As Ed Minch mentioned we were among the crowd at the Williamsburg Working Wood
in the 18th Century symposium last week. Afterwards, my wife and I spent a few
additional days in the area visiting friends and got home last night. To and fro
I looked in on a number of antiques shops w/ some success.
First off was a dowelling plate. The plate sits on pegs atop a box to trap the
pegs as they drop thru. The plate is constructed of 1/4” steel and the box, 3
1/4”L x 2 1/2”W x 2 3/4”T, is made of very hefty 7/16ths steel. The plate has 12
holes ranging from 3/8” down to 3/32nd of an inch. All the holes have a proper
taper of a couple of thousandths to leave a sharp arris at the top edge and ease
the passing of the dowel as it is driven thru. I knocked a few bits of square
stock thru and it works quite well.
Second find is a tap & die set, plus extras. The set is from the American Tap &
Die Co. and I only found one reference to it in a quick web search:
"American" Brand Taps, ... are all made by the Nichols Bros. brand of tools.
Walter E. Nichols was born in Greenfield, MA in 1852; …. Starting in 1902 in
Greenfield, MA., they formed the American Tap & Die Corporation. In 1925 they
combined with the Williamsburg Manufacturing Company to form the Threadwell
ToolCompany that lasted till 1985.”
Included in the set are nine dies and 24 taps. I have not inventoried them to
see what is in there yet, but I am sure I will find something useful since this
purchase at a minimum triples my inventory of taps and dies.
Where this becomes a gloat is that while talking to the proprietress she starts
pulling tools out from behind the counter to ask for identifications, which I
obliged. Then she comes up with a Millers Falls #2 eggbeater in nice looking
shape. She says her husband had not been able to make it work but if I wanted to
try I could have it. Throw in a free MF eggbeater and the purchase of the tap &
die set becomes cheap. The hand crank would not move and there was only one jaw
visible, but I figured it was worth the try. At home, 5 minutes after applying
liquid wrench into the oil holes and the drill was spinning nicely. Filled the
chuck w/ WD-40 and left it to sit overnight. This morning I could work the chuck
enough to see three jaws and some springs in there all askew and a considerable
amount of crud. Took some force to get it off but after that was easy to
dismantle. All the parts are there. One spring looks damaged but will perhaps
still be usable. We will see after I get everything clean and lubed. The odd
thing is this is marked as a #2AG. Randy’s MF website does not show a #2AG;
George’s Basement Type Study of the Millers Falls No.2 Eggbeater Drill doesn’t
show one that I can find; the Millers Falls No. 2 Drill Type Study on
Galoot-o-pedia mentions the 2AG in passing but I don’t see anything to indicate
why a “G”. Oh well...
Finally, I bought some books. A six volume set “The Naval History Of Great
Britain” by William James. First published in 1822, it chronicles the British
Navy from the declaration of war by France in 1793 to the accession of Gorge IV
in 1820. I bought the “New Edition, with Additions and Notes” published in 1859.
It is set in 9 point type to challenge my old eyes and with a total of about
2500 pages, will take a very long winter, or two, to finish.
Pictures are here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../albums/72157712803933292/wi
th/49430947926/">https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../albums/721577128039
33292/with/49430947926/
Bill
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