounter cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.

    The penalty for inaccuracy is more work

  3. #33
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    I would try the idea of using the nib as a nicker to create a starting point for the saw cut by holding the saw upside down(teeth up) and running the backedge of the saw along side my thumb and drawing back the saw to nick the corner and create the starting point.
    This has not only been tried in the past, it is likely the most common reason for missing nibs.

    Using the horns of the handle to control a saw makes it easy to start a cut without some other means of starting a kerf.

    A marking knife is often used to make such a starting point and would be quicker to do when marking the cut than changing one's grip on a saw to first mark with the nib and then flip the saw and cut.

    Anyone care to finish what is in actuality the real answers to the saw nib question?
    I would love to but there is a lot on my plate for today.

    It would be quite enjoyable to spin an elaborate tale about a son taking over his father's saw making business. Yet he wanted a way to show the world that he was "Newly In Business"... And thus, the NIB was born.

    Now isn't everyone happy there wasn't time for me to wright a 2,000 word essay to get to that?

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  4. #34
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    Nope.....it was used by the journeyman to pull on the apprentice's plumb bob string, without the lad seeing what was going on.
    If the thunder don't get you, the lightning will.

  5. #35
    drawing the saw itself backwards (on the teeth) would do better to make a starting point for a cut. If we were going to figure out what the nib was for with certainty, we'd already know it. It's not cutting or marking, though, as the last thing you'd want (comparing it to a nicker on a plane) is an unsupported long blade - the nib would had to have been placed close to the handle for that where it would be rigid.

    At this point, there's no great reason to guess about it. George's answer seems the most reasonable as far as an educated guess goes, but it really doesn't matter.

  6. #36
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    No carpenter would use a saw to probe for a stud when installing a window where one was not previously. He would have just knocked a hole in the plaster and lath about where the middle of the window would be with a hammer, and gone from there- much like plumbers do today when needing to access a pipe behind sheetrock.

  7. #37
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    So no one agrees with mu assumption of using the nib as a back scratcher????
    If the thunder don't get you, the lightning will.

  8. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Zaffuto View Post
    So no one agrees with mu assumption of using the nib as a back scratcher????
    "Hey tony, what happened to your sweater?"

  9. #39
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    Maybe they could probe for electric wires or soft copper water pipes!!

    How the devil can you use the nicker to scribe a line? I'd like to see anyone get the nicker down on the wood since it is flush or below the level of the saw's back. And,as mentioned,it is round,and not a suitable shape to start a mark for cutting. It is also thinner than the toothed edge is. How are you going to start a saw in a cut thinner than the teeth?

    As for using the nibbed end to lay against a squared board to mark another board square,that would be infinitely easier to do with a saw that had no nib. Just use the straight saw back. It is much longer than 2" of saw in front of a nib.

    Let's try to keep these possibilities reasonably within the realm of reason.
    Last edited by george wilson; 11-18-2014 at 5:28 PM.

  10. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by george wilson View Post
    How the devil can you use the nicker to scribe a line? I'd like to see anyone get the nicker down on the wood since it is flush or below the level of the saw's back. And,as mentioned,it is round,and not a suitable shape to start a mark for cutting. It is also thinner than the toothed edge is. How are you going to start a saw in a cut thinner than the teeth?
    See George, the examples I have seen are the nib being proud of the back of the saw. If they are in fact recessed then nib is an entirely wrong term. Maybe in that case it would be dip instead of nib. Nib to me conjurs the picture of a bump but not a transition from a lower level to a higher level. Pure and simple its a small raised feature. The mystery lives on. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...?58972-Saw-nib
    Last edited by Keith Outten; 11-19-2014 at 7:24 AM. Reason: Removed personal comment

  11. #41
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    Please look more closely,Pat. The nib is flush or even slightly below the back of the saw. We made our copies of the Kenyons with actual UNUSED originals on hand. We made the backs straight,sheared down the first few inches of the front edge,and hand filed the round nib into the metal. So,does that make it a half nib,a nibbet,a niblet?(You can buy them by the can full !) Dip won't do. That implies a divot in the back.

    I take it JK means just kidding? I am nearly 74.

  12. #42
    There once was a nib on a saw
    Whose mystery left us in awe
    With mostly dumb uses
    Or lost through abuses
    It should be considered a flaw
    Last edited by John Coloccia; 11-18-2014 at 10:25 PM.

  13. #43
    Fine writing ,John!

  14. #44
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    Quote Originally Posted by george wilson View Post
    Please look more closely,Pat. The nib is flush or even slightly below the back of the saw. We made our copies of the Kenyons with actual UNUSED originals on hand. We made the backs straight,sheared down the first few inches of the front edge,and hand filed the round nib into the metal. So,does that make it a half nib,a nibbet,a niblet?(You can buy them by the can full !) Dip won't do. That implies a divot in the back.

    I take it JK means just kidding? I am nearly 74.
    Yes, just kidding George. By the way, you are not quite old enough to be my father unless you were very active as a young teenager.

  15. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mel Fulks View Post
    Fine writing ,John!
    ^ +1. You have a future in this

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