Quote Originally Posted by Kees Heiden View Post
Not aesthetics, allthough nice aesthetics never hurt of course. It's about what makes a really good backsaw and with that question we are back to the OP of this thread (if he is still around ).

I don't think the quality of the steel is the most important aspect of what makes a really good backsaw. It's more about the balance of all factors, a back that isn't too heavy but also not too light, about the hangangle of the handle and how the horns embrace you hand. It's about the thickness of the blade and especially about the setup of the teeth. It's about the depth of the blade below the spine, not too little, but certainly not too much.

I am afraid that the current makers of mass produced western saws really have no idea what they are making, despite labels telling us that their plastic handle is so "ergonomic".
Mass produced saws are sold on the mass market of the borgs and other local hardware stores. Mostly the target customer isn't someone looking for a saw worthy of fine joinery or being handed down for generations. A century ago many saw owners knew how to sharpen their saws.

My father told me how when he was young many farms had landing strips and a lot of rural folks owned their own airplanes. When it came time to run the machinery for planting or harvest they couldn't afford a two week delay for shipping a part to keep their vital equipment running. Likewise a person couldn't take time to run into town to buy a new saw so they could fix a barn door or a broken gate.

A century ago, saws were sold in mass to people who were either making a living or were maintaining their farms and businesses with the tools they were buying. Many of them didn't have the luxury of 15 minute trip to the nearest store to grab a new saw if their old one wasn't doing the job.

A $10 saw in 1900 was a much bigger (and better) investment than a $10 saw in 2000. In 1900 the average saw buyer wasn't looking for the least expensive saw. In 2000 the average buyer was likely looking for a saw to help his daughter or son build a doghouse or some other weekend project and then hang it in the garage on a nail. Many modern saws even come with a hang hole for this purpose.

Never forget the power of 'the race to the bottom' on the quality of tools. If a company is losing sales to a less expensive product, then either the company needs to find a way to cut cost or fail. For some reason the idea of getting the quality for which you pay has been forgotten. It may have started with nonreturnable bottles and disposable lighters.

Remember the words of John Ruskin:

There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey.
jtk