The saw is of great antiquity. 

It was known to the Egyptians and other early nations, and traces of its early use have been discovered in nearly every country where the arts and sciences have made the least progress.  In England, Sheffield, the metropolis of our manufactures in steel, has had the saw-making almost entirely to itself, many hundreds of skilled and intelligent artisans being continually employed in this important branch of industry.

In former times, there was little variety in the shape of the saw, which in general appearance strongly resembled the bow-saw used by the carpenters.

At the present day, however, the different kinds of saw-such as the cross-cut-saw, pit-saw, frame-saw, ripping-saw, hand-saw, panel-saw , compass-saw, and sash-saw are almost endless; the making of each kind of saw forming, as it were, a distinct trade or occupation.

The common description of saw is made of rolled iron plates, hammer hardened, and planished upon an anvil, whereby they attain the requisite degree of stiffness and elasticity.

The better kinds of saw are made of shear or cast steel. The steel, which has been prepared in thin sheets, is cut, as shown in our first illustration, into strips of the required size, which after the edges have been smoothed and leveled by careful filing, are handed to the grinders to roughly prepare them for cutting the teeth.

Much has been said respecting the unhealthiness of the grinding processes, but the saw-grinding is stated to be far less detrimental in its effects upon the health of the workers than are the other descriptions of grinding.

Dr. J. C. Hall expressly states saw-grinding to be a comparatively healthy occupation.  “The men,” says he, “stand at their work, and, consequently, the lungs are not so compressed as when the grinder, sitting on his horsing, bends forward for many hours each day in other branches of the trade.”

The real danger-one, in fact, from which none of the grinding processes are exempt-consists in the flying of the grindstones.  The stone, while revolving at a fearfully rapid rate, will sometimes fly in pieces, the fragments crushing and destroying everything in their way. 

These accidents occur from flaws in the stone, or from the defective manner in which it is fastened on the axle.  Fixing the stones on the axles by means of iron plates, instead of wooden wedges, which are liable to swell from moisture or the heating of the iron axle, is considered to be the best safeguard against such accidents.

In America the same processes are performed by machinery; but, according to Mr. Ibbotson, a Sheffield manufacturer, the operatives of the town will have nothing to do with work thus prepared.  If this statement be true, it is to be regretted, because it will gradually give the foreign workman an immense advantage over the Sheffield artisan.

When the strip of steel has been ground smoothly on both sides, it is given to a workman, who, by means of a die-cutter in a fly-press, rapidly cuts the teeth, one or more at a time, with astonishing precision.  This process forms the subject of our second illustration.