Hi All! (and an old iron question...)

[James Kuhn]

Hey folks, long time lurker, first time poster!


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a285/jimsjimsjims/jfayandegan.jpg
A semi-local dealer has had this jointer for a while now and I can't seem to find any information about it online. It is listed as a Fay and Egan 675 with a 16" 4 knife cutter. Most of the F and E stuff I have found info on have much lower model numbers, so I am starting to assume there is a mistake in the listing. Anyways..I wanted to drop by there on Monday armed with a bit of info...

[Jim Becker]

Welcome to SMC, James! That's a nice looking jointer...I can't help with any information, however. Perhaps some of the folks at SMC who follow the older machinery resources will have some ideas for you.

[Roy Wall]

James,

Welcome to SMC...you will find good info here!!

The real experts will chime in soon.........but in the meantime go to:

owwm.com

(old wood working machines)

Lots of good stuff!!

[Don Baer]

Can't help with the old Iron but welcome to the creek.

[Steve Clardy]

Welcome James

[Mark Rios]

Hi and Welcome James.

Boy-o-boy...there are some folks around here that you will REALLY enjoy. There are some folks that seem to live their lives around their "big iron". Alot of us find it enjoyable to read about their experience and knowledge on these big ol' toys.

[Alan DuBoff]

Nice jointer!!!!!

Isn't that swell, and with little TLC that looks like an incredible jointer.

How much is he asking for it?

Is it 5HP 3 phase? I'm getting a 3 phase outlet setup in my garage. That's the kind of jointer I want next, but really would like to find a decent planer first.

If you have room you should jump on that...and if you did jump on it, it probably wouldn't move very far!;-) There was a guy who restored a F&E recentely, here's a link (http://www.owwm.com/PhotoIndex/detail.asp?id=4498) which shows the before and after. Those are nice machines. And yours is a 16"!!!! Yowza! :cool:

[Bill Simmeth]

Hi James and welcome to the Creek. The 675 is indeed a Fay and Egan model. It is a later model -- 1950s-ish. Unfortunately I can't say I know anyone who has one, so can't give you any feedback on it per se. I think I do have some paper on this one. I'll see if I can find it and if so, will scan and send to you. Good luck!

[James Kuhn]

Thanks a lot for all of the comments! The machine in question is 3hp 3 phase and the dealer is asking $2K, I'll have to take a first hand look to see what condition it is in. I am still moving things around a bit in the shopto make room and I just sold my 6"...so I am pretty set on upgrading.:cool:

[Reid Smith]

Good Morning James and Welcone to the Creek.
Don't know much about the specific machine you listed but here's a good source and page with info' on the company with several articles of machines they made.
J.A Fay & Egan Co (http://www.owwm.com/MfgIndex/Detail.asp?ID=305)

[Kristian Wild]

Beautiful! I love that old iron. It'll be a proud machine when you're finished with it.

Kris

[lou sansone]

nice machine. I have seen other F E jointers, but like bill says, this one seems to be a later version. He isn't going to sell it real quick at that price since it is sort of an unknown ( olivers, porters and newmans are a different story ). So I would take a few photos of it and post them again for some of us to look at. Right away on the minus side for old iron jointers is the fact that this is NOT a direct drive machine. That puts in more in the league of modern machines, and in my book lessens its desirability. On the plus side is the 4 knife head and what looks like ball bearings on the cutter head. I can't exactly tell how the beds raise and lower. it looks like a parallelogram design that are quite nice, so that goes in the plus column. I would definitely ask to power it up and listen and FEEL the machine. Check the operation of the infeed and outfeed table and look for any major casting fracture/repair. Sometime a repair is acceptable if it is not in a critical area.

best wishes
lou

[Bill Simmeth]

It just occurred to me that this is the jointer that Mike Kandu (a machine dealer up in Connecticut) has had listed on e*ay for well over a year (maybe even two). I think it has been a hard sale for him at that price.

I could not find any documentation on the 675 in my F&E literature collection. Sorry. Like Lou, I'd be interested in how the tables are adjusted.

The other thing is, for a 16" jointer, the tables seem a bit short. He lists them as 80". As jointers go that's not bad, but most classic wide bed jointers have table lengths around 8'.

Considering how long it's been sitting, I'd drive a hard bargain...

[James Kuhn]

Yep, that's the one and it has been up there for quite a while. I'll send them an email and see if they can have it powered up. Either way I'll bring my setup kit and camera with me and do a bit of documentation. Because it is a belt drive I wasn't all that interested at first, but I'v done some shopping around and I'm finding the prices around here quite high and I don't mind a shorter bed if its dead flat. I'll keep you posted...

[lou sansone]

wadkins had short beds and some folks really love them. The beds do look sort of wimpy on the F E ... I would say look for a nice porter 300 or newman 60 and you won't look back

lou