Feature: Internet gives boost to Britain's last maker of the traditional handsaw

Most people use a handsaw to cut timber, but for a British company with a history going back to the 1800s the traditional tool is music to their ears.

Thomas Flinn and Company was once one of 70 businesses in the Yorkshire city of Sheffield using traditional skills to make handsaws.

Now the family-run business is the only one left, not just in Sheffield, but anywhere in Britain.

Thanks to the internet, the company's fame has spread worldwide with the humble handsaw exported to almost 50 countries.

Such is the quality of their saws, the company this week won one of the city's top accolades, the equivalent of a Hollywood Oscar.

Sheffield became known as Steel City in the 19th and early 20th centuries when it was renowned as a center of the steel industry, from making sheets of steel to creating cutlery and precision instrument and tools. Now the days of steel city are in the memories of older citizens, as well as historians.

At one of Yorkshire's leading award ceremonies for businesses Thomas Flinn and Company won the Master Cutler Special Award in the Made in Sheffield Awards.

And if there was to be a fanfare for the nation's last manufacturer of traditional saws, it would be played on one of the most unusual instruments in an orchestral repertoire, the musical saw.

While carpenters and joiners on every continent adore handsaws from the Sheffield company an increasing number of musicians are placing orders with Thomas Flinn and Co for musical saws.

Some of them have even been played during orchestral performances at world famous concert venues.

The company's Parkstone Melody Saw, which comes in three sizes, from soprano saw to a bass saw, is winning world-wide fans.

Thomas Flinn and Co told Xinhua: "Our musical saws are made from fully ground carbon steel, using a flexible steel. We have even created a beginners guide for people wanting to learn how to play the saw as a musical instrument. It means we have a range of these saws to cater for beginners to more advanced players."

At one time the company supplied the wholesale market, but now build hand-made traditional saws for customers across the world as their fame has spread.

It would all be sweet music to Frank Ellis who at the age of 14 in the 1920s started work at the company as an apprentice. In 1936 Frank Ellis bought the company and was joined by his own family members, concentrating on making high quality handsaws, using traditional methods handed down over many generations.

Over the years the company joined forces with other manufacturers, some dating back to the 1800s, giving the firm a pedigree going back 200 years.

The arrival of the internet has opened new doors for the world of the traditional handsaw. More than half of the saws made in Sheffield are now exported to around 50 countries.

As the company commented: "Our ideals mean that we feel it is important to fly the British flag when it comes to the tooling industry as it is through this mentality that we have found our great customer base and means we want to provide our customers with only the best products." Enditem