Walker-Turner Bandsaw

[Chris Padilla]

So my father found a guy selling a 16" W-T BS. Apparently he is the second owner...his wife's father bought it new in the 50s or 60s??? It has a 12" resaw capability.

What do you guys know about these bandsaws? It sounds pretty sturdy at 600 lbs. telling me it is mostly made of cast-iron. Should be solid as a rock I would think.

My dad says it is in real nice shape and the only thing wrong is some worn rubber on the upper tire and the electric brake is gone but when it powers off, it runs for quite a while afterwards...an indication of still being well-balanced and the bearings still in good shape?

I did a search on the web and found several web pages on restoring these BS but not too much else. Any good sources for parts? My dad thinks it's a two-speed BS as it is meant for cutting metal, too. The guy wants a grand for it but my dad will offer $800 today some time and see if he bites. The guy is moving from CO to OH and doesn't want to haul it there.

I suppose my dad will use the BS for a little while and eventually he will ship it out here in CA for me! :)

Any way, appreciate any good info about these BSs from you fine, fine folks! :)

[Kurt Aebi]

Chris,

I don't know much about their Bandsaws, but I know quite a bit about their Drill Presses. The drill presses are extremely well built, durable and HEAVY!!. The bearings are much heavier than need be (basically built like a battleship). My father is the second owner of one built in the 40's and with general maintenance (cleaning off the metal and wood chips & adjusting the belt to the correct speed) it has gone on and on and on. My uncle in Ohio has a floor model and it has stood the test of time with him and that tells me they are nearly indestructable (He is the type that has 2 speeds - Idle and Full Bore, no in-between) He has one of their jointers as well and hasn't been able to break it either (he destroyed 3 newer Delta machines (2 DP's & 1 Jointer) before my dad got him the W-T's). These machines were built back when quality meant Overkill Quality. $800.00 should be more than a fair offer. I wanted the W-T floor model, but I got a Delta DP 220 instead, (another old, old battleship of a drill press) the secon-hand dealer didn't have 2 W-T's)

[Jim Becker]

Good find. WT bandsaws, from what I understand, are good tools and popular with restorers. If the price is right and you don't mind doing that restoration...:D

[jerry cousins]

hi chris - sounds like a great find.
check out these folks - they know everything regarding "old iron"
http://www.oldwwmachines.com/

jerry

[Chris Padilla]

Jerry,

Just found that site! http://www.oldwwmachines.com/MfgIndex/Publications.asp?ID=808

It lists the price of the 16" BS at $640 not including the motor (1 phase, 3/4 hp), which is an additional $124...these are all 1961 dollars, too! :)

Cool Beans!! I hope the guy bites at $800.

:D :D :D

[Chris Padilla]

Chris,

I don't know much about their Bandsaws, but I know quite a bit about their Drill Presses. The drill presses are extremely well built, durable and HEAVY!!. The bearings are much heavier than need be (basically built like a battleship). My father is the second owner of one built in the 40's and with general maintenance (cleaning off the metal and wood chips & adjusting the belt to the correct speed) it has gone on and on and on. My uncle in Ohio has a floor model and it has stood the test of time with him and that tells me they are nearly indestructable (He is the type that has 2 speeds - Idle and Full Bore, no in-between) He has one of their jointers as well and hasn't been able to break it either (he destroyed 3 newer Delta machines (2 DP's & 1 Jointer) before my dad got him the W-T's). These machines were built back when quality meant Overkill Quality. $800.00 should be more than a fair offer. I wanted the W-T floor model, but I got a Delta DP 220 instead, (another old, old battleship of a drill press) the secon-hand dealer didn't have 2 W-T's)

Kurt,

Thanks for the note. Reading that 1961 catalog on the link above, it does seem they built these things like tanks or battleships. Lots and lots of cast iron...very heavy, very durable. You just can't find that kind of stuff nowadays. Shoot, I am all excited now...gotta love the web! :D

[Dave Richards]

Curt, I have a W-T drill press from 1932. Still works great. Do you know anything about that really old stuff?


