FAQ's

Q. Did Disston & Son's make a one-man crosscut saw for cutting logs? My saw's blade is 42 inches long, and it has a handle shaped like an oven mitt. Etched on the blade is: GREAT AMERICAN 1879 TAKING OUT THIS SAW DAY IN DAY OUT WE CHALLENGE THE WORLD TO PRODUCE ITS EQUAL CAST STEEL WARRANTED [and the Disston symbol] A. Your saw is a crosscut saw for felling small trees. They made probably a dozen models from 3' to 5' in length. They made them as well as two-man saws. They sold from the earliest days of the company until the 1950's. Tooth styles varied depending on what was going to be cut. Great American is the name of the tooth pattern. There were over a dozen different tooth patterns for crosscut saws before the advent of gasoline chainsaws.

Q. I have a Disston and Sons D-27 saw. You don't feature it on your website. The handle is rather odd, having neither top nor bottom horns, and completely lacking any ornamentation whatsoever. A. The D-27 is a pruning saw, designed to cut tree branches. The reason it's not on the website is simply because the "Institute" concentrates on handsaws and backsaws for carpentry and woodworking. Tree saws are a subject of study that would be well-served with its own website, and it's not my area of specialty.

Q. I have a saw that looks like a really large hacksaw, labeled Disston and Sons, USA. Overall length is 29 inches. Saw blade length is 24 inches and the blade is 1 inch wide. A. The meat saw was manufactured by Disston from the 1850's until at least the 1930's, possibly the 1950's. Yours is late because it says USA on it, so it was probably made after 1930. It is a commonly-found tool. They regularly get labeled Civil War-era surgeon's amputation saws on ebay, but those are not common, and 99 out of 100 of the saws you find are butchers' saws, not surgeons'.

Q. I have not seen this item before. It is an unusual vise, clearly marked Henry Disston and Sons. A. You have what is called a saw vise. It was a common tool, used to hold saws for sharpening. The C-clamp attaches the vise to a table or bench top. The No. 2 pivots forward and back, and the No. 1 does that as well as swing left or right on a ball joint. Both are about 9 or 9 1/2 inches wide.    Other manufacturers made these as well, some being a foot wide. The wider the vise, the fewer times you need to move the saw as you progress with the tooth filing. As antiques they generally sell for less than the cost of shipping them, although a few dealers try to get top dollar for them. The one I use is a Wentworth pattern with an 1870 patent date. That cost me $10. I have another no-name that is similar to the Disston No. 2 in design, for which I paid a couple of dollars. I think it's steel instead of cast iron, and it's painted with enamel, probably of much later manufacture. Most cast iron tools were jappanned.

Q. Do you know of a place that sells replacement handles for my saw? A. No one sells new Disston handles. Parts for saws come from other saws, like one that's badly rusted but with a good handle, for example. Watch flea markets, auctions, or ebay to see if something comes up.

Q. I have a Henry Disston D-8 For Beauty, Finish, and Utility, this Saw cannot be Excelled. It's better than the one on your webpage. I can send you a photo if interested. A. It's a graphic, not an accurate rendering of my saw.

Q. I have a 26" D-8 saw that is 12 points per inch and is marked with a 12 on the blade. The medallion shows that the saw was made between 1917 and 1942. You don't list any 12 point saws in that length. What gives? A. Most of the "catalogs" quoted on the saw pages are actually product guides for retail customers, entitled "The Disston Saw, Tool, and File Manual." These were updated annually from about 1919 until 1955. Prior to that, there was a publication called "The Saw: How to Use It; How to Keep It in Order," which served the same purpose, to guide retail buyers in the purchase and use of Disston products. That publication goes back to the 1880's.   Another source for the information is dealer catalogs, which were much more specific in their information, but, unfortuanately, are not as easy to find.   More to the point, the retail buyer's guides don't list every saw that was made. They give a general idea of what was sold, but sometimes the saw range grows bigger one year and gets smaller the next. So the information derived from the guides may have some omissions or inaccuracies.    Also custom orders were possible. If a customer wanted a 12 point crosscut, a 4 point rip saw, or some other saw that was not in stock, he (or she) could ask the hardware dealer to special-order it.

Q. My Disston saw is unusual in that it has a brass plate on the bottom, of the handle and is stamped "Uppert" in the wood. You don't feature it on your website. Is it a special model? A. The brass is a repair to the handle after it was broken. As for the name, Mr. Uppert didn't want anyone to mistake his saw for their own so he carved his name in the handle. Disston didn't stamp handles except for a brief time in the late 1870's and early 1880's when they put patent dates on the handles of some saws. In the case of the handle on the left, HAAS was the owner, and from what I hear, you didn't want to get caught using his tools.