A Tool Story......

[Corey Hallagan]

Tonight a neighbor down the street of mine and fellow woodworking friend stopped by as he saw me working in the shop. Checked out all my new goodies. After an hour or so of talking about tools he had to tell me about his "new" saw. He is a roofer and siding contractor, gutter man. Guy does awesome work and hasnt advertised in 20 years. Anyway.... he was doing somework for a lady that he has been doing work on her place for the last 15 years whenever she needs something done. Funny old lady who's husband died in 1965. They did well for themselves in there lives and she lives very very comfortable. He is replacing her gutters and after work a couple weeks ago she says, my husbands old saw in the garage and are you interested in it? He is thinking of some old Craftsman table saw.. but he has been in that garage 20 times over the years and never did see a saw. So she takes him in and in the corner is a pile of tarps and plastic that has been there for years. He had no idea a saw was under it all. Layers of tarp and plastic is taken off and there under all the covers is a Dewalt RAS. He asks here how much she wants for it. She says... let me think about it... and I will call you. He thinks she willl blow it off and forget. 2 days later she calls him. She says, I will sell the saw for $168.00... he says I will be over. Gets there and she has all the original information with the saw including the original receipt for.. you guessed it.. $168.00 in 1962 from a lumber yard/hardware dealer that no longer exsists. He says, I would like to give you 300-400. and she says why the hell would you do that, he paid 168.00 new for it!!! She is think what a fool. So he gets the saw, all the orginal blades that came with it. He literally made 3 cuts in the top and that was it. It is like brand new. I have to go down and check this saw out in a couple nights after work. How cool is that!! This guy is a top notch guy, does awesome work and is just thrilled with his new saw. He says she has some free work coming!

Corey

[Jim Hager]

Now that is one more fine kind of a find. Wow!! I never get that kind of luck but I sure will enjoy it when I do!!! Gracious older lady gives gracious middle aged guy a good find on saw. Sorta fitting don't you think.

[Roy Wall]

That's a good one Corey:)

Woodworking is a great stage for kindness and honesty........

[Jim Becker]

If you really have to have a RAS...an old Dewalt is an excellent choice! That fellow really stepped in the "good luck stuff", apparently!

[Corey Hallagan]

Yeah, he is a good guy. I got to go down and see it. I would never fall into something like that!!

Corey

[Bernie Weishapl]

Corey if I had luck like that I would be buying lotto tickets.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Cool story, Corey. I like the lady's sensibility when it came to setting the price. Wish I could find a lot of used things priced that way. ;)

- Vaughn

[Dev Emch]

Sounds like one of the old GA types or a similar model. Did it have the original spackle paint job?

I saw a photo of one on the back page of shop notes mag, issue #52. These guys bought this saw rebuilt from the ground up by wolfe. The machine was new in 1939. Man o man was this a sweet saw!

I am a bit embarassed here. Wound up paying only $150 dollars for my DeWalt GE. But it was a total rust bucket spending its retirement under a tree in the wild. It took a lot of elbow grease to rid it of all that rust.:o I spent two solid evenings with an assortment of hydraulic jacks and jigs to just get that column to move. Had to baste it like a turkey in the oven using KROIL penetrating oil.

Some folks love the old DeWalts and some hate them. I heard some bad things about them and was unsure of how I would react to my DeWalt GE. I have to say that I found most of the negative to be false. Its the original design and its straight forward. Others who followed had to try to put their own stink on the design and, in my opinion, actually made it worse. The more complexity you put into that saw axis, the more movement and vibration and registration issues you will have to contend with. Nothing beats cast iron for rigidity and simplicity for reliability.

RASes are not rocket science. Sure, if you ever see a northfield X-36 unipoint, you will most likely witness the most trick RAS ever built. But my greatest complaint with the unipoint is that huge C shaped arm. Many folks including me like to park the RAS against the wall and have it share cabinet space to conserve space. The cabinets to the left and right use their tops as infeed and outfeed tables to the RAS. Therefore, you need to minimize the wasted space between the wall and the RAS. You cannot do this with a unipoint. I can easily do this with a DeWalt RAS.

Got to love em....

[Bill Antonacchio]

Funny old lady who's husband died in 1965. They did well for themselves in there lives and she lives very very comfortable. He is replacing her gutters and after work a couple weeks ago she says, my husbands old saw in the garage and are you interested in it? He is thinking of some old Craftsman table saw.. but he has been in that garage 20 times over the years and never did see a saw. So she takes him in and in the corner is a pile of tarps and plastic that has been there for years. He had no idea a saw was under it all. Layers of tarp and plastic is taken off and there under all the covers is a Dewalt RAS.
Sounds like the one that I was using to notch a 2x4 with back in 1958 @ 11:30PM. I remember the date and have the scar on my left index finger to prove it. My father was recovering from the flu and he was nailing up the 2x4's making a small cabinet in an alcove for a linen closet in a house we had just moved into. I was out in the garage cutting the pieces to his measurements.

Wound up having my mother take me to the hospital to get stitched up.

The saw was a good one for it's time and capabilities but there were several cuts that were flat out dangerous. Using the anti-kickback pawls was an important part of making any rip cuts thats for sure.

Regards,
Bill Antonacchio

[Frank Pellow]

Thanks for the "feel good" story Corey. It could not have turned out better. The saw wiil now get used, the lady is happy, and your friend is happy. This is win, win, win!

[Per Swenson]

Corey,

Fine Machine, great story.

Its nice when a honest craftsman gets a good deal.

For reference, here is a shot of my fathers birthday present from

my Mother in 1962.

[lou sansone]

nice story and hope it works out for the best. would love to see the saw. I happen to be one of those guys who believe that the RAS is a basic must have for a "well" tooled shop, provided it is a quality saw like the dewalt or rockwell turet style saw. Do have my eye on a unipoint though
lou

[John Hart]

cool story. It probably gave her so much pleasure....can't put a price on that!

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Now that is just plain cool! Congrats to your friend on the find.

It is just nice to know that what goes around comes around, in a good way!

[Byron Trantham]

Such a deal!!!! Nice lady.

[Russell Svenningsen]

Corey,

Fine Machine, great story.

Its nice when a honest craftsman gets a good deal.

For reference, here is a shot of my fathers birthday present from

my Mother in 1962.


Wow, I guess I have to gloat as well. I bought an RAS from a camp that was selling some tools about 3 months ago. It's a Dewalt, but I wasn't sure of the vintage. It's exactly the saw you have. I paid $50.00 for it. Took some cleaning up, but so far, I love it. Does a great job.

Best,
Russell

[Corey Hallagan]

I have to go down and see it one of these nights. He works constantly so hard to find him at home! I expect that it is very much like the saw in Per's photo. He got all the blades with it including a Dewalt dado etc. I am trying to talk him into selling me his Makita planer cheap on the basis that he should pay it forward.... I don't think it is working!!

Corey

[scott spencer]

Neat story....