# very old saw



## bond3737

my grandfather moved out of his old place and my dad kept this saw for me because he knows I love old wood tools. This is actually my great grandfathers saw and thought ye wood nuts might appreciate it and tell me a little about it. It appears to say warrented superior on the makers mark. enjoy, 
Bond


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## Billy De

Bond let me first say what a great feeling it must be to hold in your hands a saw that was owned and used by your great grandfather.

What you have in your hands is a piece of American history be proud of it.

I`m not a saw specialist but the eagle surrounded by the dots and the two stars say to me it is more than highly probable that the saw is a Henry Disston and sons Possible the finest saw manufacturer ever.

The warranted superior in essence is the guarantee of the maker for its quality.A lot of tool makers used this mark when competing on price against competitors it by no means deteriorates the quality of the tool but does not bring the makers name into question when competing on price.

Heres a link to the Biography of Henry Disston written by his grandson.Bit of a long read but IMO well worth it.

http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/disstonbio.html

Also a link to the Disstonian institute with more information than any one could ever hold in their head.

http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/index.html

And a little rider for any one thinking why bother with a hand saw

http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/1essay.html

If I had the connection that you have with that saw man,I would never let it go.


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## Boss O' The Shop

Here's some additional info from the DIsston Institute at http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/faq.html.

*Q.* Was "Warranted Superior" a Disston brand? 

*A.* Many saw makers going back to early 19th century England made medallions with the Warranted Superior (WS) label. It pre-dates Henry Disston (1819-1878) by at least a generation, possibly more. Use of the phrase is not limited to saws. A quick online search shows it was used in advertising for manufactured goods such as shoes and Remington pistols. Warranted and guaranteed have the same meaning, which is the maker's word that his product is superior. The claim is only as good as the word of the maker, if you think about it. 

Most English WS medallions have a crown and most American ones have an eagle. Later Disston-made WS medallions have the words "Warranted Superior," a circle of dots, stars at the three and nine o'clock positions, and appear with or without an eagle. Some feature a keystone instead of the eagle. The illustration of replacement medallions in the Disston 1906 catalog shows an eagle, the 1911 catalog has a keystone, and illustrations in the 1914, 1918, and 1923 catalogs feature a blank space in the center of the medallion. None are stamped with the name "Disston." Later medallions on some of the Keystone-brand saws (1935-1954) have eagles. An example of this is shown, left. Most of the larger American manufacturers made saws with both branded medallions and WS versions. The purpose would have been to differentiate between the products on which they put their name and lower-priced tools on which they chose not to put their brand name. The irony is that, in America, the Warranted Superior label often was put on the companies' inferior products. Many top-grade English saws have WS medallions while others have brand-name medallions. When you find an American WS saw, there may be a slightly less than 50% chance that it was made by Disston. Disston had a very large portion of the market, but it was not a monopoly. Atkins, Bishop, Jennings, Woodrough & McParlin, and Simonds (1900-1926) were a few of the large saw manufacturers that made saws with some form of a WS medallion with an eagle. Atkins' secondary line was actually labeled "Phoenix Warranted."​From the look of the handle, I was thinking that this might be an Atkins, but I think that Billy has nailed it as a Disston. Congratulations on a nice saw and a piece of family history.


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## Billy De

Boss good post man I`m afraid my computer skills don't allow me to pick out pages like yours:thumbsup:.

Bond forgive me for going off track( again) ,far be it for me to question the Disston Institute but the crown was and still is the trade mark of Spear & jackson; Englands oldest saw manufacturer.
First link

http://www.wkfinetools.com/hUK/SpearJacks/sj-index.asp

Not very good but the quickest one I could find.


Half way down on the second link shows the firm Priest & co,with a warranted superior medallion with a crest on it although there is a small crown at the top.

Nit picking I know.


http://www.backsaw.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=92.


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## bond3737

Thank you for the information both of you. I do indeed feel quite lucky to have this thing. My great grandfather was a day laborer and worked construction for years. This thing has seen a ton of use. I love the feeling that this was something he probably used every day and now I have the privilege of putting it to use again! Thanks again for all the useful info, 
Bond


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## Fishinbo

You don’t get to have something like that everyday. The saw is your ancestry’s legacy and you honor it by putting it to good use. Well done. Spell jealousy


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## firemedic

Bond, it's always great to have a connection like that to your ancestors! I remember how strange and at the same time awesome it felt to do renovation work on an old sugar cane plantation my great great great grandfather built. Ok, so he probably 'had it built' but still.

Based on the pictures, the likelihood that this saw will be easy to put back into service is slim. It's going to take A LOT of work. Do you have a game plan yet?


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## bond3737

firemedic, I dont have a game plan for it yet. I dont know much about hand tools or how sharp a regular saw is compared to this one or even how I would go about getting it super sharp or if there are any other things I should do to get it tip top. For right now all I really use it for is lopping off the tennons on all my bowls and it does that with ease:yes:. As my power and hand tool arsenal grows I will no doubt have more projects to use it for but for now it fits the bill. Ill have to do some research on how to tune it. Id love to make an entire project with the saw for my grandad while he's still around to enjoy it.


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## woodbutcher360

bond3737 said:


> firemedic, I dont have a game plan for it yet. I dont know much about hand tools or how sharp a regular saw is compared to this one or even how I would go about getting it super sharp or if there are any other things I should do to get it tip top. For right now all I really use it for is lopping off the tennons on all my bowls and it does that with ease:yes:. As my power and hand tool arsenal grows I will no doubt have more projects to use it for but for now it fits the bill. Ill have to do some research on how to tune it. Id love to make an entire project with the saw for my grandad while he's still around to enjoy it.


If you cannot set the teeth and sharpen it yourself then you have to give it to a pro to set and sharpen. My experience says to ask others (preferb pros) where and who they have their saws sharpened. (my experience also tells me most who say they can sharpen saws don't know s*** from Shinola, set the teeth unevenly and makes the saw useless until corrected) So ask around, alot and then ask some more. just my opinion


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## firemedic

Bond, I'll be restoring the saw shown in the next few weeks. While it's a different style of saw a lot of the same principles apply. I have an older thread on the subject in this section.

I forget the name of the thread but it will pop back up to the top once I start posting the refurb to it. I have a previous refurb there already. 

Also, former member Brink has a great thread on the subject somewhere around here too.


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