Written by John Alexander, Collections Technician This machine cut the spiral grooves inside the barrels of rifles and sometimes pistol barrels. The owner was David Hall Hilliard 1805-1877, who also […]

June’s Tool of the Month is a notable, locally-made machine. Even after well over one hundred years, this machine still looks good. We don’t know who made the machine, but […]

We have this cylindrical saw that’s 13 ½” in diameter. Naturally, everyone who sees it thinks, “giant hole saw.” But it’s probably not. A number of years ago, a visitor […]

Written by John Alexander, Collections Technician Sometimes, these artifacts are the most satisfying, sometimes the most frustrating. Our founder, Ed Battison, was a passionate collector but sometimes not the most […]

By John Alexander, Collections Technician Gear shapers are curious machines. They are straightforward in operation, but people often misunderstand because it’s hard to explain clearly. I hope this can help. […]

By John Alexander, Collections Technician Various pieces of wood in the structure of the Museum’s building show signs of being worked on an unusual type of planing machine. (I’ve found […]

Things have changed so much. It used to be that all window frames were made of wood except some iron ones in industrial situations. Now, even wooden framed windows have […]

Written by John Alexander, Collections Technician This machine was found by Jamie Swan, a longtime friend of the Museum, in a shed near a swamp in Connecticut. It didn’t look […]

Written by John Alexander, Collections Technician • jalexander@americanprecision.org My choice of this machine was confirmed right away. I looked in a box of books sitting next to my desk and […]

Written by John Alexander, Collections Technician The sight of an old catalog for Barnes lathes led to this month’s article. The company was founded in 1872 as the W. F. […]