Chris,

I don't know much about their Bandsaws, but I know quite a bit about their Drill Presses. The drill presses are extremely well built, durable and HEAVY!!. The bearings are much heavier than need be (basically built like a battleship). My father is the second owner of one built in the 40's and with general maintenance (cleaning off the metal and wood chips & adjusting the belt to the correct speed) it has gone on and on and on. My uncle in Ohio has a floor model and it has stood the test of time with him and that tells me they are nearly indestructable (He is the type that has 2 speeds - Idle and Full Bore, no in-between) He has one of their jointers as well and hasn't been able to break it either (he destroyed 3 newer Delta machines (2 DP's & 1 Jointer) before my dad got him the W-T's). These machines were built back when quality meant Overkill Quality. $800.00 should be more than a fair offer. I wanted the W-T floor model, but I got a Delta DP 220 instead, (another old, old battleship of a drill press) the secon-hand dealer didn't have 2 W-T's)

[Bob Aquino]

My current (and only) bandsaw is a 14" Delta that is about 50 years old. It has the cast iron base and was a metal cutting version since it has reduction gears and an oil sump. It was given to me for free by my brother about 10 or more years ago. I cleaned it up and got it running. As I recall, it needed new tires, blade backing bearings and one of the cast metal trunions was cracked. All the parts were available from delta. I think at the time I paid about 60-80 bucks for the replacement parts. Probably took me maybe 20-30 hours of work to get it going. Last week I saw a 20" Delta-Rockwell saw on ebay with a starting bid of 200 bucks. Thats what I bid. By the time it sold on sunday, it was up past 600. I think the person that bought it was nuts. It probably needed as much work as my saw did when I got it.

When you can buy a brand new saw in the 800-1000 dollar range that will give you the capability that some of these old large saws have, why would you want to put in so much money up front and then have to scrounge around for parts to make it run? Are you an antique collector or a woodworker? I would gladly trade my cast iron 14" saw for one of the new 16-18" saws if somebody would like to make me a deal I couldn't refuse...

At some point with old iron, you have to balance the cost of the machine and the time necessary to make it run with what is available currently. Sure, some of these machines were built like tanks, but the new stuff has the benefit of modern engineering and higher HP motors as well as parts support and the capability to run out of the box. Old machines make good projects when you can get em for a good price and put in the sweat equity.


So my father found a guy selling a 16" W-T BS. Apparently he is the second owner...his wife's father bought it new in the 50s or 60s??? It has a 12" resaw capability.

What do you guys know about these bandsaws? It sounds pretty sturdy at 600 lbs. telling me it is mostly made of cast-iron. Should be solid as a rock I would think.

My dad says it is in real nice shape and the only thing wrong is some worn rubber on the upper tire and the electric brake is gone but when it powers off, it runs for quite a while afterwards...an indication of still being well-balanced and the bearings still in good shape?

I did a search on the web and found several web pages on restoring these BS but not too much else. Any good sources for parts? My dad thinks it's a two-speed BS as it is meant for cutting metal, too. The guy wants a grand for it but my dad will offer $800 today some time and see if he bites. The guy is moving from CO to OH and doesn't want to haul it there.

I suppose my dad will use the BS for a little while and eventually he will ship it out here in CA for me! :)

Any way, appreciate any good info about these BSs from you fine, fine folks! :)

[Steven Wilson]

Hmmm, 16" WT that needs some work (new tires and such); $800 sounds a bit much. Probably a nice saw. How are the guides? Is it single phase (does it mater to you)? If you hunt through the Old Woodworking machines group you might be able to determine if the bearings are readily available. You'll need to replace the tires, at some point you'll need to replace the bearings (fairly cheap unless they're a strange size), you might need to replace the tension spring, does it have enough HP for what you want to do? My guess is that you'll put $200 in parts which brings your cost to $1000 - not bad but not a great deal. I would offer $600. Other than that it would be nice to have a WT in the shop

