Brent asked about miter boxes and saws.  In case anyone else is
interested, here's some info from my archives - courtesy of
Steve LaMantia.
Regards,
Charlie Rodgers
Clinton, Maryland

The following information on Stanley miter boxes is taken from an
August, 1996 post from Stephen LaMantia:
_______________
Here's some information on Stanley miter boxes I took from the 1909
catalog.
The "width board" column refers to the width of the baseboard on the
miterbox; since
the front saw support column is several inches out from the front, if
you dangle a wider
piece out off the front of the baseboard, you can cut a 90 on a piece
much wider than the
board width (for example, on the model 240, the board width is just over
4", but you
can actually cut a piece at 90 that's over 8" wide.  Prices quoted are
with the saw (always
made by Disston); without the saw, they were $1.00 (#240) to $2.50
(#460) less. Weight 
pairs are without the saw and with the saw, respectively.  (Note on the
242 and the 244, 
the "with-saw" weight should actually be 28-1/4 and 28-1/2; I just
rounded it to 28 to 
fit in the column.)
                        width         -cutting capacity-       saw
model       length      board       90        45        30     size    
wt    price
-------  --------      -------    ------    ------   ------   -----  
-----  ------
240        18          4-1/8      8-1/4     5-1/2    3-1/2    20x4   
23/28  10.50
242        18          4-1/8      8-1/4     5-1/2    3-1/2    22x4   
23/28  10.75
244        18          4-1/8      8-1/4     5-1/2    3-1/2    24x4   
23/28  11.00
246        18          4-1/8      8-1/4     5-1/2    3-1/2    26x4   
23/30  11.25
346        20-1/2      4-1/2      9-1/2     6-1/2    4-1/8    26x4   
29/34  12.25
358        20-1/2      4-1/2      9-1/2     6-1/2    4-1/8    28x5   
29/36  13.00
460        24          5-3/4       11       7-1/2    5-1/8    30x6   
42/51  16.00

>From what I've gathered, the above models were their good, "state of the
art" miter boxes
with bells and whistles, or "refinements" as Stanley called them:
hold-tights (which also
allowed for compound cuts), stop blocks, automatic catches and
trip-release triggers,
depth stops, and even support columns adjustable for varying saw blade
thickness.

Stanley also had a line of no-frills workaday miter boxes that were
capable of using
standard carpenter panel saws rather than the big backsaws.  The model
numbers for
these were the 50, 50-1/2, 60, and 60-1/2.  The 60 was essentially a 50
that was
provided with a backsaw; so too with the 60-1/2 and 50-1/2.

--Steve

From: "Rodgers Charles" rodgers_charles@b...
> The following information on Stanley miter boxes is taken from an
> August, 1996 post from Stephen LaMantia:
> _______________
> Here's some information on Stanley miter boxes I took from the 1909
> catalog.

>                                    width         -cutting capacity-
saw
> model       length      board       90        45        30       size
wt      price
> -------         --------      -------       ------     ------     ------  
    -----        -----     ------
> 346          20-1/2      4-1/2       9-1/2     6-1/2    4-1/8    26x4
29/34  12.25
> 358         20-1/2       4-1/2       9-1/2     6-1/2    4-1/8    28x5
29/36  13.00

I have narrowed my mitre box down to one of two, using this information. The
final decision depends on how you define the saw size. My saw is over 27"
long and the blade is almost 4-1/2" under the spine. This suggests to me,
using saw size, it is a 358.

The cost surprised me. Looking at Stan Faullin's site and the 1926 catalog,
the cost of the 358 with saw had risen to $27.40.

Comparable costs, from the 1925 Sargent catalog on Stan's site: a Sargent
708 was $5.10, while a 722 was $9.60.

In 1920, the average hourly wage for the unionized building trades was $1.05
working a 44 hour week (about twice what it was in 1910, which suggests
that wages were not keeping pace with inflation).

So, a top quality mitre saw cost over 3 days wages and about three times as
much as a jointer.

The old tools market has not been kind to mitre boxes. From asking prices on
oldtools, mitre boxes are going for 2 to 3 times their 1926 price while
autoset planes are going for 10 to 15 times. eBay prices are low, with few
offered and few bids.

Brent

During a discussion of mitreboxs Brent Beach said:

> 
> The old tools market has not been kind to mitre boxes. From asking prices on
> oldtools, mitre boxes are going for 2 to 3 times their 1926 price while
> autoset planes are going for 10 to 15 times. eBay prices are low, with few
> offered and few bids.

    And in my opinion the Rodney Dangerfield award for least respect based
on prices now vs. prices than goes unamiously to the bit brace.  Piles of
them go for a buck or two or three at the flea market.  A worker back then
had to spend more for his brace than for his bench planes.   Oh how the
mighty have fallen.

Regards,
Steve

Brent wrote;
> So, a top quality mitre saw cost over 3 days wages and about three times as
> much as a jointer.
> 

Your math works out but doesn't take into account that every carpenter
didn't have to buy one. The modern day tailed miter cutting thingie
prolly costs about 3 days wages also. These type of tools are owned by
the contractor not the crew. A 4 to 6 man crew with 2 miter devices per
crew sounds about right then and now. Crew provide their own handtools,
Boss provides the bigger stuff. The more things change, the more they
stay the same.

Tom Corey