G.100 Saw
Saw
1966 (made), 1964 (designed)
1966 (made), 1964 (designed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The report of the Design Council announcing the Design Council Awards for 1965 was as follows:
Plastics handled saw
Designer Brian Asquith. Maker Spear & Jackson Ltd. A saw which has a polypropylene handle moulded directly on to its blade. The blade is made from high grade cold rolled steel, hardened, tempered and stiffened for spring and lacquered against rust. The teeth are bevel sharpened. Price £1 2s 6d.
The idea of a plastics handled saw sprang directly from the study of saw handles made by Remington Wilson, a director of Spear & Jackson, in 1958. Twenty years previously the company had patented a method of riveting handles to a saw blade in which the opening for the hand had been blanked. This experiment was repeated in1958, using thermo - setting plastics bonded by glues to the blade, the preformed material completely surrounding the hand hole. Another method also considered was to laminate the handle in two halves, glue them together and then fit the preformed handle to the blade by means of screws - the conventional method of attaching a wooden handle. These ideas were set aside, however, until early in 1961 when Brian Asquith was commissioned to prepare a design, working to a brief which stipulated ABS plastics and the use of only one screw. A year later a prototype handle was ready whose two halves were to be glued and screwed to the saw blade. At this point, however, discussions took place with the plastics division of ICI which led to the idea of using polypropylene and moulding the plastics directly through slots in the saw blade.
The final design, adopting the principle of integral construction, was first marketed in 1964. The bond, it is claimed, can never be broken. The handle gives a good grip and is pleasantly warm to the touch, and its simple lines get away from the more baroque shape of the traditional wooden handle. The blade itself is of cold rolled nickel chrome steel with cross sharpened teeth, lacquered to increase resistance to rust, and although it was originally intended for the domestic market, such has been its success that it is now widely accepted by joiners, and especially by the younger men in the building industry.
Plastics handled saw
Designer Brian Asquith. Maker Spear & Jackson Ltd. A saw which has a polypropylene handle moulded directly on to its blade. The blade is made from high grade cold rolled steel, hardened, tempered and stiffened for spring and lacquered against rust. The teeth are bevel sharpened. Price £1 2s 6d.
The idea of a plastics handled saw sprang directly from the study of saw handles made by Remington Wilson, a director of Spear & Jackson, in 1958. Twenty years previously the company had patented a method of riveting handles to a saw blade in which the opening for the hand had been blanked. This experiment was repeated in1958, using thermo - setting plastics bonded by glues to the blade, the preformed material completely surrounding the hand hole. Another method also considered was to laminate the handle in two halves, glue them together and then fit the preformed handle to the blade by means of screws - the conventional method of attaching a wooden handle. These ideas were set aside, however, until early in 1961 when Brian Asquith was commissioned to prepare a design, working to a brief which stipulated ABS plastics and the use of only one screw. A year later a prototype handle was ready whose two halves were to be glued and screwed to the saw blade. At this point, however, discussions took place with the plastics division of ICI which led to the idea of using polypropylene and moulding the plastics directly through slots in the saw blade.
The final design, adopting the principle of integral construction, was first marketed in 1964. The bond, it is claimed, can never be broken. The handle gives a good grip and is pleasantly warm to the touch, and its simple lines get away from the more baroque shape of the traditional wooden handle. The blade itself is of cold rolled nickel chrome steel with cross sharpened teeth, lacquered to increase resistance to rust, and although it was originally intended for the domestic market, such has been its success that it is now widely accepted by joiners, and especially by the younger men in the building industry.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | G.100 Saw (manufacturer's title) |
| Materials and techniques | Steel, metal, plastic and polypropylene |
| Brief description | G.100 Saw, steel, metal, plastic and polypropylyne, designed by Brian Asquith and manufactured by Spear and Jackson, Sheffield, 1966. Winner of the Design Centre Award 1966. |
| Physical description | G.100 saw, cold-rolled steel blade with polypropylene handle. The blade with a straight leading edge, squared end and the cutting edge at an angle. The handle of polypropylene, colured olive green, is riveted to the blade at one end. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Mass produced |
| Marks and inscriptions | Spear & / Jackson within a monogram, surmounted by a crown. Around the outside: AETNA WORKS. MADE IN ENGLAND. THE WORLD'S OLDEST SAWMAKERS. (Etched on to the blade.) |
| Credit line | Gift of the manufacturer. |
| Object history | Historical significance: Winner of the Design Council Award in 1965. Mr Asquith believes that the use of plastics may well revolutionise the design and marketing of this type of tool. On the one hand there are important economic considerations, since plastics are cheaper to work with than wood. Their chief advantage to the designer, however, is the scope they give him to produce subtle shapes that were not possible in wood. The handles of the Householder range have been carefully considered from the ergonomic point of view, and Mr Asquith is particularly pleased with the saw handle, top, (not part of range, but also made of plastics), which he feels is far more appropriate and functional than anything he could have achieved with wood. The blades of the Householders are in satin finished stainless steel, and that of the saw is in cold rolled steel; the full decorators' set consists of a 3 inch and 1 1/2 inch stripping knife, a putty knife, a combination shave hook, and a triangular shave hook. Designer Brian Asquith. Maker Spear & Jackson Ltd. Design Journal, New Products, London, March 1965, pp.36-39. |
| Summary | The report of the Design Council announcing the Design Council Awards for 1965 was as follows: Plastics handled saw Designer Brian Asquith. Maker Spear & Jackson Ltd. A saw which has a polypropylene handle moulded directly on to its blade. The blade is made from high grade cold rolled steel, hardened, tempered and stiffened for spring and lacquered against rust. The teeth are bevel sharpened. Price £1 2s 6d. The idea of a plastics handled saw sprang directly from the study of saw handles made by Remington Wilson, a director of Spear & Jackson, in 1958. Twenty years previously the company had patented a method of riveting handles to a saw blade in which the opening for the hand had been blanked. This experiment was repeated in1958, using thermo - setting plastics bonded by glues to the blade, the preformed material completely surrounding the hand hole. Another method also considered was to laminate the handle in two halves, glue them together and then fit the preformed handle to the blade by means of screws - the conventional method of attaching a wooden handle. These ideas were set aside, however, until early in 1961 when Brian Asquith was commissioned to prepare a design, working to a brief which stipulated ABS plastics and the use of only one screw. A year later a prototype handle was ready whose two halves were to be glued and screwed to the saw blade. At this point, however, discussions took place with the plastics division of ICI which led to the idea of using polypropylene and moulding the plastics directly through slots in the saw blade. The final design, adopting the principle of integral construction, was first marketed in 1964. The bond, it is claimed, can never be broken. The handle gives a good grip and is pleasantly warm to the touch, and its simple lines get away from the more baroque shape of the traditional wooden handle. The blade itself is of cold rolled nickel chrome steel with cross sharpened teeth, lacquered to increase resistance to rust, and although it was originally intended for the domestic market, such has been its success that it is now widely accepted by joiners, and especially by the younger men in the building industry. |
| Bibliographic reference | Design Journal, New Products, London, March 1965. pp.36-39. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | CIRC.22-1966 |
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| Record created | April 27, 2011 |
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