Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!!!!

Between "Storage Wars" and "American Pickers," America's TV junkies have been getting broadcast proof that folks do hang onto all kinds of worthless junk. And it has made me give more respect to the OCD folks that seasonally "snap" and clean out the closets, throwing away everything they find that isn't nailed down.

Yet, even the most hardcore possession-purging, dumpster-filling non-hoarder alive today would surely hang on to a few things from their past. Most would at least keep their Tinker Toys, Cabbage Patch doll, or their Calico Kitties.

We Galoots hope that old tools make the short list of items that even the "Clean & Purge" crowd would keep.

Followers of Skiving Off realize that I have a thing for Panther Saws, and a few days ago another showed up on Ebay.   (The auction ends tomorrow).

I sent off an email to the seller asking for some additional information, and I was delighted to get a response from Wanda in Alabama, telling me the story of how this saw arrived on the open market. Apparently, a few years back Wanda purchased the saw along with a box of hammers at an estate sale because her father collects hammers. Wanda's dad didn't want the saw, so she decided to keep it, simply because it was intriguing. She and her family called it "The Mad Monkey Saw" because without the preconceived notion of a big cat, the carving does look as much like Lyman F. Baum's Flying Monkeys as it does a panther.

Now a quick statement about Wanda's Ebay listing. I think she did a really good job of listing the saw, considering that she is not a tool collector. She describes all of the defects that she sees along with lots of pictures. She did not attempt to disassemble the handle from the blade or do any chemical treatment to bring out the etch, which likely would have done more harm than good. Instead, Wanda described what she sees and provides enough photos for anyone to realize with 99% certainty it is a genuine Panther Saw.  I think this is a good thing.

Panther Saws are rare, but it's hard to quantify.  We still don't have accurate census data on Panther Saws. For the last three years I have talked about starting a Panther Saw Registry, just to finally get an idea of how many of these kitties are out there, but alas, I have still not done it yet. I just haven't had a chance given most of my free time is spent building a 3 bedroom ranch home out of Tinker Toys to house my "crazy cat lady" Cabbage Patch doll and her hoards of Calico Kitties.