This large and long-lived firm was in business by the 1890s and survived into at least the 1950s. Their main product was saw blades, plus they are known to have made a wood frame tablesaw. They were also a reseller of machinery. There is some indication that they manufactured a few machines in the 1940s and '50s, including a cleat machine.

Information Sources

• Google Books lists an 1897 catalog from "California Saw Works, Bird & Haughey".
• Polk's Seattle City Directory for 1901 lists "California Saw Works, Henry Disston & Sons Inc proprs, B F Van Stan mrgr, 221 Occidental Ave".
• The May 1921 issue of The Disston Crucible has an article on their Seattle operations, including the following.

  IN February of the year 1909, Henry Disston and Sons established a Branch House in Seattle, Washington, under their own name and their own management. Previous to that date the business of Henry Disston and Sons on the West Coast had been conducted through the California Saw Works, whose headquarters were in San Francisco, California, with established branches in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington.

  About this time the House of Disston decided the field demanded more attention on their part than could possibly be given through a second party. They, therefore, made an arrangement with the California Saw Works and took over Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana territory.

  This arrangement was made amicably, so that under it the California Saw Works retired as saw factors from this upper territory, and confined their saw distribution to California and adjacent territory to the south. The city of Seattle very naturally became headquarters in the Northern territory for Henry Disston and Sons, Inc., with a branch house at Portland, Oregon. The Seattle office is located on the corner of Occidental Avenue and Jackson Street.

• Paul Thomas informed us of an ad for a "California cleat machine" in a reseller catalog. Some searches of Google Books suggested that California Saw Works was the likely maker.
• Thanks to Eduardo Fisher, who spotted an ad on CraigsList and brought it to our attention