I’ve finally found a tool to restore! My father was going to throw this out but I salvaged it. It’s now on a shelf as a rainy day project.
This was issued to my father when he was working as a (domestic) gas fitter in London in the early 60’s. It has a very specific use, especially when installing gas central heating into old Victorian town houses in the days before electric tools.
I know what it is, but wondered if anybody else has ever encountered one of these… 
Not a huge mystery but…
Sure looks like a saw for cutting a slit in the end of something, so I’d assume for fitting some sort of pipe flange? Never seen such a thing and I’d be interested to learn more.
Mmmm no idea but now I will start researching.
Looks like a fun restoration, getting all the rust off will be fun!
Interesting features:
Looks like the top hole is marked 7/8 and the bottom is 5/8
Is the blade centered on it’s axle or is it offset so that it will nibble away and take a progressively deeper cut through one rotation of the handle?
It’s a floorboard cutter?!!
What did I win?
BRIXEY LIMITED GPO FLOOR BOARD CUTTER HAND SAW
Floor Board Saw as issued by GPO .This is marked Floor Board Remover and Brixey Ltd.It has a 5" saw blade and was used to cut the tongue from T&G flooring to install cables.
You win a solution brownie point?
Indeed, used to get pipes through old houses in the days before Black&Decker or even universal mains electric…
Very effective, I’ve used it myself. Blade is quite thin and it is very precise when used on hardwood, which allows you to cut on top of the joists, quite important.
Idea is that you kneel on the flat bit, pins on another floorboard to keep it on place, then wiggle the handle. Screw is a crude depth stop.
I’d write more but this just arrived…
A little further note; since I left this hanging…
This is, indeed, a BRIXEY cutter, invaluable when putting long pipe/cable runs into old houses. You can cut the toungues out of boards to lift a section, and it’s nice and controlled when splitting a board over a joist.
Currently suffering from ‘50+years in a shed’ syndrome. It needs a thorough cleanup and a bit of rust-stopping on the blade, but nothing too bad, it’s good steel so all the damage is superficial.
There are 4 holes around the central blade hole, and it is locked to the handle with a screw through one, but you can change which one, allowing you to even up wear on the blade. It’s probably the most complex part of the whole tool.
I remember dad using it when adding radiators and re-wiring various houses while growing up, and we used it in my first house when adding some upstairs radiators. He spent years installing gas heating systems in old houses, and watching him effortlessly work out how to route pipes, wires and flues through a place was an education.
Your fathers tutelage shows in your craftmanship!
