Eclipse Hacksaw

Osvaldd · 19 May 2019

I picked up this old thing, It's a hacksaw, I think.
I have a few other Eclipse vintage saws, the no. 70P coping saw, no. FS70 fret saw. But this one has a weird symbol on it, kinda like a crown and a date, 1940. When I google Eclipse 1940 I get this:
"A total solar eclipse occurred on October 1, 1940.”
any ideas?

Phil Pascoe · 19 May 2019

An ex WD mark? Nothing to do with a solar eclipse.

Trevanion · 19 May 2019

Air Ministry dated 1940, Nice find!

I've got a similar Eclipse one but it's adjustable for different lengths of blades, mine has "War Pattern" stamped on it so I imagine it's the same vintage as yours :lol: I find it to be a little awkward if I'm doing lots of cutting (I have a nice Lenox for that) but it does the job.

Osvaldd · 19 May 2019

is that an army marking ? makes sense. what king of saw is this anyway? as I mentioned all my other Eclipse saws have a number, this one doesnt.

Trevanion · 19 May 2019

Osvaldd":sbbqsstj said:
is that an army marking ? makes sense. what king of saw is this anyway? as I mentioned all my other Eclipse saws have a number, this one doesnt.

Ex-RAF/RE so yes, it's a military mark. It's a hacksaw, I assume it played its part in the war effort

Eric The Viking · 20 May 2019

I have one, boiught in the 1970s, and it takes two sizes of blade, but is otherwise identical. Yours would be both cheaper and probably a bit stronger for tensioning, but I suspect it's simply a "war finish" type of economy - I can't see why the RAF would want to keep two sizes of hacksaw in any case.

Have you got the threaded square peg for the other end from the handle? It won't work without it, but you could probably make one from a suitably-sized bolt, filed to a square.

If you don't know what I'm on about, it's similar to the handle end, but it takes a tensioning wingnut instead.

My dad has one that's extremely similar but has a wooden pistol grip handle. His is also ex-RAF, I think.

One good point about them is that Abrafile adaptors are intended to fit them. They have retaining clips that go round the half-round parts. You could get them without (I have both sorts), but it's a real fiddle fitting the Abrafile blades without the clips to hold the adaptors in place - I don't have enough hands!

Why, oh why didn't someone carry on making Abrafiles! I have quite a few packets, but they are getting really hard to find now.

Rorschach · 20 May 2019

I have several Eclipse saw frames, some of the best ever made. Never seen a fixed hacksaw frame though, all mine are adjustable for 3 or 4 different length blades.