Andrew wrote:

>I ran across a weird saw-ish item bearing the logo "H. & C. Disston"
>yesterday, and was curious when Disstons were produced with this label
>(I'm familiar with the H. Disston --> H. Disston & Son -->
>H. Disston & Sons progression, but hadn't seen this one before).

>The item itself was weird, and I imagine was a homemade tool made from
>part of a saw blade. The blade was about two inches wide, had crosscut
>teeth on one side, and the other side was crudely sharpened like a
>knife, and curved. The handle was symmetric, looking like a knife or
>sword handle (tapered away from the blade, flared out ar blade a
>little, brass fittings). Looked homedone, but maybe not

This is almost surely *not* homemade. Look at Paul Morgan's articles
in the Chronicles of 1985. The partnership of Henry and Charles
Disston manufactured butchers' saws and trowels 1865-1895. Charles was
Henry's brother.
(12/3/1823-11/21/1897). Their mark has been reported on butchers' saws
      as either H & C DISSTON (in a semicircle)with PHILADA WARRANTED
      beneath or as
C. DISSTON in a semicircle and H. DISSTON & SONS beneath, flanked by
   PHILADA to the left and WARRANTED to the right. There also exists an
   example of a butcher saw marked H. DISSTON & BRO.

>-- perhaps Disston invented the ginzu knife.

Maybe :-) Henry held 44 patents relevant to the tool business, and
Charles had 11.

Dan Weinstock Geneva, NY weindan@h...