The nibs on Disston handsaws changed more over time than any other feature on the saw. By using the nib, you can estimate the age of your saw.

  The Nibs and Timeline of Saw Manufacture

	This nib from a 1840's handsaw is different from those above and below it in that it is from a full-sized saw. Its detail is remarkable and the condition is the best that is to be found.
	The differences are subtle at first, but to the trained eye, you can tell the age of a saw to within a year or two. This is a mid-1840's No. 7 panel saw.
	1850's, note the placement of the right ridge of the nib.
	1860's, Civil War era.
	Late 1860's, One son nib.
	1871, Disston's second son Albert joins the company.
	1874
	1880, improved nib design.
	1888, patent date on nib.
	1896, keystone style nib.
	1906.
	1917, WWI era nib.
	1922.
	1927, somewhat reminiscent of the 1880's classic nibs.
	Rare novelty nibs put on saws given out at hardware conventions.
	1928. Last of the nibs. The saw line was changed and nibs disappeared. All saws have nibs when manufactured, but Disston took the extra step of cutting them off. They were then offered as replacement nibs for the older saws.
	1929-1947, no nibs.
	Post-war affluence in the US led to marketing saws to homeowners who would trade in their old saws every couple of years for improved, "sexier" models. This 1948 nib shows the start of the reimergence of the nib.
	1953.
	1956.
	1958.
	Nibs reached the peak of their excessive size in 1959. Ralph Nader pointed out their danger while testifying in a Congressional hearing that year. Nibs were removed in 1960, but legislators were not receptive to Nader's proposal that the saws' teeth also be removed for safety's sake.

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