Please Help With Saw ID!

[Aiden Pettengill]

Hi all!
I have two saws of the same make by the name "Royal" that are gents saws with wooden handles and steel fixtures. There are no other identifying features on them and I can't find any results on a company called "Royal" let alone a gents saw made by them. They are mostlikley from the timespan of 1950-1970 as theses were my great-grandfathers who passed away in the mid nineties. Ill try to post some pictures later but any leads or information would be extremely helpful!
Thanks!
Aiden

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I do not know much about this, but..... There is (I think) Royal Tools or maybe Royal Crown. This is a "Royal" saw currently available:

https://www.amazon.com/Crown-195-12-Inch-Tenon-Handle/dp/B00EC99YPW

These are from Crown Tool and include a gent's saw:

https://woodworker.com/24-rip-saw-mssu-873-735.asp

Hopefully someone more knowledgable than I will respond now

[Aiden Pettengill]

Awesome! Thanks for the tip! I was actually looking at this brand but what threw me off was that there was nothing on the saw mentioning Crown and Royal was written in that fancy 1950s semi cursive script on the blade as if it was the brand name. I forgot to mention that one saws handle is painted red and the other is oiled wood but I think it was just my Great Grandfather who painted it red because a lot of his tools handles were obviously repainted red.

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Aiden and welcome to the Creek.

It would help if you could post images. It would only cost you $6 a year to post and view images.

One of my saws has a crown on the medallion. It may have no relation to your saw.

A question about your Great Grandfather, did he work with his tools along with other workers?

It was common practice for workers in such situations to paint their tool handles different colors for identification.

jtk

[Aiden Pettengill]

He didn't work with any other woodworkers as far as I know. I was always told that he worked at one company his whole life. That being the former Fraser Papers mill in Madawaska Maine. According to my Grandfather who is still living it was the only place he ever worked for as he was hired out of high school and worked there until he retired. My grandfather has suggested that the saws were Canadian as Madawaska was a border town with half the mill in Canada and the other in Madawaska.

[Aiden Pettengill]

I've taken a closer look and below the word Royal on the blade it says japan but even adding that to the search online yielded no results! I anyone has any leads or info please share, this is getting really interesting!

[Stew Denton]

Hi Aiden,

I had hesitated to bring up this possibility, but you mentioning "Japan" made me decide to go ahead.

Years ago, and even to this day, some hardware stores and lumber yards had a bench near the front of the store built like a very large tray. That bench was filled with really cheaply priced tools, and even as such they were probably over priced, that is if you had to use them. When I say cheap, I mean that they were 1/4th to 1/10th the price of good tools.

I still see displays like that sometimes.

My memory keeps telling me that the sign on the back of that tray said "Royal Tools." I believe I have seen one of those displays in the last 3 months, but I can't remember where. I fairly certain it also had the "Royal Tools" sign on the back of that display. The "Royal Tools" is written in really large script letters and I think it slopes up from the lower left to the upper right.

I may be wrong, and was pretty hesitant to bring it up, but that is what I was thinking.

To be fair though, I don't think I recall seeing any full sized bench saws in that display, however. Maybe some panel saws that were a little smaller than a carpenters saw were in the tray, but again, smaller that a full size 26" carpenters saw.

Stew

[Jim Koepke]

Years ago, and even to this day, some hardware stores and lumber yards had a bench near the front of the store built like a very large tray.

At least one of the local auto parts stores has a 'bargain priced' bin of tools. Some of them are actually decent tools for the price. Before it closed the local ACE Hardware also had such a bin at times.

jtk

[Aiden Pettengill]

This may be the case as the lettering does go in that direction. How ever, he was not rich but when it came to tools he never bought the cheap ones and always went with something of quality. If it broke, he'd fix it but would never really buy replacement tools because his tools were very good quality from the era of cast iron and sturdy (what we might consider overbuilt) tools. I still use his Craftsman drill press from the 50's and it works perfectly! I have NEVER had to do anything to it at all but let me tell you it weighs a TON! I also recently inherited some of my great great grand fathers (who was a blacksmith for Fraser Papers Madawaska mill) old tools that were from the early 20's and hand forged ice tongs from the 1880's made by my great great grandfather. Its amazing how much work was put into these beautifully made tools and because if that I say they'll work forever! A lot of these tools I am in the process of restoring as they have sat in a tool chest for years and have some rust as a result.

[Stew Denton]

Aiden,

It sounds like this saw could not be from one of those cheap tool bins. If the saw is good quality it would NOT be one of those. Those "Royal" tools were/are pretty much junk, so again, since the saw is good quality, yes, you can count that out as a possibility.

Stew

[steven c newman]

Disston No. 68, made for.....

[Aiden Pettengill]

Took another look and it might instead say Keyst? Hard to tell because it is VERRY worn

[steven c newman]

Keystone was a secondary brand of Disston...

[Aiden Pettengill]

Could be thank you!

[Aiden Pettengill]

I have found a saw set by the same company on eBay but still nothing on a gents saw. Heres the link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-6-pcs-Royal-Interchangeable-SAW-SET-Made-in-Japan-wood-handle-/184061955325

Thoughts?

[Sanford Imhoff]

I believe Stew's comments above are your answer.

[Aiden Pettengill]

I looked and its not (unfortunately, as this is getting frustrating!) as I have found the same company on another say type very clearly written. see the link in my post above

[Sanford Imhoff]

I looked and its not (unfortunately, as this is getting frustrating!) as I have found the same company on another say type very clearly written. see the link in my post above
That's what I based my opinion on, Aiden. I believe the set sold in your ebay link was a handyman 'special' sold in local hardware stores.

A picture of your saw would help clarify.

[Aiden Pettengill]

So you think it is a keystone type saw but a special type sold in stores and because of that it was called Royal? Please clarify if this is the case because if it is thank you so much for the lead! (sorry if I came cross as rude I didn't mean to be but looking at the post it kinda seems that way!)