gavin wrote:I wonder if it would be a big ask for a saw maker to supply the swarf from that saw along with the saw - as a witness to the quality it had when it left the factory?
Would such a 'swarf witness' be helpful to buyers?
As you may have read or noticed in your research on this, new saws, even when issued in the "golden age" of crosscut saws did not come swaged, or in some cases even set. So much of the performance of the saw is dependent on the wood you are cutting that factories issued a tool that demanded tuning to function.Often times if you have a saw where the rakers are not swaged, you are holding a saw that was never or little used. What works great for dry firewood would be useless cutting wet bowl blanks. Some modern companies, Tuatahi saws of New Zealand being one, will work with you on delivering a saw set up to produce perfect swarf for your conditions.
(Not certain if you use a different word in the UK, but in the states, a swaged raker is one that has been hammered over into a hook to improve lifting the swarf out of the cut.)