Thread: Help identifying Dads rip saw

Forgot to say that I really like Proper Care of your Hand Saws booklet. It's very informative but I love the description in the selection table for the K6.... "For man with home workshop". Must have meant Dad

Hi Ray and Ken,

Found two interesting sites for Disston, the first is about handles and the pattern of the screws and medallion.
Online Reference of Disston Saws -- Quick Glance Guide to Saw Identification

The next is about medallions,very informative I thought..
Online Reference of Disston Saws -- The Medallions

Regards,

Colin.

Colin, very interesting stuff. I particularly like the carving on the handles. I notice there are a couple there that have none. Can't say I like the D-95, D-111, or that D-100 handles at all. They just look like really nasty solutions to a cost cutting problem.

The medallion article is very interesting. Based on the information Ray has found, my guess would be that if the saw was made here with saw plate from Canada and a local handle it might have been that 1" Warranted Superior medallion since all of the other 1" medallions have U.S.A on them. I wonder what Ray's thought are on this.??

Originally Posted by Itsa_What?

Colin, very interesting stuff. I particularly like the carving on the handles. I notice there are a couple there that have none. Can't say I like the D-95, D-111, or that D-100 handles at all. They just look like really nasty solutions to a cost cutting problem.

The medallion article is very interesting. Based on the information Ray has found, my guess would be that if the saw was made here with saw plate from Canada and a local handle it might have been that 1" Warranted Superior medallion since all of the other 1" medallions have U.S.A on them. I wonder what Ray's thought are on this.??

Ken,

You will note there is not one handle there with the same pattern as yours so I reckon it would have to be Australian design/made.
What surprises me is when they make a handle that works well for all, why would they change it to a design that is useless.
My favourites are the D-12, No.12, 112. and D8 which I used to have.
I think you may be right about the medallion, like you I will be interested to hear Ray's comments.
I have bookmarked both sites for future reference as they will be very handy.

Regards,

Colin.

Hi Ken, Colin,

I now think HK Porter-Disston continued in Australia up until the 1978 Sandvik buyout, previously I thought they closed a lot earlier than that. The evidence for this is a bit indirect, but comes from a quote from a guy who worked there until it was closed after the Sandvik buyout.

Back to the medallion, we have evidence that they used Canadian marked medallions at least in the later years, I would expect they used Disston USA marked medallions as well, in addition the Warranted Superior.

A lot of saws were exported from Australia to New Zealand, and I have heard that Disston Canada saws are found much more often in NZ than Disston USA.

Most of these NZ found, Canadian marked saws likely came from Australia.

So, on your dad's saw, I would go with 1" Disston Canada, if you can find one.

Have you managed to find any remains of an etch on the saw blade?

Regards
Ray

Ray, that's interesting info. It may mean that the Sandvik panel saw ultimately came from the same place despite the fact that he had the saw we are discussing for a long time before my brother gave him the Sandvik as a birthday present.

I haven't found any remains of the etch yet, but I was speaking to a mate of mine today who asked if I'd looked at the blade under Ultraviolet light. Well the answers no. But it's a really interesting idea I think. I reckon I can grab a UV lightsource by the weekend so I'll give it a try.

The 1" Canadian medallion seems like the go if I can find one I reckon. If not I might try some of my work contacts in Pennsylvania, one of whom loves flea markets. Hopefully he might be able to find a Disston medallion an hour outside Philly somewhere.

I agree with Colin. I couldn't see anything in the Disston Handle page that looks like this one. Unfortunately I can understand why you'd take a really nice handle and replace it with rubbish.

It's called the company profit and loss statement and the incessant demands to reduce manufacturing cost's so that you can actually keep the market share you already have in the face of increasing competition from inferior and often significantly cheaper competition.

Bit off topic but the "Can we make it any cheaper?" question is one I get about 4 times a year in my day job. One of the reasons that I've come to like much older tools is that the answer to that question all those years ago seems almost invariably to have been "NO we want to make the best we know how to make !" Quality has fallen so far in the quest for ever increasing profits that it's enough to make a bloke cry.

The good news though is that there is now so much rubbish about that there is a great market for the works of guys like Chris Vesper, Trent of Harold and Saxon, Terry Gordon and a host the other small organisations who continue to prove that quality will always sell

End of Sermon... Sorry guys but it's a subject that really sticks in my craw these days

Here's a better image of the Disston Metropolitan, made by HK Porter Disston in Canada during late 50's early 60's.



This one is from the UK, so my guess is it would be a Canadian made blade and handle, whereas your dad's would be Canadian made blade, with Australian made handle (assembled in the Sydney factory)...

Also note the Disston Canada Medallion.

Regards
Ray