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Vintage metal brake

JB5149

Plastic
Joined
Jan 20, 2018
Hello I am new to the forums my name is Josh and I recently purchased this brake from a coworker whose husband passed away and she was selling equipment from his plumbing business. After a little research all i was able to find on brakes made in buffalo were by cornice. I am not sure if this was or not as it doesnt say cornice, just simply "metal forming machine co. Buffalo ny". Its a wood framed 4' brake. Attatched is a photo of the tag, I will get more pictures of the machine tomorrow. Any help is greatly appreciated.
 

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Cornice refers to the type of brake rather than the manufacturer. A cornice brake has a one piece top, as opposed to the segmented finger top of a box and pan brake.
 
Actually, in this case, Double Truss is the name of the company. I used to own one of these. Its a wooden brake, 4' wide, with some cast iron and steel parts. It is trussed with round bars, but most of the brake is wooden. In good condtion, it will have scrolls and designs painted on it in gold paint, over the black painted wood. It is pretty light duty- probably rated at about 18gage max, and, while usuable, doesnt have much value as a working tool.
Its main attraction is as an antique, but few people collect antique sheet metal tools this big.
I ended up trading mine to a guy in Oklahoma City who taught sheet metal apprentices for the training program, and was assembling an entire circa 1900 sheet metal shop.
I have seen a couple of these on display at used machinery dealers, but, in general, interest is not high for one of these. I paid $100 for mine, in the late 70s. To the right person, you could get a bit more, but its not worth a fortune.
Post a photo of the entire brake here, hopefully showing it from several angles, and see if there is any interest.
Obviously, shipping and crating would be a fortune, and locally, you will see less affluent collectors than say, on the west coast.
If you could get $300 to $500 for it, you would be doing great, assuming you wanted to sell.

Somewhere I have a picture of mine, but I cant find it right now.

Here is a picture of one in Australia- pretty beat up.
Originally color is black paint on the wood, with gold decorative scrolls and leaves painted on.
http://www.kleen.com.au/June 12 Antique.JPG

I used mine quite a bit, it works fine. they were mostly made in the very late 1890s thru maybe 1910, unlikely its much newer than that. Its not advisable to bend thicker material in it, even if its narrow- the way its built, the wood will give, and you could ruin the tool. 16 gage is ok, but I would not go thicker.
 
Thank you all very much. I dont plan on trying to sell it I like that its a local piece of history and itll likely be a display piece. Thank you again for the info
 
Hello I am new to the forums my name is Josh and I recently purchased this brake from a coworker whose husband passed away and she was selling equipment from his plumbing business. After a little research all i was able to find on brakes made in buffalo were by cornice. I am not sure if this was or not as it doesnt say cornice, just simply "metal forming machine co. Buffalo ny". Its a wood framed 4' brake. Attatched is a photo of the tag, I will get more pictures of the machine tomorrow. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Are you interested in selling your antique metal brake , Barry Walker [email protected]
 








 
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