Vintage Gem Folding Mitre Box by Alaska Freezer Co. Winchendon Mass., Circa 1950.

A handy bit of vintage kit, from a company with an unexpected back story. This 14-inch wooden mitre box folds up into a tight 2.5 x 3.5-inch package when stored. Cast iron saw guides are stable and durable. But the most interesting thing about it is the story behind the company.

In 1902, the Alaska Freezer Co. was founded in, of all places, Winchendon Massachusetts, to make hand-cranked ice cream machines. Alaska, still a decade away from becoming an official U.S. territory in 1912, was apparently shorthand for anything cold. To manufacture freezer parts, the AFC had a casting forge, which would later be put to use making the saw guides and hinges for this box. Who brought them the design or the trade name Gem remains a mystery.

Generations of families worked at the Winchendon plant and, despite being sold several times, the company kept making ice cream machines, now motorized, into the 1980s or early 90s. The factory wound up in the hands of a deadbeat landlord who owed the town $13,000 in back taxes. He refused to maintain the buildings, even when walls and ceilings began collapsing. Ultimately, because of asbestos fears, the federal government had to step in and raze the joint in 2019, to the tune of $2 million. Which woulda bought a lot of ice cream.