GGs

I have a theory.

I suspect finger joints used in situations like the corners of Stanley 55
boxes, are a product of the machine age. I say this because I can't see any
benefit of finger joints if you had to cut them by hand. Dovetails would be
easier to cut than a bunch of miniscule finger joints, and stronger.

The advantage of finger joints is that because they are so small, the
spacing's of the joints will always be somewhere around about the height of
the box. Perfect for a machine that has a gang of cutters set up at 1/4" or
whatever.

I have knowledge of a finger joint machine. Where I did my apprenticeship
there was a finger jointing machine in the machine shop. I recall it being
used once during my time there, to make up the components for replica
Ericsonn Type 37 wall phones like this one,
http://www.telephonetalk.com.au/images/ForSale2007MHTML/page2/Wall.html
">http://www.telephonetalk.com.au/images/ForSale2007MHTML/page2/Wall.html

>From what I remember the machine had a bank of 20 or so cutters that were
about 1/4" wide, set 1/4" apart. A large lever was used to operate the
machine, but I can't remember if the lever just engaged a mechanism that set
the thing in motion, or whether the lever actually operated the cutters
directly. There were no guards on the machine, so I gather the cutters
didn't turn at any speed, so perhaps was manually powered using the big
lever. Maybe some sort of ratcheting mechanism that took incremental bites.

I've googled around a bit, but can't find anything that looks like the
machine I remember.

I found this that suggests that finger joints were also called lock corner
joints; http://www.old-woodworking-
tools.com/index/pages/165.htm">http://www.old-woodworking-
tools.com/index/pages/165.htm

And found this also, http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=22
94">http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=2294

Mick Dowling
Melbourne
Member, Hand Tool Preservation Association of Australia Inc.