At a distance, there is little distinctive to a
Sandusky. Up closer, you can see the degree of waist of through
handle, the double taper on the stopped handle, the quarter round
chamfering on 5 edges of the jaws.Top Page > Clamps as Products > Makers of Wooden Clamps (WC) > Sandusky
Table of Contents
Many of these pictures are provided through the generosity of John Adams. The quadrille grid backgrounds are quarter inch squares, and provide a sense of scale.
At a distance, there is little distinctive to a
Sandusky. Up closer, you can see the degree of waist of through
handle, the double taper on the stopped handle, the quarter round
chamfering on 5 edges of the jaws.
The catalog of 1925 says that the jaws are of white oak.
The jaws have a quarter round chamfer on five edges.
Note the quarter round chamfering along the
outside, and down the slope to the nose, but not down the nose.
For the chamfering of the back, see the back below.
According to the catalog of 1877, the material of the screws is second growth hickory, and the jaws are maple, or beech. The catalog of 1925 also warns that "there is no standard thread common to all makes."
The screws are two or four inches longer than the jaws, according to the catalogs.
There is an anomaly to the two spindles in the specimen I have. The through spindle is hand cut, while the stopped spindle is lathe cut.
Notice the slight taper to the cylinder, and the
almost symmetrical tapers from the cylinder to the shaft and to the
end of the handle. Notice also the perfectly flat end to the through
spindle.
The through screw has a handle with the customary waisted shape; the tip of the screw is sometimes a truncated cone, sometimes flat across. There is (at least in my specimens) a pronounced pit where the thread cutting lathe dug into the end.
Note the not-quite flat end to the stopped
spindle. Note too the slight waist and the rounded transition to the
end of the handle.
The stopped screw has a handle which is not cylindrical. It has a slight taper from the point of maximum diameter toward the end. The end is flat. The transition to the end looks like an Aldrich. The stub has a pronounced pit where the thread cutting lathe dug into it.
The maker's mark is
SANDUSKY TOOL CO in a semi-circular arch over SANDUSKY OHIO.
This shows clearly the arch over line mark of
Sandusky. Notice too the use of both serif and sans-serif fonts in
the mark.
It also shows the quarter round chamfering on the jaw, around the
outside, but not on the edges between the back and the top/
bottom.
last revised and validated
Copyright © 1996- Wooden Clamp Journal