Cliff Gage, known by some of his industry friends as “Clever Cliff,” passed away on April 28th at 91 years of age. Few people know as much about pallet nailing as Cliff knew. He was one of those people who had so much knowledge that those familiar with him just know he will be missed by many.

            Cliff was born in White Plains, NY in 1919 and moved around New York state during his younger years before he graduated from high school in Pearl River. Cliff is survived by Mary, his wife of 48 years, two sisters, one brother, two daughters, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

            Cliff was an inventor and a visionary. Everybody with whom we spoke talked about how hard Cliff worked. Even at his age, he regularly worked a six day week. He worked on Saturday before entering the hospital on Monday, less than two weeks before he passed away.

            Cliff worked with most of the older style nailers, including Morgan and Doig. He was the mind behind the nailing machines when he worked for Doig. In the late 1960s or early 1970s, Cliff went to work for Pallets Inc. in Ft. Edward where he maintained its six Doig nailing machines. In the mid 1970s, Cliff started his own business, Morgan Gage.

            Pallets, Inc. and Potomac Supply are two of the pallet companies that relied heavily on Cliff’s abilities. Both of these companies still use Doig nailers to handle many of their specialty nailing needs.

            Cliff owned many patents and machine drawings, including those for Morgan and Doig nailers. He specialized in nailers for wooden reels, carpet tack machines, and paint brush machines.

            Bill Carden of Potomac Supply said, “Cliff will truly be missed by the industry. He could take a machine with no further use and make it totally new.”

            Mary Gage confirmed that Jason Wendel, the man who had been Cliff’s right hand man, may keep the parts portion of Morgan Gage alive to service pallet companies who need parts for their old machines. Jason worked for Cliff for many years. Right now it appears that Mary might shut down the company but is seriously considering the possibility of working with Jason to maintain parts.