People who love handsaws often muse over which is the best saw ever made. The anomaly is that the most coveted saws are not necessarily the best saws. They may be sought after for many reasons, including rarity, aesthetics and age. Indeed they are valuable, but are they the best? Rhetorical question because who really knows and what is treasured by one fancier is trash for another.
Whatever the ultimate answer Disston's range of Victory saws is up there as a leading contender and it was a saw made by the company for nearly forty years. I haven't really checked this statement out so I should probably keep quiet, but I would suggest only the D8 and D7 in their various guises went for longer
Anyhow, back in 1914 Disston introduced their D115 and one year later, to commemorate their 75th anniversary, they re-named it the "Jubilee" saw. It was a wonderful saw, their top of the line and featured, as you might expect, all the premium festures. The saw was highly polished and tempered. It featured three etches: The keystone with the "115" encased in the "D," the slogan stating it could not be excelled and a fabulous starburst with a diamond in the centre. It was the modern skewback which had in relatively recent times been introduced with the D8 and it had a gorgeous wheat-carved, covertop, handle in Brazilian Rosewood held to the saw plate with nickel plated brass screws. There was absolutely nothing missing from the lineup of premium features.
Needless to say it was expensive and probably beyond the reach of the average carpenter.
It was a celebration of the rise and rise of the Disston company. In 1915 Disston employed around 3500 people, making them the largest saw manufacturer in the USA: Maybe the largest in the world. Their enterprise was not limited to saws and they manufactured a wide range of products. The jubilee saw looked like this:
Victory series D115 Jubilee 002.jpgVictory series D115 Jubilee 005.jpgVictory series D115 Jubilee 006.jpgVictory series D115 Jubilee 007.jpg
In 1917 America entered WW1 and Disston to celebrate this momentous occasion renamed the saw. It became known as the Victory saw and the starburst etch with the diamond was replaced by a large eagle. The saw was fundamentally the same apart from the substitution of the eagle.
Victory series D115 Victory 002.jpgVictory series D115 Victory 003.jpgVictory series D115 Victory 005.jpgVictory series D115 Victory 006.jpg
Of particular note on both these saws is the placement of the sawnuts, which resembled the D8 pattern but the medallion on the Jubilee saw featured "Philida". This dates the saw up to 1917. The "Victory saw medallion shows "Phila" which palces it between 1918 and 1940.
Note also that the wheat carving only featured on the grip of the handle.
In 1928 the whole range of Disston handsaws had a shakeup up and the revamped models exhibited a number of changes.
When the Victory saws were first introduced, although there was a D15 (straightback) model too it seems as though the D115 was the preferred model as the catalogues feature the D115 and make reference to the D15. However in1927, the D-15 was now the favoured model with reference made to there also being a D-115 skewback saw.
In 1929 the catalogue showed the new look which presumeably had been introduced at the end of 1928. The handle was redesigned and now looked very similar to the D20/23 series.The model designation now showed a hyphenated number in the etch and was no longer contained within the "D." The strange thing here is that Disston had always referred to the saw in their advertising with a hyphen so it was the D-115, but the number only appeared on the sawplate with a hypen after 1928: The exception to this was the wartime models. More on that later.
Jubilee saw advertisement.jpg
Medallions until 1940 had been 1" diameter on the full size handsaws, but after this time they went to 13/16". The "phila" was removed from the medallion and was replaced by "USA." There were apparently some differences in the formation of the medallions, mainly to do with the perimeter but it is difficult to distinguish clearly. The majority of saws with USA on the medallion will be post WW2.
That brings us to 1942, WW2 and the entry into the war by America. It seems they approached the European war with an almost jingoistic approach similar to the Brits prior to WW1. Materials were now something of an issue as the bulk of raw materials were re-directed to the war effort. Rosewood was no longer imported and there was understandably a shortage of brass. Walnut was substituted for the handles and reputedly steel was used for the sawnuts instead of nickel plated brass. The biggest change was that the model was renamed D42.
Interestingly there was no hyphen: Just straight D42.
Victory series D42 001.jpgVictory series D42 003.jpgVictory series D42 004.jpgVictory series D42 005.jpgVictory series D42 006.jpg
This model was cosmetically quite different in that the "Victory" etch had changed. The eagle was now smaller and it was depicted surging through the victory "V" made famous by Winston Churchill. Also below the word "Victory" was ...- , the morse code symbol for "V."
All the wartime saws would feature this etch. As you can see this D42 had brass saw nuts. Possibly as the brass became more scarce they did indeed go to steel.
As you can see in this next model, the D43, it did have steel hardware. By then I expect the supplies had dried up unless you were making shells. Disston incidentally contributed to the US war effort as they had their own steel mill.
Victory series D43 002.jpgVictory series D43 003.jpgVictory series D43 004.jpgVictory series D43 005.jpgVictory series D43 006.jpg
I am guessing that the continuance of the war got too depressing and for that reason D44s and D45s did not see the light of day.
There was one more Victory saw. During the period of the war only the D-95 also got the Victory etch:
Victory series D-95 WW2 era 001.jpgVictory series D-95 WW2 era 002.jpgVictory series D-95 WW2 era 003.jpgVictory series D-95 WW2 era 004.jpgVictory series D-95 WW2 era 005.jpg
After WW2 the Victory etch remained except that the morse code symbol was removed.
In 1947 for a single year only a high quality laminated ( OK it was plywood) handle appeared. Whether this was because of a shortage of materials or to find something different is not known, but generally it was attributed to the shortage of materials.
Victory series D-15 1947 001.jpgVictory series D-15 1947 002.jpgVictory series D-15 1947 003.jpgVictory series D-15 1947 004.jpgVictory series D-15 1947 005.jpgVictory series D-15 1947 006.jpg
Continued in the next post as I may have overloaded the thread. The pix keep disappearing on me.
