Identify this Stump Puller, Board Measure, Implement and more!

Know anything about a board feet measure?

We have a 47-inch-long board with a 36-1/2-inch metal measure broken into units mounted on it. The A.B. Farquhar Co. name is on the metal. The units of measure are as follows in five units across the length of the 36-1/2 inches.

Numbers are silver on a black metal background. We believe this to be a board feet measure produced by A.B. Farquhar Co., York, Pennsylvania.

My grandfather owned and operated an Oliver tractor/equipment business in Felton, York County, Pennsylvania, until his death at age 96. One of his sons took over the business and operated it until his death.

Since Oliver Farm Equipment Co. took over A.B. Farquhar in 1952, I assume that’s how my grandfather came to own this piece. Maybe he even had a sawmill. The measure is part of a circular sawmill manufactured by A.B. Farquhar Co. in York, Pennsylvania.

A.B. Farquhar Co. was founded in 1858 and incorporated in 1889 and initially built threshing machines and farm machinery. Later, the company produced cultivators for farm use and potato harvesting equipment. Early on, Farquhar produced steam engines but soon began manufacture of traction engines.

Among other products, Farquhar manufactured steam engines, traction engines, circular sawmills and edgers. The company was reorganized as Farquhar Sawmill Division after its acquisition by Oliver. In February 1956, Oliver sold the division to E.E. Titus, Inc. of Petersburg, Virginia. Titus began manufacturing sawmills for export later that year. We would appreciate hearing from readers who have information about this piece.

Dan Stein, gdstein29@comcast.net

Former sawyer identifies piece as a board scale

In a photo in the July 2021 issue of Farm Collector, a scale was identified as a board foot measure. I believe that is incorrect. It is a board scale that would be fastened to the side of the headblock on the log carriage of a circular sawmill. The top measure is how thick the log is. The other numbers are the number of boards that you’d get from however many quarter-inches they are cut. I am 77 years old and retired. During my late twenties, I worked in a sawmill and learned to saw and it was referred to as a set blocks, which was to figure how many boards could be cut from a log.

Walter Vanover,
West Liberty, Kentucky

Cross-country farm implement discovery

I found this farm implement in Jackson, New Hampshire, while out cross-country skiing at the end of an old country trail. Although it looks like a manure spreader, it is so small in size I wonder if it might be some type of planter. There is a wheel-driven rolling rod that may have supported some type of belt. I could not find any markings on the implement. It would be great if a reader could identify it.

Elias Nyberg, DVM,

Center Conway, NH 03813 

Cross-country skiing discovery identified

Several readers identified the relic discovered by Elias Nyberg during a cross-country skiing outing (Farm Collector Letters, July 2021) as a horse-drawn potato digger minus many parts. Correct identifications came from Nathan Kuehl, Rigby, Idaho; Ken Rau, Altamont, N.Y.; Richard E. Frantz, Richland, Pa.; Randy Chase, Fresno, Calif.; Michael Rodemeyer, Hartsburg, Mo.; Harold Kaufman, Porterfield, Wis.; Jerry Kline, South Bend, Ind.; Barb Hildreth, Whitehall, New York; Richard Rulon, West Avon, Ct.; Douglas Thompson, West Avon, Ct.; Leland Warning, Castle Rock, Colo.; Mark Danielczyk, McHenry, Ill.; Nathan H. Drum, Littleton, N.H.; Nels Jensen, Britt, Iowa; Ken Bolton, Fall Creek, Wis.; Jerry Blough, Davidsville, Pa.; Woody Cone, Rochester, N.H..; Robert Gayler, Boise City, Okla.; William Olson, Roosevelt, Minn.; Gary Froiland, Stewartville, Minn.; Bill Rankin, Spring Grove, Pa.; John R. Heath, Sullivan, Ohio; Glen Ray Goodson, Galax, Va.; Arthur E. Cone, Orrington, Maine; Jerry Jordan, Roscoe, Ill.; and Cliff Smith via email.

Barb Hildreth recalls a V-shaped digger in front that dug up the rows of hills. “The potatoes ran up the bars (knocking off the dirt) then fell to the ground on top of the hills. This might have worked great in good deep soil, but in the shale that we had, a lot of potatoes got sliced when the digger hit rock. I spent a lot of time on that hard metal seat as a 9- to 12-year old. My father pulled ours with an old John Deere tractor and then upgraded to an 8N. I still have the 8N (I am 70 now). The digger went to a farm museum long ago.”

From Jerry Blough: “My grandfather had one that he added a wooden tongue to so he could pull it behind his World War II-era government surplus Cletrac. The Cletrac was delivered to the Oliver garage in Davidsville, Pennsylvania. It was painted olive drab and had rubber tracks on it that the garage changed to steel tracks. It had been used to tow military aircraft to and from the flight line. My uncle ended up with my father’s family farm and as a teenager I was his ‘hired hand’. Someone gave him a gallon of paint and I sprayed the Cletrac Allis Chalmers orange.”

What oil is best for Alfa Laval separator?

I have an Alfa Laval Viola hand-operated milk separator from the 1960s and am trying to find out what oil it uses. Is there anyone who would be able to assist me?

Lynda Bartlett,

Cape Town, South Africa;

email: bartl@sadomain.net