Hack Saw History

The story of Star Hack Saw Blades is a long romance by itself - too long to more than touch upon here. Previous to 1880, the only saw used for cutting metal was one known as Stubbs’ and imported from England. This was dulled after a few cuts and required frequent filing at the cost of a dozen present-day hack saw blades.

The originators of Star Hack Saws were Yankees and held their thumb on the weak feature of the Stubbs - the filing. Why not make a saw blade so highly tempered that it could be dulled only with difficulty, and so tough that it offered a reasonable resistance to breaking?

Some attempts had already been made in this direction, but the problem of getting just the right saw blades was a difficult one; there was a provoking lack of uniformity and there were discouraging obstacles in the way of simplifying the manufacture, but the Millers Falls Co. had its Edison who threw his life into the work and the company was soon able to guarantee absolute uniformity of saw blades and later so systematized the process of making as to cut the cost to a small percentage of what it originally was.

The formula of the steel from which Star Hack Saws are made went through about as many changes as years have elapsed since their introduction, always for the better.

Other brands of hack saws there were. The fact that they were alike to the eye was conducive to making their name Legion. With the ardor of conviction, the gauntlet was thrown down before other makers, and the challenge made to cut off with one Star saw more than could be cut with a dozen of any other brand. For whatever reasons it is not known, but only one contestant, at present a manufacturer with some reputation had the temerity to appear. It was a man's job to put the contest through. Coats were thrown off and sleeves rolled up.

The Star pusher was a husky man with a husky blade, and not only cut as much as his opponent with a dozen blades, but then bundled the latter, and with the same blade sawed the whole dozen in two.

Some Other Machines

Among the earlier products of the Millers Falls Co. were machines variously known as jig, fret, scroll or bracket sawing machines. These were added to the company's products as a “fill-in” to keep the plant busy in the autumn when trade on other items languished.

The machines were, in fact, preceded in 1872 by hand frames intended for the same purpose. These quickly suggested foot-driven machines, which have enjoyed an immense popularity. They were the means of carrying the Millers Falls Co.’s name into households in all corners of this country and it is a common saying on the part of grown men, “Why, yes! Millers Falls Co.?

I had one of their fret saw machines when a boy and it has now been brought down from the attic for my grandson.”

Perry Mason & Cot, publishers of Youth's Companion, used these machines in their premium lists from the start, and were largely instrumental in building up a demand.
At no time have the company curtailed growth in the way of adding new tools to the line. Naturally, the result of fifty years is a very diversified product.

Bit braces, hand and breast drills, hack saws, and miter boxes comprise the major lines, but equal care has been exercised and success attained in making not only other tools as mentioned in the foregoing, but also boring machines, chain drills, automatic push borers, soldering coppers jack screws, vises, etc., etc.

A Large Variety

From the first, the officers and guiding heads of the company have stuck fast to the idea that there was a demand in the United States alone for all of the best of the kinds of tools it already made or might originate, and that there should never be any deterioration in quality.

Accordingly, improvements in design and quality have constantly been added so dealers have generally expressed pleasure at getting Millers Falls tools for the sake of improvements all the time without any addition in price. At no time have more improvements been under way than at present.

Similarly, the appearance of all tools placed on the market by the company has been studied carefully so that they bear a most-attractive and distinctive tone.
A hammer is a hammer to many men, and a bit brace, a bit brace, but the Millers Falls Co. are making two hundred and fifty four different bit braces and seventy-five different hand and breast drills. In passing, it should be mentioned that there is always on hand for the making of the wooden parts of these and other tools, four hundred tons of rare and costly quantities of native woods.

Following It Through

It would take many pages to follow in detail the course of a single tool such as a bit brace from raw material to the finished product in the shipping room. Let a carpenter consider that his bit brace if of the Millers Falls Co.’s most up-to-date style has undergone two hundred and twenty-four distinct operations and that it has gone through almost as many hands. Such is the case. The history of a single part will serve to illustrate what this means. For example, the so called alligator jaws.

The raw stock is in the form of bars of carbonized steel. This is thrust into a forge and when brought to a white heat is held beneath a heavy drop hammer that stamps out the shape of the jaw. The rough jaw is then cut off and sent to the annealing furnaces, where a certain temperature is carefully maintained. Next the jaw is cooled slowly to make workable. This process is handled carefully so as to leave the jaws with all their proper toughness.

The sides of the jaw are then machined to the proper width, the teeth are milled, holes drilled for spring and pin at the base. A special hardening process next takes place, then polishing on emery wheels; nickeling and the inserting of pin and wire spring. The jaw is now completed and after inspection is stored with other finished parts until called for by the assemblers. Incidentally, the company’s stock of finished parts amounts to over thirty thousand different kinds.

Through Several Generations

The company has been fortunate in having associated with it a large number of competent young men who are instilled with the best traditions of the business. A similar spirit has served to imbue every workman of the company with the thought that the best in tools is none too good. Many of these workmen have been with the company since its beginning.

In one case grandfather, father and son are actively employed. The grandfather works in the same room over which his son is foreman.

While this is being written we learn that one of the company’s tool makers at the age of eighty years, after forty-five years of service, not only with the Millers Falls Co., but as a fellow-workman at the bench with Messrs. Gunn and Amidon at the Greenfield Tool Co., packed his kit, shouldered his chest and, shaking hands with his fellow-workmen, quietly left the factory. He intends to spend his remaining years on a flourishing farm that he has been developing for years. The company invited him to continue indefinitely, but he had always determined to retire at the age of eighty.