Found this in antique shop this past weekend. Obviously hand forged but not fine finished. This was a tool...nothing more, nothing less. Label said "saw wrest" but looks a lot like the twisting/bending wrenches I've seen in books (never seen one up close). What say ye?



Thanks for looking...bart

Definitely a twisting wrench/ bending fork.  Saw sets (not rests) would have a narrower jaw.

Looks like a twisting tool for scroll work to me. A saw set was really a swage that was shaped like the tooth set on top an struck with a heavy hammer. It basically upset the top of the tooth to create the kerf.

Thanx! Kinda confirmet what I suspected.

The few saw wrests I've seen have all had multiple slots in them. They look nothing like a scrolling wrench.

thingmaker3 is right, and "wrest" is the correct term for the slotted tool.

Cool. Thanks for the comments...anyway, it "followed me home". I'm always on the lookout for old hand-forged tools that I can give a new home. I use them gently, mostly as functional props when I demo. If they could talk...

Here is a link to a collection of saw wrests. 

 

http://members.acmenet.net/~con12a/saw%20set%20website/wrestsawset.htm

This is the swage I was thinking about. I thought those little wrest were just for hand saws but as seen on the above post they were also used on bigger saws. Thanks ciladog.