This item is a New Langdon Improved, Size 1, made by the Langdon Mitre Box Company prior to its acquisition by Millers Falls. The labels (sadly deteriorated) that are glued to the backstop attest to its pre-1907 manufacture. The curved stock rests, which were patented in 1882, are the feature that distinguishes this as an “Improved” version of its “New Langdon” predecessor. The Size 1 miter box accepts a saw having a four-inch depth of cut. Depending on the length of the saw blade you can call it any of Model Nos. 26 through 30, inclusive.
There were several variations of the Langdon being manufactured at this early stage, succinctly listed on this pamphlet.
What is most striking to this author is the simplicity of the device compared to its modern descendants. The casting is rough in places, surface grinding and finishing being limited only to the few working surfaces that require precision. There are no length stops or stock clamps, just a simple depth stop. The curved swing arms are by no means a piston fit in their slots and it takes those beefy thumbscrews to hold the arms solidly in place. There are no gradations on the quadrant, only the ten standard detents for common angles. The swing arm is locked in position at any angle using an ordinary screwdriver.
So what is it like to actually use one of these?
My early impressions after taking it apart and cleaning it up:
- The preset angles are remarkably accurate even in the absence of any apparent fine-tuning mechanism for the swing arm as is found in much more modern incarnations. (Fortunately this box hasn’t any brazed or welded repairs that might conceivably affect its accuracy.)
- The wooden base upon which the workpiece rests, and particularly the new replacement that I made for the crumbling original, is so smooth that it permits the workpiece to slide all over while sawing thereby making it too easy to cut ill-fitting, unattractive miters. The crumbling base had some kind of anti-skid, sandpaper-like coating applied to its top surface to prevent such movement. Unless you have developed an iron grip such a coating is a practical necessity. (It turns out that the rough coating was patented in 1874 and was composed either of sand or emery.)
- Locking the swing arm in place via the gib screw did not require removing the saw from the guides in order to reach the screw. However, it was annoying to have to hold the saw in a half raised position to reach in there.
- With a new and stronger spring in the thumb lever it was not necessary to lock the swing arm at all when using the detents.
- Even though I am using a backsaw that is much newer than the miter box, there is essentially no sideways play or slop when it runs in the saw guides, which is a good thing. Nor does there seem to be undue friction. (I leave open the possibility that I may change my mind if I ever cut a house’s worth of molding with this box someday.)
With the perspective one has from looking back on this miter box after a hundred or so years of subsequent evolution, it is easy to see the necessity for the later improvements that came along, i.e. the “nibbed” metal base, under-arm locking mechanism, workpiece length stops, head-mounted depth stops, and spring-loaded saw guide locking mechanisms.
And what about those curved arms for cutting acute angles? They’re cool to have but I don’t think I’d miss them even if I were cutting a polygon picture frame having twelve or eighteen sides. In that circumstance I’d use a purpose-built shooting jig instead. But for more ordinary polygonal frames, this miter box well lives up to its then-advertised purpose: to be an accurate and long lasting replacement for the traditional carpenter’s wooden miter box.
A Langdon Mitre Box Reference 