Mystery 8" Jointer

[Allan Speers]

I need help identifying this machine, and sadly I have VERY little to go by. (Pics, below)

I have first crack at it, if I want it, but it's 2 hours away, the pics are dismal, and the seller just had knee surgery so he can't get me more pics right now. (He says it's buried with a ton of other tools.) He says there's no name tag.

It's a vintage (1940's?) 8" jointer with a super-long bed (probably 72") but the table is VERY thin on the outer thirds. (This, I think, is the main clue.)
The cutterhead appears to have a nice diameter to it.

The motor looks ancient, and is only 1 HP, but luckily it's belt drive, not direct, and I have a spare 1.5 HP Leeson that I can retrofit.

The adjustment wheel, if that's what it is, looks cheap, kind of like a Craftsman type, which bothers me a bit. The fence also looks pretty cheap, but serviceable, I guess.

The owner says it belonged to his great uncle, who was a professional carpenter. He also say he ran it a few years ago and "everything worked" so at least the bearings aren't seized, and "everything that should move, moves." so the keyways aren't rusted or damaged.

So:

408500 408501 408502 408499

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I'm thinking maybe a JD Wallace, except it's belt-drive, and also the knives aren't skewed like most Wallace's I've seen.
Also, most Wallaces had fences with curved edges, but not all of them.
But that guard just SCREAMS "Wallace."
It's far too old to be some import junk, but that adjustment wheel & fence don't exactly imply "industrial quality."

The price is "pretty good," but not free, and it's a looong drive. It will need a new motor, and I'm worried that the bearings might be some odd type that's hard to replace. I'm worried that the adjusters might be hard to deal with. - But if I can make it work, that would be LOVELY. :)

Whadayya' think?

[Allan Speers]

Update:

This seller also has what he claims is a TWELVE inch Walker-Turner table saw. He says he measured the blade.
Now, I've never even heard of a 12" W-T, so I wanna' see this thing.

- And BTW, I have no need / room for it, so if anyone is interested, let me know.

I figure if that great Uncle carpenter had this W-T, he probably had all good machines, so it makes the mystery jointer a little bit more intriguing.
I'm driving up there tomorrow, with cash & a camera.
At worst, I'll get to listen to 4 hours of good music.

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But I'm still looking for opinions. If this is a known piece of junk, then I won't waste the trip.

[Mel Fulks]

I much prefer the adjustment wheels ,over the sticks. It's easy to calibrate the wheels and know how much you are moving the tables.

[Bill Dufour]

I do not think that fence can be angled for a non 90 degree cut. they handwheel reminds me of King Seally(sears) tools from the 50's. It also looks like a delta lock knob. It seems like it may be a replacement since a 8" jointer would have a crank handle to provide some torque to lift that table upwards.
The cutter head may not have lifting screws to move the knives up and down accurately. My Parks plane lacks them and it is a pain to adjust the knifes after sharpening
Bil lD.

[Mel Fulks]

I've never seen a big jointer ,of quality ,with a handled wheel. Just a wheel that turned easily. But I don't know much about Deltas.

[Allan Speers]

I do not think that fence can be angled for a non 90 degree cut. they handwheel reminds me of King Seally(sears) tools from the 50's. It also looks like a delta lock knob. It seems like it may be a replacement since a 8" jointer would have a crank handle to provide some torque to lift that table upwards.
The cutter head may not have lifting screws to move the knives up and down accurately. My Parks plane lacks them and it is a pain to adjust the knifes after sharpening
Bil lD.

Yeah, the fence definitely doesn't angle, but that's very common with vintage jointers. The easy soluton, I think, is to simply make a 45º fence that mounts on top of the stock fence. 45º is all I'd ever need, and losing width doesn't matter since that would be for edge jointing. (Plus, I mostly use hand planes, anyway. :) )

I think maybe you're right about the wheel being a replacement. It looks so out of place.

As for the knives: If that IS a Wallace, and it had the skewed knives, I'd try to replace the bearings and keep it. Those heads were great. But this looks like regular old straight knives, so if everything else is really nice, I'd eventually get a Shelix for it. - Assuming I can retrofit the new bearings, which is beyond my understanding right now.
(And sadly, I was banned from OWWM years ago, by the resident Nazi, so i can't ask there.)

[Allan Speers]

I've never seen a big jointer ,of quality ,with a handled wheel. Just a wheel that turned easily. But I don't know much about Deltas.


I know what you mean, but this is only an 8" machine.
Also, again, Bill is probably right that it's a replacement. I sure hope so.

[Andrew Hughes]

At first glance i thought about Davis and Wells.
Looking at the fence it’s reminds me of Pryor but the guard is different.
I like the long tables that go on forever :)
My best guesses

[Allan Speers]

Do you guys get the sense that this might be a decent find, or more likely a Montgomery Wards type thing?

I know there isn't much to go on, but what does your gut say? (4 hrs round-trip is a long drive.)

[Terry Therneau]

The vintagemachinery.org site has photos of many manufacturers. The Walker-Turner entry there has a small handful of 12" cabinet saws. The jointer fence doesn't look like JD Wallace. There have been discussions about a very long table jointer on the owwm site, but I forget the manufacturer.
Terry T.

[Zac wingert]

Ok, you pretty much forced me to spend the last hour or so going through the jointer page on vintage machinery. Saw some machines with similarities, but nothing dead on. What would worry me about those photo’s is the one with the hand wheel. It’s not the handwheel that worries me, but the general construction of the machine doesn’t look too robust for an 8 inch jointer with a long bed. Just my thoughts, For what they’re worth.

[Mark Wooden]

The fence doesn't look original, more like a shop made replacement, probably why it doesn't tilt.
Walker Turner did make a 12" tablesaw for several years, pretty industrial machine.

[Mike Kees]

Hey Allen, take that drive that really is not that far at all.This from a guy who drove 13 hours one way for a sliding saw and edge bander. At least you will enjoy the 4 hours of good music. What have you got to loose ? A possibility for a good jointer and maybe a T.S. sounds like more incentive for a road trip than some of my adventures have started with. Good luck and enjoy the journey to the destination,Mike.

[Bob Vaughan]

That jointer looks to me like a shop-made jointer using what other components that were available at the time like the guard and cutterhead.

Walker Turner did indeed make a 12" saw. They are rare.

[Allan Speers]

Ok, you pretty much forced me to spend the last hour or so going through the jointer page on vintage machinery.


LOL. Me too!


I think Bob may be right, somebody kludged that thing together from other parts.
The owner just emailed me it's only a 3-blade cutterhead, so it's definitely NOT a Wallace, unfortunately.
- And he thinks the tables are plate steel, not cast iron. (Run, don't walk.....)

I may drive up there just to look at the tablesaw, though. I don't need it, I have no room for it, but you know..... :)