[Chris Padilla]

My current (and only) bandsaw is a 14" Delta that is about 50 years old. It has the cast iron base and was a metal cutting version since it has reduction gears and an oil sump. It was given to me for free by my brother about 10 or more years ago. I cleaned it up and got it running. As I recall, it needed new tires, blade backing bearings and one of the cast metal trunions was cracked. All the parts were available from delta. I think at the time I paid about 60-80 bucks for the replacement parts. Probably took me maybe 20-30 hours of work to get it going. Last week I saw a 20" Delta-Rockwell saw on ebay with a starting bid of 200 bucks. Thats what I bid. By the time it sold on sunday, it was up past 600. I think the person that bought it was nuts. It probably needed as much work as my saw did when I got it.

When you can buy a brand new saw in the 800-1000 dollar range that will give you the capability that some of these old large saws have, why would you want to put in so much money up front and then have to scrounge around for parts to make it run? Are you an antique collector or a woodworker? I would gladly trade my cast iron 14" saw for one of the new 16-18" saws if somebody would like to make me a deal I couldn't refuse...

At some point with old iron, you have to balance the cost of the machine and the time necessary to make it run with what is available currently. Sure, some of these machines were built like tanks, but the new stuff has the benefit of modern engineering and higher HP motors as well as parts support and the capability to run out of the box. Old machines make good projects when you can get em for a good price and put in the sweat equity.

All good points, Bob. However, this BS runs very well right now. It might need some new stuff in a little while but my dad resawed a chunk of oak on it at the guy's house and was impressed.

I just think old iron like this can't be beat with today's stuff and certainly not at $800 (if he bites). Look how long this has lasted...do you think today's stuff will last as long as some of this bulky/over-engineered stuff will? How about a 1932 W-T DP? That blows my mind.

Grizzly has a 17" BS (dunno why they call it a 17", BTW) for $750. It weighs a little more than half of the W-T but has 1 1/4 hp more motor than the W-T. This W-T is also multi-variable speed and can therefore be used to cut metal as well as wood.

From what I've been learning about W-T in general, it seems they built quality stuff and they built it too last. This saw cost $764 in 1961 dollars (though I don't know when the saw was actually purchased). That was pretty expensive for the time. My dad just joined the Navy and was being paid $32.50 every two weeks! That really put it into perspective for me.

[Chris Padilla]

Hmmm, 16" WT that needs some work (new tires and such); $800 sounds a bit much. Probably a nice saw. How are the guides? Is it single phase (does it mater to you)? If you hunt through the Old Woodworking machines group you might be able to determine if the bearings are readily available. You'll need to replace the tires, at some point you'll need to replace the bearings (fairly cheap unless they're a strange size), you might need to replace the tension spring, does it have enough HP for what you want to do? My guess is that you'll put $200 in parts which brings your cost to $1000 - not bad but not a great deal. I would offer $600. Other than that it would be nice to have a WT in the shop

Dunno on the guides...single phase motor that is most likely, if it is stock, 3/4 hp.

My dad was mostly impressed with the lineage and the overall shape of the BS. It is very clean and well-cared for and it cut nicely. The guy that owns it does a lot of gun stocks, I guess.

[Chris Padilla]

Picked it up for $700! :D My father...the ultimate haggler! :D

He won't have it in his garage until mid-April but I've asked him to supply me with copious gloat pics! :D :D :D

[Steven Wilson]

Picked it up for $700! :D My father...the ultimate haggler! :D

He won't have it in his garage until mid-April but I've asked him to supply me with copious gloat pics! :D :D :D

Good score !!! Bring on the pics

[Kurt Aebi]

Great Score, Chris!

Your dad will love it.

Expecting a Gloat w/pics soon!

