Henry Disston started selling his own saws in 1840, operating out of a rented basement in Philadelphia. Despite setbacks during his first decade in business, such as fires and the confiscation of his machinery in a rent dispute, Disston built his company into the largest manufacturer of saws in the world. Disston was an innovative manufacturer and marketer, leading the way with products other companies tried to imitate. The saws' consistently high quality kept the company strong for another three generations after Henry Disston's death.

This non-commercial website is intended to be a resource for people interested in Disston handsaws: whether you're a beginning collector, an online auction seller who wants know more about the saws you're trying to pitch, or someone who wants to restore and actually use a handsaw.

Here is a link to a page similar to the website that started it all for me. This is what was available online in the late '90's to learn about Disston saws. Other materials were not yet online and were hard to find. The original site featured a series of scans taken from a 1914 edition of Disston's The Saw: How to Use It; How to Keep It in Order. My use of this site and its subsequent disappearance led to my decision to develop the "Institute". The material has disappeared from the web twice, so I have scanned the book and uploaded it myself. My copy of the publication is the 1918 edition, so it is slightly different from the version once hosted by Ralph Brendler, but well worth a look.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:  Information on manufacturing dates comes from Erv Schaffer's book Handsaw Makers of North America, ©1999, Osage Press. Information on manufacturing dates of saw medallions is the research of Pete Taran, and was published in "The Fine Tool Journal". Check out Pete's website.