Disston

[Trafalgar]

Think Disston wasn't a mass manufacturer?

Here's an excerpt of an article that can be found here: http://www.wkfinetools.com/hUS-saws/Dis ... ckSaws.asp

He [Disston] employed that year 1,200 men, and the saw works alone could turnout ten thousand pounds of saws per day. This statement gives some idea of the extent of the works.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Strange lot, marketing wallahs, aren't they? Has anybody ever walked into an ironmonger or tool dealer and said to the bloke behind the counter, "A pound of saws, please, mate - oh, and four candles"?

 

[Trafalgar]

Probably a cost accounting convention of the day -- before computers, calculators, and adding machines. Too hard to track those large numbers through the manufacturing process (by individual plates). Easier to weigh them.

 

[bugbear]

Think Disston wasn't a mass manufacturer?

No.

BugBear

 

[Jelly]

Not sure what you're getting at, the idea of good tools being a niche market is pretty modern.

Not so long ago I posted a (somewhat sardonic in tone) account for why we can't have good cheap planes anymore... Because the world doesn't buy enough hand-tools, the likes of makita, dewalt and even sometimes Titan (B&Q/Screwfix own brand) demonstrate that good, cheap power tools can exist, as long as they can be sold in sufficient volume.

 

[Trafalgar]

Think Disston wasn't a mass manufacturer?

No.

BugBear

Really? At 10,000 pounds of saw plate per day, 50,000 (or 60,000/before the 5-day workweek) pounds per week?

 

[Trafalgar]

Not sure what you're getting at, the idea of good tools being a niche market is pretty modern.

Not so long ago I posted a (somewhat sardonic in tone) account for why we can't have good cheap planes anymore... Because the world doesn't buy enough hand-tools, the likes of makita, dewalt and even sometimes Titan (B&Q/Screwfix own brand) demonstrate that good, cheap power tools can exist, as long as they can be sold in sufficient volume.

10,000 pounds of plate daily is a whole lot of saws.

 

[G S Haydon]

Not sure where the bar is set on this but Disston seem pretty "mass"

Excellent point Jelly! Nice thing is, due to no batteries, all those volume quality tools from the past are still there out in the wild. Although the costs seem quite high for a lot of the modern gear the reality is it's pretty good value when you take into account how small the market is.

 

[Jelly]

Not sure what you're getting at, the idea of good tools being a niche market is pretty modern.

Not so long ago I posted a (somewhat sardonic in tone) account for why we can't have good cheap planes anymore... Because the world doesn't buy enough hand-tools, the likes of makita, dewalt and even sometimes Titan (B&Q/Screwfix own brand) demonstrate that good, cheap power tools can exist, as long as they can be sold in sufficient volume.

10,000 pounds of plate daily is a whole lot of saws.

It's about 4.5 tonnes (unsure how many tons).

But, considering that Disston was the biggest game in town, at a time when America (and it's Asian trading partners) were rapidly urbanising, mainly in timber or timber frame buildings, it's not that suprising at all.

Reading on Sheffield Forum, Tyzack's were taking an 18 tonne lorry loaded with tools out (mainly saws, but also marking gauges, axes, and various other bits) 2-3 times a week during the 70's.

I'm unsurprised, and yet also incapable of compriending what 10000lbs of saws looks like (4000ish saws?), because it is a staggering number.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Interesting contrast between the North American and European handsaw markets. In the US, Disston had a huge demand, helped by the North American approach to housebuilding using far more timber framing than is traditional in Europe. Disston were very successful, and commercially aggressive, putting pretty well every other US saw maker out of business, and ended up as pretty well a monopoly supplier. However, being geared up for high volume manufacture, once sales dipped below a certain point, they just packed up making handsaws at all; whilst the Disston company still exists, it is owed by others and makes products other than saws.

By contrast, in the UK and Europe, there proliferated a multitude of smaller firms. As demand grew, the number of firms grew, and as it shrank, so did the number of firms. Even when demand was almost wiped out by the rise of the power tool, a few persisted - Tyzack Sons and Turner continued to produce handsaws as a sideline until their exit from engineering manufacture in 1990 (the firm still exists, though renamed); Roberts and Lee lasted even longer, and Thomas Flinn is still going. I'm not sure about continental Europe, but I assume there are still one or more makers going, since Dictum offer blades for the traditional continental frame saws.

Not sure what that proves, but it does seem indicative of something.