picked up a Diston freebe

[Bill Carey]

The guy in Kentland that does my upholstery also has an antique store in the same space. Drove over there today to give a couple of old, old upholstery books I found in my father-in-laws box of books, and he returned the favor with this saw.

447731 447732 447733

It's 10" and seems to be in pretty good condition. On the flip side the handle is marked LBU School. Any idea how to date this one?

[Phil Mueller]

Bill, you can look through Disstonianinstitute dot com, which provides dates by medallion design. From my quick look, based on the medallion design, it appears to be from between 1917-1940.

Why did everyone apparently slop paint around their nice saws?

[Bill Carey]

Thx Phil - I'll take a look. As for the paint, back in the day when I was doing trim installs, tools were just tools. Never really had time to focus on them, only on what they could do for me. Toss it, drop it, get some paint on it, seal it up in a wall. All part of the work day.

[Jim Koepke]

Thx Phil - I'll take a look. As for the paint, back in the day when I was doing trim installs, tools were just tools. Never really had time to focus on them, only on what they could do for me. Toss it, drop it, get some paint on it, seal it up in a wall. All part of the work day.

Back in the day it seems a planes second job was to hold down drop cloths.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

Why did everyone apparently slop paint around their nice saws?

On a jobsite, you could identify your tools at a glance.

[David Bassett]

... Why did everyone apparently slop paint around their nice saws?

Some schools do it, so shop tools don't find their way into student's tool kits. It deters the honest mistakes and gives a hope of spotting any thiefs.

(Saw one of them on Instagram, Connecticut Valley?, uses a hottish pink.)

[Phil Mueller]

...”seal it up in a wall”

LOL. Makes me want to start a remodel job..., but then, I suppose, if it was a tool of value, the wall would get unsealed!

[Jim Koepke]

...”seal it up in a wall”

LOL. Makes me want to start a remodel job..., but then, I suppose, if it was a tool of value, the wall would get unsealed!

Often the worker on site doesn't realize his tool was left in a wall for a few days.

Read a story once about someone finding a Stanley #9 Miter Plane in a wall.

Though it is likely rare to find anything in most walls. Maybe a few dropped nails…

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

One of my experiences with finding a lost tool was while working as a Mainline Technician for the Bay Area Rapid Transit. We plied our trade on trains while they were in service. While going down to the platform to tend to a train a wide blade putty knife was caught in the siding of the escalator. It was removed and once on the platform there were a few guys whose clothing indicated they did sheet rock and/or other construction. Asking if anyone lost a putty knife it was clear by one of them grabbing their back pocket and looking around that it was his. Handed it to him, told him to take care of it and caught my trouble train.

A lot of my tools have been found laying by the road. There have actually been quite a few that were returned to the original owners.

jtk

[Bill Carey]

...”seal it up in a wall”

LOL. Makes me want to start a remodel job..., but then, I suppose, if it was a tool of value, the wall would get unsealed!

There is a condo in an old Lincoln Park building in Chicago that not only has a Vaugh 16 oz hammer in the wall, but also our plumb barbara - one of which is currently for sale on Ebay for 150 bucks. Some of the things we found remodeling those old buildings was pretty amazing. We found a foot with a tasseled loafer still attached, a 3' x 6' stained glass window that had been plastered over, bottles, magazines, hats, a couple of thousand dollars, bowling alleys under the floor, letters, all kinds of shit which I wish now I had saved. Youth is truly wasted on the young. We even buried a couple of guys in a new footing. It was an old bar being turned into an expensive home, and behind the bar was 2 urns containing the ashes of the 2 bartenders that had been killed there in a robbery years earlier. Didn't seem right to toss em, so we gave them a permanent home in the footing. Never told our clients.

[Scott Winners]

I see Phil already dated it for you. The imprint in the back is nice and sharp, but the "& Sons" indicates later production, and only one bolt holding the handle to the plate is another indicator.

What you have is a tool, a user, that may not be worth the trouble. I would honestly sharpen it first and make a few test cuts before I comitted to taking it apart and derusting the plate and maybe cleaning up the handle a little. You might get a decent saw out of it, but having only one fastener to locate the handle on the plate on a saw that is at least 80 years old makes me nervous - you will be counting on end grain wood integrity to keep the two in right relationship.

If you someday find a similar saw that says just "Henry Disston" or "Henry Disston and son" (*singular) with two or three fasteners holding the handle to the plate, well, you will have a saw I would commit to restoring.

I wouldn't be in a hurry to toss that in the trash. The plate is probably really nice steel that might give up a homemade custom shape card scraper someday.

FWIW the Alaska Rail Road painted their hand saw handles in blue and gold, company livery. Also two colors that show up outdoors pretty good in all seasons up here.