George H. Bishop Co. Information?

[Jared McMahon]

I have a George Bishop handsaw that I'm trying to get some information about, but there seems to be precious little out there. WKFineTools has a little bit, and I found ads from old publications for the company in general or particular saws they were pushing at the time, but no catalogs, no type studies, not much else at all.

Is there some resource out there that I'm overlooking? Or is it simply that there isn't much left from them in terms of documents? They seem to be well thought of, it's odd that there isn't more info available.




PS: In case anyone is curious, I believe mine is marked "S09", and it actually survived being used as a cane by its last owner on one occasion.

[Jonathan McCullough]

Erv Shaeffer has a book that I need to get, which may shed some light. I have a few Bishop saws--a No. 7, a No. 8, and a No. 23, which all coincidentally correspond to Disston's models of the same number. Funny that. My observation is that the blades are generally better polished than Disstons, but that the handles don't hold up as well. Could only be the ones I've run into though. I think Bluegrass department store brand saws are Bishops, as well as some Norvell-Shapleigh "Diamond Edge" brands.

Share a pic with us of your S09 (never heard of it)--any info is better!

[Jared McMahon]

Yup, best as my eyes can tell, it's marked "NoS09". Images attached; the etch came out quite well for the most part. Forgot to measure the length but I'm sure it's at or around 26", 8-point crosscut.

I continue to look for more substantial info but no further luck yet. Oh well, it's a nice saw regardless of how much I know about its history.


bishop-etch1.jpgbishop-etch2.jpgbishop-handle.jpg