oliver or northfield owners ?

[lou sansone]

hello ww's

I was wondering if there were any oliver or northfield owners here at the creek. If so, how about a few photos of your iron machines for the rest of us to look at. I do not own any, but have looked at them from time to time.

thanks lou

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Lou....SMCer Sasha Gast posted a picture of a new Oliver 10" joiner IIRC.

[Richard McComas]

hello ww's

I was wondering if there were any oliver or northfield owners here at the creek. If so, how about a few photos of your iron machines for the rest of us to look at. I do not own any, but have looked at them from time to time.

thanks louAre you referring to the "old heavy iron American made or the new imported Oliver?" There is a different. Since you grouped it with Northfield I assume you mean the old America made iron.

The photo that Sasha posted is the new Oliver import.

[Jim Becker]

Lou, I almost scored a 12" Northfield a couple years ago for $1200 when the local community college was successful with a major grant and bought all new equipment for the woodworking shop. The individual who was supposed to buy it was procrastinating big-time and the man-in-charge said it was mine if the other fellow didn't pick it up by such and such a date about two weeks later. He picked it up. :(

It would have been an interesting restoration project for me getting that 1200 lb machine home and in the shop as well as dealing with the 3 phase, etc. It was in relatively good shape, too. In retrospect, I'm probably better off with the Mini Max J/P due to space concerns in my shop, but I have a lot of respect for the "old iron" when it comes to tools like this.

[lou sansone]

hi jim


I assume that you were talking about the 12" jointer. The combo machines do give one a lot for the space and from what I hear, they are pretty decent as well. I am wondering if anyone here has used the northfield or oliver direct drive table saws in particular.

lou

[Jim Becker]

Lou, I bought the Mini Max FS350 J/P in late 2003 after the Northfield jointer fell through.

[Steve Jenkins]

This is my 16" Oliver made in 1949. All castiron.

[Alan Turner]

I have a late model Oliver 20" now at the new shop, but without pic just yet. They will be posted in due course. Today was a 20 hr. special, getting them back from Conn., and all were quite tired. Thank goodness for tow motors!

[sascha gast]

yeah i do have the 10" oliver, though it's not the same company anymore, i gotta say i am amazed. excellent quality, great 4 knife cutter, 84" long and around 1000 pounds. best bang for the buck. haven't needed any bigger yet and it's maintenace free. i'm just loving it.

sascha

[lou sansone]

I have a late model Oliver 20" now at the new shop, but without pic just yet. They will be posted in due course. Today was a 20 hr. special, getting them back from Conn., and all were quite tired. Thank goodness for tow motors!

ok alan
we are waiting for the report on the zimmerman as well. When you moved the zimmerman did you take the table off or leave in on? just wondering. I have to move my 36" machine this weekend and was wondering about taking the table off.

thanks lou

[lou sansone]

This is my 16" Oliver made in 1949. All castiron.

hi steve

how do you like it. If you have looked at some of my shop posts you will find that I have the 3 legged version of iron machines.
Is your oliver considered a patternmakers jointer or just a standard issue?

lou

[Jim Becker]

Steve's machine is sweet...it's an incredible piece of iron and he has it in impeccable condition.

[Steve Jenkins]

It is a standard jointer not a patternmakers. The beds are a bit over 8' and it is in the 2000lb area. direct drive so the cutterhead spins at about 3300 rpm unlike the new ones that turn at 5-6K. Just have to make the passes a bit slower is all.It's possible to lower the infeed far enough to take a 3/4" cut. Now that is a scary sight.