1860's H. & C. DISSTON Civil War Surgeon's Bone Arm Leg Amputation Saw Knife

Description

From my Medical Collection:  Here we have an
1860's H. & C. DISSTON Civil War Surgeon's Bone Arm Leg Amputation Saw Knife.
A young Henry Disston began his career as an American saw maker in Philadelphia. He had immigrated from England in 1833 and started making saws and squares in 1840. In 1850, he founded the company that would become the largest saw maker in the world: the Keystone Saw Works.
Only the last part of the Disston name remains on the blade (see pic).
This is more of a 'field instrument'.  With the enormous
number
of amputations which occurred during and after the battle, an item such as this would see heavy use.  Although lacking the high quality of atypical surgeon's instrument, it did serve the purpose.  It does have a unique design whereas one edge of the steel blade has saw teeth which comes to a point, the other edge was sharpened like a knife blade edge. This alleviated having separate instruments to perform an amputation.  The knife edge would go through the tissue until the doctor reached the bone, when he would then flip over to the saw tooth side to finish the amputation. This saw knife is in good 'used' condition.   The handle still has the two rivets with brass washers and there are
NO
cracks in the hardwood handle.  Nice straight blade.  The instrument is 1
8
-1/
4
" long with the blade being
12
" long.
This a great early 'field instrument' that would add impact to your Civil
W
ar Collection !!
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