Foley Saw Filer - PICS

[Steve Mathews]

My weakness for vintage (?) machinery surfaced again with the purchase of a Foley #387 Saw Filer. I have no special use for it but came about during my recent interest in panel saws. It seems to be in good condition and only missing the guide bar(s) that hold the saw blade. Anyone still use these machines?
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[Rick Whitehead]

I believe Pete Taran uses them. I use one, too, but mine is a much earlier model, the F-16.
As you said, you're missing the guide bars. Those aren't hard to make. You will also need the setting gauges for the saws and the file, and file holders for the different sizes of files.Those also are available or can be fabricated.
There is a good website about Foley machines with copies of the manuals. Lots of good info- http://sawfiler.blogspot.com/.
There is a Facebook group with lots of good info also.
If you have specific questions, I'll be glad to try to help.
Ru=ick

[Steve Mathews]

I believe Pete Taran uses them. I use one, too, but mine is a much earlier model, the F-16.
As you said, you're missing the guide bars. Those aren't hard to make. You will also need the setting gauges for the saws and the file, and file holders for the different sizes of files.Those also are available or can be fabricated.
There is a good website about Foley machines with copies of the manuals. Lots of good info- http://sawfiler.blogspot.com/.
There is a Facebook group with lots of good info also.
If you have specific questions, I'll be glad to try to help.
Ru=ick


Thanks Rick! I downloaded the manual last night and will probably make the guide bars if they can't be found at a reasonable price. The blog you mentioned has some good information on that. I haven't found any info. or dimensions on the setting gauges yet but hopefully the manual will shed some light on it. Apparently Foley Belsaw combined forces with Sharpening Supplies. Some of the parts including possibly the files are available from them. This should be a fun project to get up and running. What makes it more interesting is there seems to be a bandsaw blade attachment made for the 387 and its SF1000 successor.

[Richard Coers]

I bought a whole van load of Foley equipment this past fall for $300. I was just after the filer, and toothing punch. The guide bars and tooth spacing bars are almost as valuable as the machine. There is a Facebook owners page for Foley and there are parts listed on their quite often.