My dad is a member of a non-profit wood-workers club which makes
wooden toys for poor children. Their club recently recieved a donation
of a 1880's era New Rogers scroll saw manufactured by the Mills Falls
Company. They would really like to fix the saw up. They are looking
for a place where they can buy parts for the scroll saw. I've found a
few sites which give a history about the New Rogers scroll saw, but I
can't find any place which sells parts - original or new. Could you
please help? Thanks, Larry

Hello Larry,

Thank you for your question.

In 1999 this ad appeared on Yahoo groups and *could* still be
available:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtools/message/41829

"...MISC654 Treadle Scroll Saw New Rogers Here's your chance to own a
treadle scroll saw at a reasonable price. The blade holding mechanism
is missing, but easy to rig up. Pedal has been broken and neatly
brazed. Otherwise this saw is complete and in very good shape.
$175.00..."

I would definitely email to see or to see if this i still available or
if this person knows of parts for this scrollsaw and perhaps even join
this woodworking list at Yahoo to request help locating parts.

You will note from other pages of pictures, patents and descriptions
of the "New Rogers" it was actually made by Millers Falls and I set
off to see what that would find.

Old Woodworking Machines has a page on Millers Falls:
http://www.oldwwmachines.com/MfgIndex/detail.asp?ID=548

Most interesting is this:

"...In 1962 the company was acquired by Ingersoll-Rand Corp.; by this
time the company had about 600 employees, less than half of what they
had only 10 years earlier. Obsolete plants and equipment, plus the
high cost of doing business in Massachusetts, continued to take its
toll on the company. In the mid-1970s they announced their intentions
to relocate south. The Massachusetts responded with a package of tax
incentives, bonds, loans, and wage cuts that funded a new plant in
Deerfield, MA that opened in 1978.

In 1982, Ingersoll-Rand sold the Millers Falls business to the
newly-created Millers Falls Tool Co., headquartered in Alpha, NJ. Any
woodworking machines had long since disappeared from the Millers Falls
product line..."

But there is also a link to this page, which unfortunately does not
work today. May be worth checking in a day or two:

Randy Roeder's definitive Millers Falls website
http://www.public.coe.edu/~rroeder/mf.htm


Searching for "Randy Roeder" +"Millers Falls" I found the cached page
here:
http://216.239.33.104/search?q=cache:2e_JD5jucgYJ:www.public.coe.edu/~rroeder/mf.htm+%22Randy+Roeder%22+%2B%22Millers+Falls%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

"This page serves as directory central for a study of the tools
manufactured by the Millers Falls Company during the time that it was
located in Massachusetts. Featured are a company history, guides to
some of the hand-powered tools and a guide to some of the publications
produced by the manufacturer. A Massachusetts-based entity until 1982,
the firm was incorporated as the Millers Falls Manufacturing Company
in 1868, was renamed the Millers Falls Company in 1872 and became the
Millers Falls Tools division of the Ingersoll-Rand Company in 1962.
Following a management buyout, operations were relocated to New
Jersey...."

Unfortunately, he states he has no access to parts.

Craftsman Studio says the same:
http://www.craftsmanstudio.com/html/antique_tools/x_millers_falls/millers_falls_tools.htm

"Millers Falls Company produced a large variety of hand tools of the
highest quality. The majority of these tools of interest to users and
collectors were produced between 1868 and the late 1950's. If you
would like to learn more about the history of the Millers Falls
Company and its tool line, this link will take you to Randy Roeder's
fine site.

We do not sell parts for Millers Falls tools and are not aware of a
source for parts for their hand or power tools..."

I searched the Old Tool Archives for "New Rogers" and found a number
of hits. You might also wish to subscribe to this message board:
http://nika.frontier.iarc.uaf.edu/~cswingle/archive/search.phtml#results

There are also a number of hits if you use their advanced search and
enter in "body" "new rogers saw part":


American Artifacts ONLINE CATALOG has ads for Miller Falls tools and
perhaps parts. You might consider placing a "Parts Wanted" message:
http://www.americanartifacts.com/smma/advert/advert.htm


A very interesting Vidwood message mentions:
http://members.aol.com/vidwood/05.html

"Q. In the December, 94 issue, you gave the Ohio Tool Systems as the
company who bought the inventory of Millers Falls Company. You gave
the address as: 3863 Congress Parkway, Ridgefield,OH 44286. I wrote to
them on December 9, 1994 and have heard nothing from them.

I own a Millers Falls jigsaw number 561. It has a 1/2 inch stroke and
I need a part diagram and the gear which makes the blade go up and
down. If you have a contact at Ohio Tool Systems, please let me know.
I've been looking for this part for years; it's a great tool, built
like a tank.

A. I regret that I do not know anyone at Ohio Tool Systems. If you did
not get the letter returned to you, I would assume that they received
it. As you suggested, perhaps the description was not adequate, or
perhaps they did not have any parts. Have any of you readers had any
experience with this company? Let me know what you find out...."

Union hill Antique Tool also has want ads:
http://www.tooltimer.com/wantads.html

This current ad may be very helpful:

"Tool: Many Millers Falls 140cbg, 22 cbg,9.5 permaloid, Description:
Acquired from the master ship builders tools rooms at the close of
Mare Island Ship Yards in California. I have over 300 fine woodworking
tools dating from the turn of the century through the 60's. Greenlee,
Millers Falls, Stanley,Bailey, Sojo,American Beauty (every size under
the sun)...Interested parties please call or email.

Condition: Fine Price: 350.00 
E-mail to: joanclaire2003@cs.com 
Tue Jun 3 13:42:55 2003"

There is a phone number listed at the site for this ad if you care to
call.

More classifieds:

JON ZIMMERS ANTIQUE TOOLS - Classified Ads
http://jonzimmersantiquetools.com/guest.html

Rose Antique Tools:
http://www.roseantiquetools.com/

DeAngelo Machinery Sales Inc. May have blades for your saw:
http://bandsaws.0catch.com/bandsaw%20brand%20size.html
 
*** The Band Saw Blade Specialists *** 
876 N Lenola Rd Bldg 9B 
Moorestown, New Jersey 08057 

Alternate Phone: 856-234-2552 


Finally, you might wish to search Google for  antique tool +parts,
"antique tools" +parts, or even more targeted as "antique tools"
+woodworking +parts - and email a few of those suppliers seeking parts
or parts sources. For example:

Fine Tool Journal
http://www.wowpages.com/ftj/toolsalewinter03.html

Rosewood and Brass
http://www.rosewoodandbrass.com/Links.htm

Access Woodworking
http://www.accesswoodworking.com/dir/antique-tools/more5.html

Meeker's
http://www.patented-antiques.com/Misc_Tools.htm

Falcon-Wood
http://www.oldtools.com/

And Google even has a directory of antique tool links:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Recreation/Antiques/Tools/

Search Strategy:

"new rogers" +scroll +parts
"millers falls" +scroll +parts
antique tool +parts
"antique tools" +parts
"antique tools" +woodworking +parts



I trust my research has provided you with numerous links and message
boards that may be able to locate parts for your scrollsaw. If a link
above should fail to work or anything require further explanation or
research, please do post a Request for Clarification prior to rating
the answer and closing the question and I will be pleased to assist
further.

Regards,

-=clouseau=-