I asked Ernie, a Martin collector and a current ‘melt, mold production supervisor’ at the Lodge factory, about the age of the Martin No. 3 and he said:

“They made these from 1920-1950 [my Martin No. 3]. Some say the smoother the finish the older it is but I don’t believe that to always be true. Some of the old castings with rough finishes can be caused by wet sand. In making hand molds the sand was piled on the floor and the old squeezers were on wheels & rolled along the pile of sand using it up as they molded. This also allowed the molds to be carried off the squeezer & laid out on the pouring floor before the weights & jackets were put on. With all that said, most molders used facing sand on the surface of the pattern to get the smooth finish.”

“If the facing sand ran out & they were shoveling from a pile this would also cause a rougher finish. If the mold was not rammed good or bounced in the flask this would also cause a rougher finish. When the molders were paid piece work this would hurt quality because molders could short cut and make more molds per day which would result in them making more money.”