Beautiful Disston No. 12.
As you’ll see, it has “the nub.”
The London Steel is clean, with almost no pitting except in a few small spots. But nothing ugly here.
There is a stable crack in the handle. Will not affect performance.
A small piece of the upper handle horn—much smaller than a dime— is missing.
Saw is sharp.
Quoting from the Disstonian Institute here:
“The Disston No. 12 and subsequent D-12 handsaw could be considered their top of the line saw, with the possible exception of the Victory saws. The saw is a work of art on a mass-produced scale. Like the No. 9 saw, it has London Spring steel. It also has an ornate chip-carved applewood handle with the old-style mounting, the mounting similar to a No. 7. The saw feels big in the hand, quite different from the D-8 and similar, later saws.”
“What made the No. 12 saw more expensive and higher in quality was the work that went into it. The blade was subjected to more hammer work than lesser-quality saws to give tension to the steel. The controlled introduction of internal stresses into the cold steel through hammering and subsequent tempering, resulting in a "tensioned" saw blade, creates a blade that is less likely to wander or vibrate unnecessarily in use. An added result of this tensioning is a blade that has a characteristic ringing or "singing" sound when tapped.”