In 1944, Joseph Hanna Sr. opened a small shop in Florence, South Carolina, to sharpen and repair circular saw blades and other cutting tools. The company was known as The Florence Saw Works. Over the next 17 years, the business grew slowly but steadily, and remained a business local to Florence. In 1961, Joseph Hanna Jr. joined his father's business and soon they added the manufacture of new carbide tipped circular saws to their offering. To accentuate the new and expanded business focus, the company's name was changed to Hannaco.
In the late 1970's to mid-1980's, Hannaco expanded through a few key acquisitions, including American Custom Metals of Cincinnati, Ohio, Canada Knife & Saw of Mississauga, Ontario, and Acton Mill Supplies in Western Canada. In 1983 they opened a wide band plant in Greenville, Mississippi, but by 1988 this plant was sold to Simonds, who was looking to expand into the southern sawmill market. During this time, the business was renamed again, changing from Hannaco to International Knife & Saw, to better represent their new global scope.
The 1990's was a time of rapid expansion and growth for IKS. With foreign capital, the company started an acquisition spree, buying companies such as Austin Saw & Knife (Camden, Alabama), Ban-Carb (McMinnville, Oregon), and Systi-Matic (Kirkland, Washington). At the same time, in 1996, IKS was bought by CitiCorp, providing even more capital as IKS started adding local service centers at a rapid rate. By the end of the decade, IKS was challenging Simonds' leadership position in the North American Sawmill market.
By the early 2000's, the sawmill market hit hard times, forcing IKS to spin off many of its recently acquired service centers. By the autumn of 2001, the soft market caught up with IKS and the company entered bankruptcy protection, emerging from bankruptcy after a quick reorganization at the end of 2001. But the sawmill market was still soft and IKS and Simonds both found themselves looking for a partner. On October 31st, 2003, a merger of the two was completed, creating a new sawmill market leader, Simonds International!