Millers Falls color

maynah · Mar 24, 2005

Hello all. My first post. I just got a power hack saw. "The Star Power Hack Saw" by Millers Falls. Pat'd 1911. I'm going to paint it but can't tell what color it was. It may be gray, quite a few layers of old paint on it. It came out of a high scool shop class about 1950. It has a 14" blade on it and is a pretty little saw. Any ideas on original color? Many Thanks

jim rozen · Mar 24, 2005

The millers falls hand drill I have has a
black frame, and the main gear is red.

The manual hacksaw is blued steel though,
not much paint on it.

Jim

Stu Miller · Mar 24, 2005

Maynah,

I tried an old Millers Falls catalog reproduction (1915). Star hacksaws are shown, but no color given. As a clue, however, pedel powered fret saws are described as "japanned black with red and gilt stripes"

The Star lathe is described as "thoroughly built and highly finished", whatever that may mean.

Stu Miller

meco3hp · Mar 24, 2005

Hello, Maynah,
Can you post some pictures? I also have a Millers Falls power hacksaw. Mine is painted silver, but I think that is from a previous owner.

Thanks
Richard

SouthBendModel34 · Mar 24, 2005

The red used on Millers Falls "eggbeater" hand drills and breast drills is an orange-red, meaning mostly red with an orange-ish tint.

maynah · Mar 24, 2005

Thanks everyone. I'm not to good at putting pictures online, but I'll try. It may take a day or two. Thanks again, maynah

maynah · Mar 27, 2005

Here are the pictures of the Millers Falls saw.

Simon &amp; Kirsty · Nov 15, 2006

Hi

I own two of these hacksaws this one

was already repainted when I got it but the other one only had the one coat of paint on and that was a dark green colour I can't find a photo of it at the moment but it is a different style to my other one being the same as the other one pictured havning a gear driving system.

Cheers

Simon

SouthBendModel34 · Nov 17, 2006

I'm not such a great judge of fine shades of color, but I have three Miller's Falls hand drills, one a classic "eggbeater" and the other two are breast drills.

The red-orange colors on my three drills do not match.

One of them is approximately "Socony Red", a trademark color of the old Standard Oil Company of New York. The most-orange one is about like New Haven Railroad Red-Orange. In other words they vary from "nearly red with just a touch of orange" to "distinctly orange with some red"

So don't sweat the exact shade, because Miller's Falls wasn't consistent. Paint it a color you like. Look at how handsome Simon's saw looks, with its red wheel centers that recall early steam locomotives. Some members have gone for a black-with-"Dulux Gold" trim look that also reminds viewers of old locomotives. That might be good - a reciprocating hacksaw moves sort of like a locomotive's driving rods.

I have this fantasy of having a shop of machines in individual colors, with the vises, tooling, and fixtures color-coded to match, or at least stored in color-matched toolboxes. This would make it a lot easier on my executrix when I punch in at "that great shop in the sky".

John Ruth

norton · Dec 2, 2006

I just got from a family member a really old millers falls powerhack and as I was cleaning it I found green paint on the legs,black on the non moving parts and red paint on all of the moving parts.
I am going to leave it as is just oil it over.
Do any of you have any idea just how old this one maybe?the rod between the flywheel and the saw is made of wood and seems to be the real part.
http://www.geocities.com/fcdnorton/pictures.html?1164589360062

:confused:

Mike Powell · Dec 3, 2006

Chances are that wood rod is actualy ash. Ash is a very shock resistant hard wood. Today it is commonly used for making baseball bats. I remember my father having a sicle bar mower on his old Alis Chalmers. It too had a conecting rod made of ash.

Good Luck!
Mike

Simon &amp; Kirsty · Dec 3, 2006

Norton

Your saw looks similar to my one pictured above apart fromnot having the automatic cut out plate.

My link is also made of wood I have changed the link since the above picture was taken because it was made of cheap hardwood and split around the holes.

I have copied the link from this original picture http://www.oldtoolheaven.com/history/historyimg/powersawsm.jpg which is shape almost like a bone

I cut the shape out of an off cut of ash, which was planed to the correct dimensions in a planer thicknesser, with a fretsaw , drilled the mounting holes and then cut through them from the end of the link inwards.

I then drilled from top to bottom at either end and put a bolt through to act as a pinch bolt to take out any strain on the hole - it seems to have worked quite well the combination of flexable wood and the stress reliving pinch bolts have done wonders - I will dig the saw out and take some pictures if anyone is interested or wants to know what the hell I am rabbiting on about!!!

I use my saw when I need to cut steel up to make trollys for my engines and although it is slow it still does a good job!!

Cheers

SImon

Simon &amp; Kirsty · Dec 30, 2006

Hi

I managed to muscle my way to one of the hacksaws today to take a couple of pictures of the arm I made - they are not great pics but you can get the idea of what I have done!

Cheers

Simon

Mike Powell · Dec 30, 2006

Simon,

Looks as though you did a nice job. Rubing down the part with several coats of boiled lin seed oil will protect it and would have been the varnish of choice 100 years ago. It takes quite a while to dry. Cuting it 50% with mineral spirits will accelerate the dry time some but it will still be slow. 6 coats over 6 days should look prety nice.

Mike

Simon &amp; Kirsty · Jan 1, 2007

Mike

Thanks for the advice I think I'll give that a try I won't be using it for a while so drying time won't matter!

Cheers

SImon

Mike Powell · Jan 1, 2007

Simon,

Pleas remember wipe or brush on a coat. Let it stand for 10-20 min. Wipe off the exess. Allow to dry completely. then repeat.

Mike

meco3hp · Jan 2, 2007

Hello,
My saw is missing the drive pully. It does have 60 revs a minute cast into the counter weight. What are the dims on your pullys?

Thanks
Richard

Simon &amp; Kirsty · Jan 2, 2007

Mike

Thanks for the advice.

Richard

The main pully on my hacksaw (shown in the above post) is, I think, 12" (it isn't at home with me so I can't actually measure it at the moment) with a 2.5" face.
The pully on this saw:

Is supposed to be around 9" as it is a faster running saw but at some time someone has seen fit to weld on a V pully - this will have to come off

This saw is basicly the same as Maynahs one above and looks to be in origial paint which might show people the original colour the saws were, at least over here that is!
It is the geared type saw and runs a lot smoother than the other saw.

I will not be restoring this saw as it has a lot of original paint and will look good with my Lister A type engine which is in similar condition.

Cheers

Simon

GallowayDP · Oct 3, 2019

Hello, I just joined and cannot locate the post you had from 2003 with three pics of a vintage Miller falls co. saw. I have come across one very very similar and wanted to compare it with yours. Maybe you can assist me in ID of the one I have. I have many pics and video

GallowayDP · Oct 3, 2019

Maynah, Stainless I need to speak to you about this model, I have a very similar model

. Hit me up at [email protected] Thank you

Millers Falls color

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