Oliver Jointer in the wild... Here is one for the big spenders!

[Dev Emch]

You all have seen wonderful photos of some of our restored wonderful machines sporting new paint and stainless bolts. With tables reground and bearings replaced and balanced. In short.. Back to New and Back to the Old Glory.:D

But here is the real story.:rolleyes:

This is a very rare type B Oliver patternmaker's jointer. It is the forruner to the #12 jointer made by oliver. This is how they sometimes look before all the Love'in Gravy is applied to bring them back to their old glory. This one is actually in pretty darn nice shape and even includes the fence and cutter heads. Proof that nothing is impossible. When you begin hauling this stuff home, your wife may believe you have lost it. She may complain about being a football wife... well, now she really has something to complain about. When all you say to her in the span of a day is how you almost got the inclines adjusted and scraped in but your off by 2 thou on the right aft incline and how you spilled dychem blue on the garage floor by accident. And that new after shave you wear.... sulfinated cutting oil. Those french after shaves have nothing on you!

The second photo is an OWWM photo showing what this jointer actually looks like once restored. You gotta admit that is one sharp looking jointer!

[Bruce Page]

Dev, that is one stout machine, do the chips go streight down between the legs?

I always used Prussian blue when scraping.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Wow, I can sure see why a lot of guys like to restore those old machines! I wouldn't even know where to start!

[Dev Emch]

Bruce...

Your right. I was trying to be funny.:rolleyes: For real scraping, you want goop that comes in two colors and never really dries out. Otherwise you cannot get the correct transfer from your reference plates or reference edges. I like to use the P.Blue and the its red cousin. Nice constrast. What is really super cool is the old frosting done on final scrape out. My tenoner has this on its ways as do some of my metal machines. It just looks so bloody cool! But its also fairly hard to do it right.

Jeff..
Its like drinking from a fire hose. The first one is always the worst and thank goodness for the internet. There is always someone from whom to mooch advice or instructions. And woodworking machines are actually very basic beasties so its not like your rebuilding the transmission of a huge kearney trecker or DeVlieg Spiralmatic milling machine. That is a good thing.

A bad thing is that one often loses sight of the main objective. As a hobbyist, are you into woodworking or restoring woodworking machines? If your not careful, you will forego sleep inorder to both restore and use these.:o

Another bad thing is that once you get one of these restored and working, you soon discover how spoiled you get. You begin to judge everything through vintage shades by turning your nose up at models that dont weigh at least half as much as your car. You get confused with new machines because you cannt find the oil cups or ball oilers. And you loose your temper at new machines because they cannot hold a tolerance within a few thou as these old rust buckets can when brought back to life via restoration.

Oh ya, I doubt that this jointer comes with a users manual or other support documentation. This will condition you for new machines by persuading you to throw out the user manual when you unpack that new machine. Ever wonder where the phrase "If all else fails, read the instructions" came from. Clearly from some guys who have restored rust buckets. :p

[Corey Hallagan]

Wow, that thing is huge! That would pretty much fill my shop up! It looks scarey as heck!

Corey

[Andrew Alexander]

Dev...that is one beautiful restoration!!...whats the story on how you found this beast??...a

[Dev Emch]

Actually these are two different units of the same model, namely a model B jointer. The one on the right has been adopted by a happy family and has had all its shots. The one on the left is a unique find and I am considering if I should try to retore this one. PM me on the back channel if you would like a chance at it. I have no connections or interest in this beastie other than a possible interest in hauling it home myself. But it is first come first serve and I have no reservations on it.

Corey...
It may be real scary. This unit may have a two knife square cutter in which case, its known to remove fingers in mass. It may also have a clam shell cutter which has been known on occasion to throw a knife or two. Or it may have a saftey head in which case its safe to use. You can always put a byrd head into this if you so desire.

[Chris Pasko]

I would love to tackle a project like that. Unfortunately I would be so lost it wouldnt be funny =(.

[Tom Jones III]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of money, roughly, are we talking about? How much for the pile of rust on the left and how much would something in working condition cost?

[lou sansone]

hi dev
nice machine. I wonder why the outfeed tables on these units are so much shorter than the infeed table. I am not an expert on the oliver 12, but it seems like the tables have a 4 point leveling as well as a way to tilt them. is that so?

lou

[Chip Charnley]

FYI, I just happened across what looks like the same make/model of jointer on the WoodWeb for sale used at $3200 w. a 3 phase motor.

[Dev Emch]

This is type B jointer which is very similar to the #12.

The infeed table is longer than the oufeed table. On the 166, the two tables are the same length. This is also a 20 to 24 inch jointer. These were made in widths from 12 in to 30 in.

Both the #12 and the #166 use the four incline suspension system. The #166 has a sub carriage that supports this which rides on horiztonal dovetails. That is why I can move the tables away from each other to work on the cuttter head yoke. I am not sure if the #12 has this system as well. I may very well also have it.

The #12 has two shafts comming out the front under the infeed table. One controls the cut height. The other controls the relative draft angle for the infeed table relative to the cutter head. This is why its called a patternmaker jointer. This will cut a draft angle on a board and if you do not want that, it can be a pain to dial it in to prevent it!

The type B jointer used heavy bronze bushings for bearings. That was the rage in circa 1910 when it was built. There is nothing wrong with this bearing. Note how far the bearing sticks out the front? The #12 had ball bearings. The newer the model, the more precise these bearings got. In modern #166 and #12 jointers, the bearings were class 7 mllling machine bearings and replacing these can cost many hundred dollars each! If you need to do machine work or electrical work on the direct drive motors, this will also cost you serious money depending on the work. Precision grinding of multi hundred pound tables can also cost you some bucks.

So a pristine oliver jointer in mint condition is worth some cash. One that is in the condition of the one at the right will cost you a bit more than current scrap value. I think this guy wanted about $700 for the jointer as is. That jointer tips the scales at about 3000 pounds. Its also a shaft drive jointer so you will need a new motor.

And when you go to a dealer, they will add the dealer surcharge onto the price. So a 24 inch, nice condition used #166 will start at $4000 and go upwards. I have seen some dealers charging as much as $11,000 dollars for a 24 inch oliver #166. Outrageous! Similar jointers have come out of auctions for $250 or so dollars.

And yesterday in New Jersey, a 16 inch 1950s porter model 300 jointer went for a mere $100 dollars. The new owner can make a profit by just selling the jointer for scrap metal!

So what is a jointer like this worth? Its hard to say. The condition, current availability and how desperate you are to get into that jointer all influence its current market value. Who knows, when the owner finally gets bored with this one, he may just give it away because its going to cost him more to haul it than the scrap yard is willing to pay for it. I will gladly relieve him of his misery and put this baby into the walnut blaster.:D