New Disston Phila saw

[Meryl Logue]

I bought a Disston saw today for $2. Its button only says Disston Phila. This thing has a lot of miles on the handle. Many miles. No other markings that I noticed, although as I work through some rust I might. It looks like a 6 point but I’ve not measured it yet, because I’m holed up in front of a window a/c and my house is nearing 90. It’s 111 out, last I looked. 👿

Any thoughts? I’m about to dive into the rabbit holes of Google and will update if I find anything.

[Meryl Logue]

Kind of looks like 1850-1880 vintage. It looks like filed to rip but I’ll need to clean it up a bit to really see. The set is great on it.

What should I NOT do to it?

[Scott Winners]

If the nuts on the back of the handle are split don't take them off just yet. You might spend some time at vintage saws dot com in the library section.

[Stew Denton]

+1 on what Scott said. I would not risk taking off split nuts at all.

Stew

[Meryl Logue]

Thanks for all the resources. It’s from 1917-1942. Once I cleaned it a little more, the iPhone camera caught details my eyes were missing.

460169

[Tom Bender]

Definitely worth $2

[Bob Betker]

While I'm partial to the pre-1920 Disstons, the pre-WWII saws are usually good saws. Go the Disstonian site: http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/
It can help you identify what model it is.