Regards
Paul
Whatever the ultimate answer Disston's range of Victory saws is up there as a leading contender and it was a saw made by the company for nearly forty years. I haven't really checked this statement out so I should probably keep quiet, but I would suggest only the D8 and D7 in their various guises went for longer
Anyhow, back in 1914 Disston introduced their D115 and one year later, to commemorate their 75th anniversary, they re-named it the "Jubilee" saw. It was a wonderful saw, their top of the line and featured, as you might expect, all the premium festures. The saw was highly polished and tempered. It featured three etches: The keystone with the "115" encased in the "D," the slogan stating it could not be excelled and a fabulous starburst with a diamond in the centre. It was the modern skewback which had in relatively recent times been introduced with the D8 and it had a gorgeous wheat-carved, covertop, handle in Brazilian Rosewood held to the saw plate with nickel plated brass screws. There was absolutely nothing missing from the lineup of premium features.
Needless to say it was expensive and probably beyond the reach of the average carpenter.
It was a celebration of the rise and rise of the Disston company. In 1915 Disston employed around 3500 people, making them the largest saw manufacturer in the USA: Maybe the largest in the world. Their enterprise was not limited to saws and they manufactured a wide range of products. The jubilee saw looked like this:
Victory series D115 Jubilee 002.jpgVictory series D115 Jubilee 005.jpgVictory series D115 Jubilee 006.jpgVictory series D115 Jubilee 007.jpg
In 1917 America entered WW1 and Disston to celebrate this momentous occasion renamed the saw. It became known as the Victory saw and the starburst etch with the diamond was replaced by a large eagle. The saw was fundamentally the same apart from the substitution of the eagle.
Victory series D115 Victory 002.jpgVictory series D115 Victory 003.jpgVictory series D115 Victory 005.jpgVictory series D115 Victory 006.jpg
Of particular note on both these saws is the placement of the sawnuts, which resembled the D8 pattern but the medallion on the Jubilee saw featured "Philida". This dates the saw up to 1917. The "Victory saw medallion shows "Phila" which palces it between 1918 and 1940.
Note also that the wheat carving only featured on the grip of the handle.
In 1928 the whole range of Disston handsaws had a shakeup up and the revamped models exhibited a number of changes.
When the Victory saws were first introduced, although there was a D15 (straightback) model too it seems as though the D115 was the preferred model as the catalogues feature the D115 and make reference to the D15. However in1927, the D-15 was now the favoured model with reference made to there also being a D-115 skewback saw.
In 1929 the catalogue showed the new look which presumeably had been introduced at the end of 1928. The handle was redesigned and now looked very similar to the D20/23 series.The model designation now showed a hyphenated number in the etch and was no longer contained within the "D." The strange thing here is that Disston had always referred to the saw in their advertising with a hyphen so it was the D-115, but the number only appeared on the sawplate with a hypen after 1928: The exception to this was the wartime models. More on that later.
Jubilee saw advertisement.jpg
Medallions until 1940 had been 1" diameter on the full size handsaws, but after this time they went to 13/16". The "phila" was removed from the medallion and was replaced by "USA." There were apparently some differences in the formation of the medallions, mainly to do with the perimeter but it is difficult to distinguish clearly. The majority of saws with USA on the medallion will be post WW2.
That brings us to 1942, WW2 and the entry into the war by America. It seems they approached the European war with an almost jingoistic approach similar to the Brits prior to WW1. Materials were now something of an issue as the bulk of raw materials were re-directed to the war effort. Rosewood was no longer imported and there was understandably a shortage of brass. Walnut was substituted for the handles and reputedly steel was used for the sawnuts instead of nickel plated brass. The biggest change was that the model was renamed D42.
Interestingly there was no hyphen: Just straight D42.
Victory series D42 001.jpgVictory series D42 003.jpgVictory series D42 004.jpgVictory series D42 005.jpgVictory series D42 006.jpg
This model was cosmetically quite different in that the "Victory" etch had changed. The eagle was now smaller and it was depicted surging through the victory "V" made famous by Winston Churchill. Also below the word "Victory" was ...- , the morse code symbol for "V."
All the wartime saws would feature this etch. As you can see this D42 had brass saw nuts. Possibly as the brass became more scarce they did indeed go to steel.
As you can see in this next model, the D43, it did have steel hardware. By then I expect the supplies had dried up unless you were making shells. Disston incidentally contributed to the US war effort as they had their own steel mill.
Victory series D43 002.jpgVictory series D43 003.jpgVictory series D43 004.jpgVictory series D43 005.jpgVictory series D43 006.jpg
I am guessing that the continuance of the war got too depressing and for that reason D44s and D45s did not see the light of day.
There was one more Victory saw. During the period of the war only the D-95 also got the Victory etch:
Victory series D-95 WW2 era 001.jpgVictory series D-95 WW2 era 002.jpgVictory series D-95 WW2 era 003.jpgVictory series D-95 WW2 era 004.jpgVictory series D-95 WW2 era 005.jpg
After WW2 the Victory etch remained except that the morse code symbol was removed.
In 1947 for a single year only a high quality laminated ( OK it was plywood) handle appeared. Whether this was because of a shortage of materials or to find something different is not known, but generally it was attributed to the shortage of materials.
Victory series D-15 1947 001.jpgVictory series D-15 1947 002.jpgVictory series D-15 1947 003.jpgVictory series D-15 1947 004.jpgVictory series D-15 1947 005.jpgVictory series D-15 1947 006.jpg
Continued in the next post as I may have overloaded the thread. The pix keep disappearing on me.
Regards
Paul
A Series of Victorys
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