Everkeen

Discussion in 'Forum: Saw Identification and Discussion' started by pmcgee, Dec 10, 2012.

  1. pmcgee

    pmcgee Most Valued Member

    Messages:
    184
    Just the opposite this time - etch is pretty clear in person, but the photos are so-so.

    I could see Everkeen and Milwaukee ... and eventually landed on Pritzlaff, John ... although it looked like "Josh" on the saw to me.

    Info followed from there ...

    (http://swingleydev.com/archive/get.php?message_id=115605&submit_thread=1)

    115641 "Christopher Otto" <chrisotto@s. Mar-25-2003 Re: Old chisel questions
    > ...The other 2 chisels are a Buck Bros, and an Everkeen.
    > (web pages?)

    Ren,

    I don't think anyone gave an answer regarding the "Everkeen" brand yet --
    It was a label used by Pritzlaff, a hardware wholesaler that was based in
    Milwaukee. Their building still stands, it's a huge old Cream City Brick
    warehouse building darkened by a century of dirt and soot, located just
    south of Downtown between the post office and the Milwaukee River. You can
    still see the Pritzlaff name faintly on the east face of the building. I
    don't know when Pritzlaff went out of business but the building housed a
    furniture store when I was a kid in the '60s.

    Everkeen tools aren't uncommon -- they seem to pop up in Wisconsin often
    enough, though last year I saw more Witherbys in the wild than Everkeens.
    I have an Everkeen drawknife I inherited from Dad, also a small hatchet
    and a couple chisels with the name. The few bench planes I've run across
    were very cheaply built with sheet metal frogs. There exist better quality
    planes - mjdtools.com has pictures of a couple that seem pretty nice.

    I haven't gotten around to sharpening the edge tools yet so I can't judge
    their quality, but the fit & finish seem on a par with most of the other
    chisels I've managed to pile up.

    > dona nobis pacem
    Amen.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Dec 10, 2012
  2. pmcgee

    pmcgee Most Valued Member

    Messages:
    184
    Wisconsin Historical Society
    http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dic..._id=1711&term_type_id=1&term_type_text=People

    Catalogue pages - too bad not the saws -
    http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1928-AD-...ols-Diagram-Parts-/120993919734#ht_623wt_1186


    -----------

    (http://swingleydev.com/archive/get.php?message_id=160595&submit_thread=1)

    160597 "Ken Meltsner" <meltsner@a...> May-27-2006 Re: Tapered iron in a Stanley-style jack plane?
    The 1920s is certainly feasible -- Pritzlaff Hardware was incorporated
    in 1884 and last appeared in the Milwaukee business directory in 1958.
    UW Milwaukee has an archive of their papers which I could probably
    get access to.

    Any distinguishing marks on the plane that might help identify it as
    being made by Ohio Tools? The only mark I've found so far is an "S"
    on the back on the lever cap. The adjuster seems a bit different
    than I'm used -- the yoke is a heavy casting, not bent metal, and the
    lateral lever has a bigger disk on the end, I think. I need to dig up
    my Stanley #5 and take some pictures, I guess.


    On 5/27/06, Anthony Seo <tonyseo@m...> wrote:
    > I'm not familiar with that particular brand or Hardware outfit, do
    > you have any working dates? My thoughts with tapered iron, if it is
    > original, that the plane was made by Ohio Tools. They were still in
    > business until 1920 so depending on the dates that is a possibility

    >From the UWM web page on their business papers:

    http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/arch/findaids/msscq.htm

    ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY: The John Pritzlaff Hardware Company was
    founded in 1850 by John Pritzlaff (1820-1900), in Milwaukee,
    Wisconsin. John Pritzlaff was born in 1820 in Trutzlatz, a province of
    Pomerania, Prussia. He emigrated to America in 1839 and worked his way
    westward by maintaining various jobs along the way, such as, a laborer
    on the Genesee Canal in Pennsylvania. By 1841 he reached Milwaukee and
    became a teamster for $9.00 a month. In 1842 he was a cook on a lake
    steamer and the following year supported himself by cutting timber at
    the site of Schlitz Park. In 1843 he entered the hardware field where
    he was employed by Shepardson and Farwell as a porter, earning $200 a
    year. The following year Shepardson sold out to Nazro and King and Mr.
    Pritzlaff continued in the latter's employment. He remained with Nazro
    and Company until 1850.

    In the year 1850, John Pritzlaff, along with August F. Suelflohn and
    Henry J. Nazro, opened a small retail hardware store called John
    Pritzlaff and Company. Nazro was a silent partner, but carried the
    financial burden. In 1853 Suelflohn was bought out by Pritzlaff and in
    1866 Nazro withdrew, leaving the entire business with John Pritzlaff
    as proprietor of a large and rapidly growing business. By 1884
    Pritzlaff incorporated the John Pritzlaff Hardware Company. The
    company kept growing and moving until it became the largest hardware
    store in Milwaukee and the entire region. When John Pritzlaff died in
    1900, his son, Frederick C. Pritzlaff, took over the company. The John
    Pritzlaff Hardware Company appears in the Milwaukee City Directory for
    the last time in 1958.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2012
  3. pmcgee

    pmcgee Most Valued Member

    Messages:
    184
    Martin J. Donnelly is quoted below, which reminds me I forgot to say that the blade has a good 'sing' to it when tapped or moved around. That would suggest a good blade to me - a minority of the saws here have the same sort of ring to them.

    - - - - - - -

    (http://www.mjdtools.com/ToolList.php?list=300)

    PRITZLAFF HDWE. CO., JOHN/MILWAUK "EVERKEEN" SET OF 12 CHISELS 1/8" TO 2"
    The Pritzlaff Hardware Company was Milwaukee's very finest. In keeping with their reputation, they offered a full line of high quality tools, produced for them by the major toolmakers, that were marked with their "Everkeen" trademark. Here's a great set of bevel edge chisels in superb condition in their original fitted wooden box. Sets of chisels have become nearly impossible to find.
    Price: $545.00
     
  4. pmcgee

    pmcgee Most Valued Member

    Messages:
    184