19/5/2014

I bought this jointer gauge from Patrick Leach recently. His contact details is on the library page of this sight. Miller’s Falls eventually inherited this tool from Langdon who introduced it in 1904. They continue to produce it until 1944. You can find a wealth of information on the history of Miller’s Falls and Langdon at the following site. http://oldtoolheaven.com/index.html

 

This was how mine looked like when it was still with Patrick in the US of A.

Shortly after arrival in Namibia, I sent it to Kenny at the Prop Shop who bead blasted all the old paint and rust away. You can see the spectacular job he did in the picture below. Just a warning though, I understand from what I read in on Patrick’s site that the tools actually lose value to collectors if they are rehabilitated like this. I however use my tool to work with so it is not much of a concern to me but, you might want to be aware of this, if you want to collect tools.

After a coat of rust converter. I followed this with a coat of antirust undercoat (no photo unfortunately).

In these pictures you can appreciate the cadmium plating Kenny did on the cams. I glued a strip of seal leather to it’s inside where it tightens against the rim/side of a handplane. This way it grips better and does not grind the japanning off the plane.

 

Here you can see it reassembled and in action on a #6 Record fore plane.