This Square picked up what appears to be an old Square?

[David Lageman]

Picked this up this weekend, not knowing what it is, simply because I thought it was interesting and have never seen one! Yes, I realize that is not sound logic for a buying decision.

Anyway, did a quick search on the Ebay machine and judging by pictures only, it appears to be a Topps Framing Square with an 1892 patent. It's very "crusty" so I can't really read any of the inscriptions. I figured I'd ask the SMC group to see if they can ID what exactly I bought if possible? I didn't try to clean it at all since I'm not sure what it is, so this is how I brought it home!

Thoughts, if any? Also, if this isn't the correct spot for this type of question, maybe one of the mods would be kind enough to move it to the appropriate forum.

20210322_120022.jpg

20210322_120048.jpg

[Jim Ritter]

Never saw one like that either and it probably would have followed me home too. Looks like it might be useful, I wonder it it has a specific trade use.
Jim

[Mel Fulks]

Not many of them around ! Looks like a combo square and bevel . I’ve heard bevels called “bevel- square” , so it looks like you have
found the origin of the combo name. The mystery is “sol-ved”. Probably somebody around who’s been looking for one for a long time.

[Jim Koepke]

There have been similar items on Patrick Leach's monthly tools for sale lists.

A lot of my knowledge about tools has come from reading through those lists and viewing the images.

You can sign up here > http://www.supertool.com/

jtk

[Rafael Herrera]

Found the patent:

http://www.datamp.org/patents/advanc...id=11570&set=4

[David Lageman]

Found the patent:

http://www.datamp.org/patents/advanc...id=11570&set=4

I think that's it...thanks so much for the link.

[David Lageman]

So now comes the question...does one try to clean this up or just leave it alone. I didn't buy it with the intent of actually using it but more of a collection starter.

[Jim Koepke]

So now comes the question...does one try to clean this up or just leave it alone. I didn't buy it with the intent of actually using it but more of a collection starter.

One thought on that is you can always clean it tomorrow, you can never return its years of patina from use. If there isn't corrosion or rot needing to be inhibited and it isn't going to be used it may be best to leave it as it is.

jtk

[lowell holmes]

If you clean the grunge off and coat it with Johnson floor wax, it will not rust and grunge up again.
I have a can that is over 10 years old. My tools have no rust on them and I live in an environment that encourages rust.

[David Lageman]

One thought on that is you can always clean it tomorrow, you can never return its years of patina from use. If there isn't corrosion or rot needing to be inhibited and it isn't going to be used it may be best to leave it as it is.

jtk

This was my line of thinking as well...let it live in all it's ugly beauty...lol. The only reason I would think about cleaning it is to be able to see the markings on it, but again, it's highly unlikely I would actually use it so maybe the markings are better left to imagination. Thanks for the feedback.

[David Lageman]

If you clean the grunge off and coat it with Johnson floor wax, it will not rust and grunge up again.
I have a can that is over 10 years old. My tools have no rust on them and I live in an environment that encourages rust.

Thanks Lowell...if I end up cleaning it up, I'll do just that to preserve it.

[Rafael Herrera]

From your pictures, it's so badly rusted that a significant portion of the inscriptions may have been lost. My understanding is that electrolysis is the least destructive rust remover, perhaps you can give that a try.