Uncommon/rare Combination Saw Found

Messages
438
Location
Grand Rapids, MI
Flashback:

A year ago I was at a garage/tool sale in the country around my in-laws' house. I bought about a dozen hand saws for $15. I was very happy with this, as there were some old Disstons, Atkins, and Peace that were worth refurbishing into "user" condition. Of course, I knew I wouldn't get around to cleaning them up/sharpening them for a while, and I put them in a box.

Present Day:

I have been going through a major shop reorganization, and I decided I would go through the pile of handsaws I have laying around. Gleefully distracted from the work that actually needs to get done, I brought each saw into the light to see what I actually have. After being pleased with the usual "cool" old saws I ran across one that I had never seen before. Not only that, but it didn't even have a "brand medallion" in the handle like most old saws. Hm. So I examined it even closer, and there it was stamped on the brass shoulder strips on the from of the handle: Hiram Smith, Patent May 18, 1858. I immediately got excited, and after a bit of searching online I could only find one article with that name. As it turns out, I had myself an old combination saw!

The saw is designed with a straight edged spine, engraved with a ruler. The handle has brass strips on the leading edge, and it's attached at 90 degrees to the spine of the blade so it can be used as a square. Also, there was originally a scratch awl housed in the top of the handle, now missing. There is a number 3 stamped on the blade. The poor thing is in rough shape, but I still can't help but be excited about stumbling upon such a cool old saw!!

- Hutch

BTW, does anyone know of an online resource for learning more about this maker/saw? Thanks!
 

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That is a cool saw, I can see that being handy for someone that would have been doing a lot of hand sawing. I recall my dad always starting houses using one as the temporary electrical service was always a few days late getting connected.
 
I'm sure you've found this, but here's the patent: http://www.google.com/patents/US20313

According to "Journal of the Franklin Institute, Volume 66" "Hiram Smith, of Camden, N. J.," was the assignee but the patent was "granted" to Disston: http://tinyurl.com/qfmnj5r (pages 116/117). So it looks like the saw was actually manufactured by Disston

This page talks about the preceding patent by Gorham and some of the follow on work: http://takeadip.tripod.com/id13.html

Wk Fine Tools has a link to a nicer format of the patent and some of the other related patents: http://www.wkfinetools.com/hUS-saws/Disston/patent/HD-Patents-Index.asp

Finally now knowing it was probably a Disston made saw I jumped over to disstonian institute page and it looks like it was also made as a Disston #29 (or the 29 is really close to it anyway) http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/43page.html I was going to say the 38, but the nut pattern matches the 28 closer.

Jim Bode sold a 43 with the scribe intact, has a nice picture of the scribe: http://www.jimbodetools.com/Phenomenal-DISSTON-No-43-Combination-Hand-Saw-p18492.html

This guy has a nice collection: http://www.takeadiptools.com/page30.php

The "Disston Lumbermans Handbook" references the 43, but only briefly and not in a very interesting way (this version: https://archive.org/details/disstonlumberman00henrrich not this version: https://archive.org/details/disstonlumberman00henr ).

That's all I have, certainly an interesting piece and probably of some value even without the scribe. Thanks for sharing!
 
Before attempting to sharpen or clean it, I would suggest you to find out wether it has some value for collectors, maybe you hit the jack pot with it.
 
Thanks all, especially Ryan for all the links.

Yeah, it's still a mystery wrapped in an enigma. I have continued to search online for as much info on the saw as possible. There is nothing, I mean nothing (as yet), for this particular style of saw from this early in its production.

I couldn't resist working on it a bit to see if I could get clarity as to the date. So today I placed part of the blade in some vinegar for a few hours to break down the surface rust, and then I wiped it away with #0000 steel wool. I didn't touch it with sandpaper, and I was hoping this would be enough to find an etching or stamp on the blade.

The number 3 I saw stamped on the one side is actually the number 23, as in 23 inches. That side of the saw is numbered 1-23 starting at the tip, while the other side is numbered from the handle to the tip. Also, I could see parts of the full ruler, meaning the line parallel to the back edge. As shown in these later models. http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/4...o38cat1911.jpg

After searching and searching for an etching in the middle of the blade I finally found some numbers stamped there...I think. It doesn't appear to be etched. Whether etched or stamped, the mystery seems to deepen. There is what appears to be a "2" followed by what looks like a "1", a space, and then possibly a "3" or "8". I have been looking for as many Disston saw stamps/etchings as a can and none seem to contain any small sized numbers. Typically there are the LARGE saw model numbers in the etching, but these are not the same. These are less than 1/8" tall and about 1/16" wide.

Right now I am not sure what to do, but I am really tempted to light use 2000 grit wet sandpaper in the area in question. I won't for now, but man do I want to see what it says. :D

- Hutch
 
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ADDITION: Interestingly, I just realized that the above numbers that I thought were stamped in the middle of the blade are found in the actual patent number. The Hiram Smith patent is #20,313.

- Hutch
 
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Right now I am not sure what to do, but I am really tempted to light use 2000 grit wet sandpaper in the area in question. I won't for now, but man do I want to see what it says.

Try using tracing paper and rubbing over the etch with a pencil. Sometimes you can get back completely illegible etches that way without disturbing the "patina". Might not work if the corrosion is to bad but it can't hurt to try.

Here is the 1876 catalog: http://www.toolemera.com/catpdf/disstonhandsaw1876.pdf which has a picture of a saw basically like yours on page 10 (via http://www.toolemera.com/Trade Catalogs/tradecatalogs187.html)

There is a remarkably close version of this saw in the "Montgomery Ward Catalogue of 1895" page 356, that would have been after the patent lapsed so its not that surprising to see clones pop up..
https://books.google.com/books?id=A...ge&q=Disston combination saw catalog&f=false

At this point I'd start looking for other resources who might know something about this specifically.

Unfortunately most of the really early Disston records were lost in a fire in the 1860's so finding stuff out is often via third party information.

The folks over at owwm.org (post in swarf as its not a "machine") are often really good at knowing stuff about things like this; although its a bit outside of their normal domain there are some hand tool collectors who haunt those pages at times.

More topical for the antique hand tool world the folks on the facebook antique tools page https://www.facebook.com/groups/antiquetoolsbuyselltrade/ (they're friendly to questions even if you don't intend to buy or sell) which is to some extent the facebook extension of the old tools mailing list http://oldtools.swingleydev.com/mailman/listinfo/oldtools (which is another great resource of knowledge). I'd be somewhat surprised if one of them didn't know something, or know someone who knew something.
 
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