ID old miter square?

[Jim Davis]

I bought this at a flea market Thursday. It was and is not a collectible because of extensive pitting of the blade, so I cleaned it heavily and adjusted the back and the 45-degree shoulders so they agree with my Starret combination square and tool-maker's square. They are right on as near as I can compare them, so I'm happy to have a good user of this type.

But, as always, I am curious about who made it. The beam, or blade, is 7-1/2 inches long, marked in eighths of an inch starting from the toe. The handle stock is about 5 inches long. I can find "MADE IN USA" on the blade at the toe end, but can't see any other markings, if ever there were any.

The miter squares of this vintage that I have seen photos of all had either just wood or a strip of brass on the 45-degree shoulders, where this one has brass plate on the sides of the shoulders as well as on the shoulders.

Do any of you have an example of this square or photos revealing who made it?

Thanks for looking.

Jim324371

[jeffp whitaker]

and adjusted the back and the 45-degree shoulders so they agree with my Starret combination square and tool-maker's square.
Morn'n Jim,
I too have picked up a couple of old squares at flea markets and yard sales and wondered how to get them back square again. Is there a tutorial somewhere that I could watch/read?
Thanks

[Jim Davis]

I don't know of a tutorial. I was a machinist in a previous life and have continued to do machine work as needed ever since. (I have a metal lathe and milling machine.) The machines were not used to true up the square, however.

In any project of this kind, the key is to work from one aspect of the piece that is true. For instance, if there wasn't a straight line to be found, the approach would be to decide which straight line would be most useful and make that one straight, as by filing, for instance.

In this case, the top and bottom of the blade were straight and parallel, so that was the obvious place to start.

The inside angle also proved true against my toolmaker's square. The back of the stock (the outside 90-degree angle) was off quite a bit, so I did repeated touches on a course belt on a belt sander. Touch, compare, touch, compare. It' really not very difficult.

One of the 45-degree shoulders was off enough to produce an error of about 1/32" in the length of the blade. I filed that down till the blade matched my toolmaker's square. I had to file the brass pretty aggressively. I kept checking to keep from putting a rocker into the surface. To help with that, I used the edge of a flat file near the tip where the edge is crowned. With that part of the file, I could reduce the middle of the shoulder without touching the ends. Then I could bring down the high end until I had a straight shoulder. Lots of fussing but I got there.

If you have to do that much filing, a "safe side" file is a big help in preventing accidental filing of the blade. (I did mark up my blade pretty badly with my filing of the shoulder.)

To summarize, start from a true surface and check other surfaces against a known standard as you work on them.

It's a satisfying exercise and one that requires some audacity. There is always the little nagging fear, "What if I wreck this?!?" Balance that against, "What good is it the way it is?"

Jim

[Jim Koepke]

I was never a machinist, at least not in this lifetime, but that is pretty much what I do with an errant square.


If you have to do that much filing, a "safe side" file is a big help in preventing accidental filing of the blade. (I did mark up my blade pretty badly with my filing of the shoulder.)

I use tape, favorite for this type of work is teflon tape, to protect surfaces even with a safe file.

jtk

[Jim Davis]

Just found this image 324432 with this description of number 116: 116. Unusual combined try & miter square similar to Stanley Winterbottom patent, has nice 7-inch blade. Still no maker listed.

[Karl Andersson]

It looks like you have a Stanley Victor 1283 Try Square - see here for a starting photo and description: http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/rare-stanley-victor-try-mitre-square-1283 . I don't have my Walters book on me, but several references on oldtools, etc. state that these were not marked "Victor" but were in catalogues; perhaps our Stanley Scholars can chime in

Of course, it's rare but not worth a gazillion bucks (like most of my tools). I saw a completely corroded and rotted one recently at the flea market, so your is one degree rarer now.

nice square!
Karl

[Jim Davis]

Thanks for your research Karl. You are certainly correct that my square is not worth a lot. It is no doubt worth less than when I got it because of the all the cleaning and filing I did truing it up. But I am very glad to know what it is, who made it and when. I plan to use it and these things are good to know.

Jim