At the flea market today, I found this Thor "all purpose electric hand saw."  It's set up like a jig saw, but the foot is around 6 inches square.  I'd like to know more about it, but at $8 I couldn't leave it there...

I would have brought it home at twice that price!

Quote from: Papaw on May 08, 2011, 08:57:47 PM
I would have brought it home at twice that price!

Me too, probably.  My Thor silver line 1/2 inch drill was lonely.  It was a fruitful day at the flea market,
maybe a little too fruitful... This was the most expensive tool I bought.  I've got more pictures to be put up.

Nice Find! Looks like New! How old it is? What type of blades does it take?

Wayne

Quote from: lzenglish on May 09, 2011, 09:11:32 PM
Nice Find! Looks like New! How old it is? What type of blades does it take?
Wayne

The only indication of its age is that it has a three prong plug.  Very new appearance, yes -- with a little oil and a soft brush, it would almost look like NOS.  I'm still searching for information on it (which is made more difficult because of the movie, Thor).  The case appears to be stainless steel.  It looks like it uses jig-saw blades, but it might accept saws-all blades.  I'm intrigued by the "all purpose electric hand saw" designation, and the large foot.  What does "all purpose" mean here?  Why the 6 inch square foot?  A mystery!

Quote from: lzenglish on May 09, 2011, 09:11:32 PM
Nice Find! Looks like New! How old it is? What type of blades does it take?
Wayne

I can tell you it takes standard jig saw blades now.  I slapped one in and turned it on.  Sounds great, cuts nice, and with its weight, it doesn't even think about jumping.  Good working tool.

Ahhh!  Now that I actually SEE the "All-Purpose Saw" I recognize it as similar to one I have.  In another thread on this forum, I asked for a picture, and later came across this thread.  Mine doesn't SAY "All-Purpose Saw", nor does it say "Thor" as the brand, but only as the parent company.  This suggests that it was sold under both brand names, which may help narrow down the date.  Mine is painted with a "hammertone" finish, not polished, and the foot is far lighter in color, but I think we're looking at the same housing structure.  What differences do you see?
I'll have to locate mine, and look at it from the same directions as your photos, to make a better comparison.

On another thread here, I think it was established that Thor acquired Speedway in 1953.  There's a photo in the 1971 Rate Training Manual NAVPERS 10085-B.    Page 67 calls it "saber or bayonet saw."  The description on the following page says, "The saber saw is a power driven jig saw that will let you cut smooth and decorative curves in wood and light metal." 

The big footprint ... I don't know what to say -- maybe people settled on the smaller one found on most jig saws and it became an obsolete option. 

I notice that mine has the same blade retention as your Speedway. 

I believe Thor power tools were originally mfg'd in Aurora, Illinois-they also made pneumatic tools that were second to none-beat out CP, I.R., Quincy, Garder denver etc.-Think they were a private company that got bought up in 70's or  80's???   Just my 2 cent's worth!!

About all I have found that really connects the dots is:

http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=1985

Today, there are a number of companies that call themselves Thor, located in a bunch of places.  Hard to figure out the connections, if any.

It is a confusing company, and vintage machinery's history doesn't help much, tho it helps a little. But it somewhat obscures the fact that Thor was being used as a trademark well before the company took it as it's name in 53. Unfortunatly, there isn't much info about precicely when it started using the name, I find lots of ads in the early 40's tho, but no idea before that.

Interestingly, my '44 wholesaler catalog doesn't even have an entry for saber saws or anything like them...

Now I am also wondering if speedway was a real aquired company, or just a brand...

 One of the evolutionary "electric saw" stopping off points. An early design.
The first electric saws I saw were electric hand saws, more like an electric bread knife except a saw blade, they were big. Panel saw sized, 20" or more blades.
Then these. You could swap on a lot of different sizes and kinds of blade. Some of them large.
    Then circular saws. The eventual champ. Most popular of any. 
And then finally hand jigsaw and saw-zall. 

Its not stainless, its highly polish pot metal. Aluminum alloy.
Under every metal drill and skillsaw the same metal lives, and could be polished just like this,
  but its a whole lot cheaper to just paint.

  The portable power tools of the late 50's early 60's were often polished.
They were --very-- expensive new.
  yours Scott

My life with saws started with a big old, yellow chainsaw (I only got to look at that one), Disstion D 7s, a Sunbeam jigsaw, an old bucksaw and a 4 foot cross cut my grandfather set aside for the chainsaw.  Later came a couple of Skils.

I remember seeing the bread-slicer power saw.  Looked impractical to me, and I haven't seen one in years.

There's an article on hand held circular saws at:

http://www.asktooltalk.com/articles/toolhistory/divide.php

An old local hardware store had one, still in its wooden box, still on the shelf, that was marked 1927.  Wish I had bought it at the time.

Jigsaws have a later history:

http://www.asktooltalk.com/articles/toolhistory/jigsaw.php

It's the story of a man and his wife's sewing machine (I wonder how his wife reacted...)

I still think mine may be stainless, but when I get back to Sacramento, a magnet will say for sure.  The casing is one of the things that struck me as odd about the Thor -- it doesn't look like the aluminum alloy I'm used to seeing.  Doesn't look cast, but appears to be made from sheet stock.  It's much thinner than any of the others I'm used to seeing.  Maybe another clue about the tool.

The La Grange Park plant started up in 1957....

Quote from: scottg on September 03, 2011, 11:21:06 AM
Its not stainless, its highly polish pot metal. Aluminum alloy.
  yours Scott

Scott, got home and took a magnet to the mighty Thor.  Yep.  You're right on the money.  Magnet no stick.