Rust Hunting in Astoria

[Jim Koepke]

Went to the coast for a little shopping. One of my favorite antique malls had all this:

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The Goodall Pratt eggbeater was in the shop owners corner. We were discussing it when he said he thought there were bits inside but he couldn't get it open. Turns out he didn't know how. He also wasn't aware it is a two speed. Two of the bits actually have a wood drill angle on them.

Sometimes it feels like taking candy from a baby.

The saw blade looks unused, it is marked E.C. Atkins. The other little thing is from The LSS Co. of Athol Mass. It is half of a stair gauge set. The dividers are a bit rusty. The mark on them is Sargent. They can be my beater pair.

jtk

[Stew Denton]

Jim,

It looks like you did well. In fact, I have to add "ya done good!"

A question on the stair gauge: Years ago I bought a couple of what I think were called stair gauges, which were hexagon shape I think, and were brass. You would clamp the two on a carpenters square, one on each arm. They had a slot and a set screw that impinged into the slot, so you would slide the gauge onto the square arm, and tighten the set screw to attach it to the square. You would put one on the square arm on the mark for the stair run, and the other on the square location for the stair rise. You had to diddle a little with them to get them to mark the correct lengths for the two dimensions. You would then use it to mark the cut outs for the stair treads. It was very quick to mark the cut outs that way once the square was correctly set up.

Is that what the devise you are calling a "stair gauge" is for? The one you have is a different design than what I have. It has been about 50 years since I bought my set, and I think I could find them very quickly in one of my traditional carpenters tool boxes, if I looked. However, it has been so many years that I am not sure that "stair gauge" is what we called them back then.

Thanks and regards,

Stew

PS: I just looked on the auction site, and typed in "stair gauge," and the first two items that showed up were brass items that look nearly identical to what I bought about 50 years ago. I would have to dig mine out, (it isn't going to happen), to be able to see if they were identical to mine, but they certainly are an extremely close match if not identical. The ones that showed on the auctions site had knurled set screws, and i think mine have hex head set screws, but my memory could be wrong on this.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Just an FYI Jim. LSS is the LS Starrett Company. A nice little take.

[Jim Koepke]

Is that what the devise you are calling a "stair gauge" is for?

Yes, some call them pig's ears and other names. They are used for laying out stair stringers and roofing rafters.


Just an FYI Jim. LSS is the LS Starrett Company. A nice little take.

Thanks Dave, knowing this made me smile when picking this up in the antique shop yesterday.

jtk

[Andrew Seemann]

Totally tangental to the topic, but when I was in Portland for a biz trip a few years ago, I took the opportunity to drive out to Astoria and the mouth of the Columbia River. Beautiful country, but the tsunami evacuation route signs freaked me out. I'll take blizzards and tornados over having 5 minutes to build an ark any day:)

[Christopher Charles]

I almost took a job in Astoria 6 years ago but in part decided not to when I learned that it gets ~2x more rain than Seattle... And spectacular place on a sunny day!

[Jim Koepke]

Beautiful country, but the tsunami evacuation route signs freaked me out. I'll take blizzards and tornados over having 5 minutes to build an ark any day:)

This is the Pacific Rim earthquake zone. Earthquakes can cause a tsunami. IMO it is better to be prepared for something that may never happen than to have to live with something that is going to come along every few years. BTW, on clear days when we go to town we can see Mt St Helens from the road to town. That blew big time about 40 years ago.


I almost took a job in Astoria 6 years ago but in part decided not to when I learned that it gets ~2x more rain than Seattle... And spectacular place on a sunny day!

To the west of Seattle is the Olympic National Park, home to the Hoh Rain Forest. It receives over 100" of rain in a year. North of this area is a city called Sequim. Sequim, WA is in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains and receives little rain compared to a lot of Washington.

Washington is "The Evergreen State." Part of the reason for the name is all the rain.

The story of one of my other rust hunts gets into this > http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?163796

Portland gets on average 43" a year. Year to date we are about 4" shy of normal and there is talk of drought. Standing around with neighbors in the rain (you get used to it or move away) talking about drought is a bit surreal.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

Doing a bit of searching on the Starrett stair gauge it seems Amazon is selling pairs made in China.

One of the reviews mentioned they are easy to break.

Did Starrett move manufacturing off shore or are these knock offs that are even copying the maker's name?

jtk

[Mark Gibney]

I've been to Astoria OR a few times and I love it. Way out there, miles from anywhere, with those Painted Ladies Victorians on the hills rising up from the seafront, looking out over the Columbia and the Pacific. Stunning place!

[Dave Anderson NH]

Most of Starrett manufacturing is still in the states though they have a plant in Brazil, one in Scotland, and one in China. HQ is still Athol MA and quite a bit of manufacturing is still there along with NC and a couple of other US places I forget.

[Jim Koepke]

The Goodall Pratt eggbeater and the Sargent dividers were cleaned up a bit:

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Mostly wire brush at the drill press.

The eggbeater was mostly wiped with a rag and lubricated:

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There is an Aug 13, 1895 patent date on the chuck:

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The two bits with a wood boring profile were sharpened:

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The angle of the point for these is close to 60º instead 118º for drilling metal.

These two go through wood quickly now.