little gloat, big gloat

[Jason Garrett]

About three weeks ago, while surfing craigslist looking for a jointer and a dust collector, I saw a listing for an old table saw with "newer motor and belts" in my town for $10. I called the guy, he said the saw ran, so I went and got it. He threw in the original motor too. It's a Wards Powr-Kraft 8" tilting table saw with the factory stand, fence, and miter gauge. All that's missing is the blade guard.
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More recently, an old 12" jointer was listed on craigslist. A friend and I got it on Saturday. With the motor, fence, beds, and cutterhead removed it still took four guys to get it into and out of the truck. The previous owner replaced the three-phase motor with a single-phase motor and made a v-belt pulley to replace the flat belt. It's complete except for the blade guard, if it ever had one.
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[Jim Becker]

Definitely gloat-worthy...especially that second one!!!

[Jim Chilenski]

Jason,

Glad to see that a fellow Creeker was able to buy that jointer. Should make for an excellant jointer once its cleaned up and tuned. A blade guard for it should be easy to fabricate, check out some of the big jointer pictures at OWWM.com for some ideas. Does the jointer have a square cutter head? If so I'll bet you could replace it with a shelix head without too much effort. Again, congratulations!

Jim

[Jason Garrett]

Thanks Jim, that's a great idea to look at the pictures on OWWM. The jointer has a round two-knife head. The knives in it aren't too bad, and it came with a spare set. I don't think (knock on wood) that it's going to take much work to get up and running smoothly.

[Phil Thien]

That is a handsome jointer. It doesn't even look like it needs a restoration. A little cleaning and safety check and put it right to use.

[joe greiner]

The table saw looks almost identical to a TomLee Model 31. About 4 years ago, a friend offered one to me on his way to the dump (was his grandfather's, I think). I machined new saddle clamps for the trunnions. (Only one original included and it was shot.) Also cleaned it up a bit. There's one listed at Old Woodworking machines (Not mine). In the 1950's (I think), TomLee sold some of their gear under the Toro badge; could have been a contract manufacturer for Wards also.

Joe

[John Schreiber]

Congratulations on that jointer. Not sure about that "table saw." Looks a little sketchy to me.

[joe greiner]

Not sure about that "table saw." Looks a little sketchy to me.

Yep. Tilting table could be quite treacherous. Haven't used mine (just for collection, actually), but I'd guess the fence would have to be downhill from the blade, with the waste uphill. Presents an opportunity for binding and kickback. Now seen only on bandsaws and scroll saws AFAIK, and tilting-frame bandsaws now seem more available; especially suitable for heavy workpieces.

Joe

[Jason Garrett]

Joe, your saw does look very similar to mine. According to OWWM mine was made by Duro, but I wouldn't be surprised if TomLee made some of them too.

I don't think my Ryobi saw has a full-length arbor, so my current plan is to use the Wards for dadoes (and not tilt the table).