Treadle powered Tablesaw?

[steven c newman]

I seem to recall seeing Roy Underhill running one of these in an antique store awhile back. Legs just a-pumping, but he did saw a board with it.:eek: Table saw for neanders, maybe?

[Andrae Covington]

I seem to recall seeing Roy Underhill running one of these in an antique store awhile back. Legs just a-pumping, but he did saw a board with it.:eek: Table saw for neanders, maybe?

Here's Chris Schwarz March 2009 post about Roy's then-new woodworking school, with a short video of Chris trying out the saw:
http://blog.woodworking-magazine.com/blog/The+Unifoot+Table+Saw.aspx

Not sure if we can link to youtube but here is a video of Roy using it, which is probably what you remember seeing:
Roy Underhill and the Barnes Treadle Table Saw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb-_KOf4INk)

The Barnes was made from 1876 to 1926, according to Union Hill Antique Tools (http://www.tooltimer.com/barnescombo.html).

I would love to have one. When they rarely show up for sale, I think they go for about the same as a high-end electric cabinet tablesaw... :(

[george wilson]

Saws like that are definitely for young people!!

[Travis Porter]

I played with that saw in his school. It was pretty easy to get it spinning fast and cross cut a board, but you could feel it slow down when the blade bit into the wood. I would not want to do a lot of ripping with it though.

[Mark Dorman]

There is a hand crank saw at RVP 1875 in Jefferson Iowa.
It has a feed roller to help move the stock.
This guy has alot of foot powered scroll saw, lathes etc.
Makes neat furniture in the back of the room displays in the front.
It's cool to shop and wade through wood shavings at the same time.

Mark

[Zach England]

There is a hand crank saw at RVP 1875 in Jefferson Iowa.
It has a feed roller to help move the stock.
This guy has alot of foot powered scroll saw, lathes etc.
Makes neat furniture in the back of the room displays in the front.
It's cool to shop and wade through wood shavings at the same time.

Mark


That's funny, because it looks like a slab roller used in ceramics. I was rolling a clay slab the other day and wondering if the slab roller had any woodworking use--veneer perhaps. The big wheels and heavy rollers can exert A LOT of power with relatively little human effort.

[John Toigo]

I have two Barnes saws similar to the one in Roy's video. His and mine are Model 3's.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x286/Fencer257/P1010149.jpg

As you can see in the pic above and also the next one it has a crank so some lucky apprentice can spin the blade for heavier cuts.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x286/Fencer257/P1010148-3.jpg

The flywheel is very heavy - probably 40# or more to provide inertia to keep the blade cutting. The other Barnes I have is missing some parts because it was converted with an electric motor. I actually bought that one because it has a very cool Century Motor on it.

[David Weaver]

How long before someone makes one with a power twist link belt and an old exercise bike with a 60 pound wheel on it?

[Kris Koenig]

How long before someone makes one with a power twist link belt and an old exercise bike with a 60 pound wheel on it?

I am thinking of the gearing from a mountain bike turning a heavy flywheel which would transfer the power to the tablesaw. 21 speeds might do pretty well for variable speed for a lathe. Maybe I could get more shop time if it was combined with exercise time.

Kris

[Kevin Lucas]

It may have been one of his tv episodes. He visits Berea College. They have an area for old wood tools for students.

http://flash.unctv.org/woodwrightss/2800/wws_2813.html

[David Weaver]

I am thinking of the gearing from a mountain bike turning a heavy flywheel which would transfer the power to the tablesaw. 21 speeds might do pretty well for variable speed for a lathe. Maybe I could get more shop time if it was combined with exercise time.

Kris

When I think about the wattage that used to come out of bike computer (I don't remember exactly what it was, 200 or something sustained, or maybe that was burst? Doesn't really matter), I appreciate that I can plug into the wall and gather 1800+ of them at a time without even going 220v.

I'd love to try pedaling through a piece of wood, but I'd love it a lot more if I was making an attempt on something someone else took the time to make.

[Andrae Covington]

I am thinking of the gearing from a mountain bike turning a heavy flywheel which would transfer the power to the tablesaw. 21 speeds might do pretty well for variable speed for a lathe. Maybe I could get more shop time if it was combined with exercise time.

Kris

In an 1986 Fine Woodworking book (compiled from magazine articles) called Making and Modifying Machines, one of the projects was a treadle lathe that used a bicycle freewheel. The author, Richard Starr, said he mostly used the 13-tooth sprocket, but the larger ones could be helpful when you need more mechanical advantage.

An August 2007 Popular Woodworking article by Don Weber also shows a freewheel sprocket lathe that he designed to be built and operated by villagers in Honduras. Link with pic (http://blogs.popularwoodworking.com/editorsblog/Bicycle+Lathe+Plans.aspx).

At one point I started trying to work out the details of building a treadle tablesaw using a freewheel sprocket. Never came up with a complete working idea, much less actually building one, but it seems possible.

P.S. if anyone like John Toigo wants to loan me their Barnes saw for uh... reference... that'd be great.:D:rolleyes:

[John Toigo]

Sure I'll loan it to you. I've got two of them. Let's just figure out the shipping......

[harry strasil]

At a living History event many, many years ago an older gentleman had a bicycle set up to power his WWing tools (lathe, saw, shaper, sander) and got young people to power them. It was amazing the kids would almost fight to hop on and do the work, but if they had to at home, they would not do it for anything, I guess its the novelty and the kid thing about "I can spin it faster than he could". LOL

[Zach England]

When is the sawstop version being released?

[Rick Markham]

How long before someone makes one with a power twist link belt and an old exercise bike with a 60 pound wheel on it?

Don't forget the riving knife :D

I'm assuming building a small steam engine wouldn't be very neander would it :eek: You could power your saw with your scraps.

I appologize for the pun in advance... A tredle powered table saw brings new meaning to the term "kick back" :rolleyes:

[steven c newman]

one of these saws hooked up to somebody's Stair-climber. And, it's flywheel running the saw. Maybe cobble up a Uni-cycle to pedal-power the saw? That way one could have a "Uni-saw" and still be neanderthal too. ;)

[george wilson]

The steam engine might not be so small,Rick ! We had the great wheel lathe in the cabinet maker's shop in Wmsbg. A very large,heavy wheel to power the lathe to do small turnings like chair legs.

Early on,I made the spindle and bearings for their lathe. Also the parts for the treadle lathe at the Geddy Foundry. Spindle,fork for the live center,face plate,and other chucks. I made them a pitch chuck. It is a round chuck that is just a hollowed out ,flat bottomed bowl that screws onto the spindle. You fill it with black pitch. To use it,you heat up the pitch till its fairly soft. Then,you can press the base of a candle stick or other odd shaped item into the pitch. You revolve the lathe while you nudge the part till it runs true. then,you keep the lathe moving till the pitch cools down enough that your part doesn't sag.

It's a good way to clamp parts that would be nearly impossible to hold even in today's mechanical chucks. You must re melt the pitch to take the part out when you have finished turning it.

I have thought about making one for my modern metal lathe. You can hold anything in them.

I need to post a picture of the "cat head" chuck I made for the Gunsmith's treadle lathe(which we also made). It is a very thick cylinder that screws onto the spindle. There are 8 heavy square headed set screws threaded into the cylinder. You tighten them around a bar of iron till it runs true. A bit fussy!! the 18th.C. equivalent of a 4 jaw chuck. More versatile,though. You can make parts run eccentric,too,if needed.

They did not make chucks that would automatically make iron bars run true in the 18th.C.,because,their bar stock wasn't rolled true enough to make accurate chucks needed.

For small work,like clock and watch work,they did have collet chucks.