This time I told her I had an ulterior motive for the visit. I have a Stanley 358 miter box that's mostly rebuilt, but have not been able to get a saw that fits it right (I am still cleaning up one Mike Duchaj sold me and it needs sharpening). I used to help my grandparents do odd jobs around the house, for about 20 years while i lived nearby, and I knew gramps had a BIG miter box saw hanging in the garage; it had been there, unused, for at least 30 years. I told grandma about my lack of miter box saw, and asked her if I could take gramp's. She said "Of course", and I brought it down.
It's a Disston No. 4 backsaw, 29 3/4" long and 5 7/8" below the spine, that is rusty but unpitted, and actually still fairly sharp.
Based on the medallion it was made between the wars, ca. 1917-1941, and has a beech handle with nice ray flecking. It's comfortable in the hand, too, and since, according to the Disstonian Institute "[h]andles for miterbox saws started to change over to beech sometime before [the 1930s]", it makes me think it's a saw from the 1917-1930 timeframe.
It has the standard Disston stamp on the spine, and I have yet to try to raise any etch.
I do know my grandfather used this saw to build the den they added on to the house they bought in Van Nuys, CA in 1942, and lived in until 1972. It was a large room with knotty pine t&g panelling on the walls and ceilings, open beams, a brick fireplace, and a beautiful octagonal window that my great grandfather made for the bathroom. My grandfather used it as a practice room for his instruments (he was a professional jazz musician, in addition to being a top-flight machinst and welder) and most of our family gatherings in my early memory took place in that room. So, I know it's well-used, and will continue to be so in our new house, as we work on getting it the way we want it to be.
Once I discussed the saw with granny and showed her about it (she was thrilled to know it was a Disston, as she and gramps grew up only a few blocks from the Disston plant in Philad'a; she didn't think anyone in the family worked there), she said, "Did Dad have a miter box for that saw? If you can find it, take it". I protested (verrrry ambivalently) that my dad or uncle should have it, and besides I already had the one (two, actually) miter boxes already. She asked me, "Bill, what would I use it for?"; "You could make a chair", I answered. "While I am at it, I'll make two", she said, and laughed; she's 89 and waaay past her woodworking days (so to speak).
After three or four go-rounds of this, I went out to look for the miter box. It was under the workbench, mounted on a piece of plywood, and hasn't seen use in many years, probably as many as the saw. Please note, on September 21, 2005, I added pictures of the box now it's clean. I did a little writeup at the bottom of these pages.
It's a Goodell-Pratt No. 1306-A, and it has some other stamps to the right of the identification plate that read "93 , 03".
And, coolest of all, when I cleaned it I found the numbers "7 21 35" stamped on the sliding part of the saw carriage. I can only assume it's related to the date the miter box was manufactured, which means it's some 71 years old at this point, and still going strong!
It is exactly the "All-Steel" miter box in the Goodell-Pratt Catalog 16 available at roseantiquetools.com. The bed is 19 1/2" long, and 4 1/2" wide, came with a 30 x 6 inch saw, and weighs in at 26 lbs. At the time of Catalog 16's publication (understood to be around 1926), the 1306 cost $33.00...which, if adjusted for inflation, would cost $348.69 today...a not insignificant sum then or now!
Millers Falls' equivalent was the 1306-C, as shown in their 1949 catalog. Thanks to Tom Price's "Galoot's Progress" page (with his MF All-Steel neener) and some other discussions, I found in the OldTools archive this thread from 1998 (and my 2005 reference to it) which details more about this family of miter boxes.
My Goodell-Pratt version has some features that are high on the "Cool-Gizmocity Index" that appear to set it apart from the later All Steels.
Rather than traditional "in-frame" work holders (a la Stanley), the G-P box has one each of two different attachments bolted on either end of the bed. On the right is the attachment designed to hold a 1/4" square rod length gauge, for duplicating pieces up to 20" in length (mine is missing). The rectangular block is held by a slight recess in the position on the sliding triangular "rod", and so can travel the entire depth of the bed. The left-side attachment holds post tapped into the sliding "rod"; it also has full travel across the entire bed depth. Both attachments are held in place by pressure plates tightened by oversized screws (knurled and with flat-blade slot).
This is a view end-on of the length gauge attachment. A very clever design that allows precision and ease of movement.
The saw carriage is a spring locking type, and there is a sliding eyebolt attached to a short arm bolted through the saw carriage that is used to lock down angles intermediate to those indexed.
A blurry shot of the guide bearings, which are quite possibly "bronze-oilite" as on the MF All-Steel boxes.
Finally, a view from behind showing the screw-on back, the height-stop (the one on the front post is missing, but easy to make), and the bed-stop (the small stop at the top of the top of each post that will keep the saw from hitting the bed).
During the second week of September, 2005, I disassembeled, cleaned, derusted, and reassembled my miter box. I used simple green, citric acid, and a green-scrunge-sided sponge. All the second pictures above are after cleaning; you can read a thorough account of the process in the OldTools archive in this thread.
I am, obviously, thrilled with this gift from my grandmother. I know my grandfather used it for his den, and I will use it for working on my house. A gift, from one generation to the next. If anyone has more information on the miter box, please feel free to pmail me.