[Bob Aquino]

All good points, Bob. However, this BS runs very well right now. It might need some new stuff in a little while but my dad resawed a chunk of oak on it at the guy's house and was impressed.

I just think old iron like this can't be beat with today's stuff and certainly not at $800 (if he bites). Look how long this has lasted...do you think today's stuff will last as long as some of this bulky/over-engineered stuff will? How about a 1932 W-T DP? That blows my mind.

Grizzly has a 17" BS (dunno why they call it a 17", BTW) for $750. It weighs a little more than half of the W-T but has 1 1/4 hp more motor than the W-T. This W-T is also multi-variable speed and can therefore be used to cut metal as well as wood.

From what I've been learning about W-T in general, it seems they built quality stuff and they built it too last. This saw cost $764 in 1961 dollars (though I don't know when the saw was actually purchased). That was pretty expensive for the time. My dad just joined the Navy and was being paid $32.50 every two weeks! That really put it into perspective for me.

If the saw is in running condition, then that's probably a good price. As for how long todays stuff will last, I don't know, but I would think it depends on how well it's maintained.

This is the saw I bid on: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3804011954&category=57124&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBDW%3AIT&rd=1 Tell me if you think its worth 600 in its present condition.

[Chris Padilla]

Bob,

I just checked out that old 20" Delta. I don't know much about Deltas so I really can't comment. Hell, I don't know much about Walker-Turners to be honest! :) A 20" bandsaw for $600 isn't horrible. It is tough to discern its running condition from a few photos. Yeah, its got some rust, spider webs, and caked up sawdust but other than aesthetics, it might be all right. However, I would have been hard pressed to bid more that $400 for it myself...I think.

[Richard McComas]

I have a wt 16 inch woodcutting Band Saw that I restored currently
use it in my shop.

I paid $1000 for it, but something like this is hard to come by
in Alaska, to ship something of that size and weight to
Alaska would bring the piece of a lesser priced machine way
up anyway and I would run the risk of somebody dropping the
the machine and cracking the cast iron.

I totally dismantled the saw, sand blasted and painted it with
hammer-rite paint. Replaced all the bearing that are of a standard
size and were available locally. I sent the wheels to the lower 48
and had them professionally re-tired, also put carter guides on the saw.
Not shown in the pictures but I also fabricated a blade guard for the saw.

Total investment about $1500 it's a nice saw and works well.
Would I do it again? Well, I'm not sure, even though I like the saw
I sometime wonder if I should have put the money into a Mini-Max
or Agazzani band saw.

[Chris Padilla]

Rich,

Very nice...good job. I may have to pick your brain a bit whenever I start going through my W-T.

However, it may be my dad that goes through it...he'll have it for a bit.

From Denver to my house in San Jose, freight on that boat anchor is going to run me $300! I am looking for alternatives. If I am patient, my folks will come out to visit eventually and then they could toss it into the back of the truck.

For those interested, I have a PDF of pages 42-48 of a 1961 catalog from Walker-Turner/Rockwell that talks about the BS my father will pick up in a couple weeks:

http://members.roadfly.com/agent99/1961-Catalog-42-48.pdf

It is 1.6 Mb so fair warning for downloading. It was very cool to find this old catalog...really helped out my dad when he made the offer.

[Chris Padilla]

Well, my technology-challenged father finally got me some pics of the BS he picked up (for me, supposedly! :) ) I'll just post them successively...some aren't great but what the hey...I'm happy to finally see the darn thing! :D

[Chris Padilla]

And continuing on....

[Chris Padilla]

And the last few....

[Bruce Page]

Chris, that is SWEET, SWEET, SWEET! I would love to have one like that, it should restore beautifully (if you are into that). Is that a crack on the lower leg casting? Hopefully, is just a scratch.

[Chris Padilla]

Bruce,

She ain't all that far from you (the BS is in Denver) and my Dad makes regular trips to Grants (where he is from) to visit his folks. :)

Nope, no cracks...just some gunk most likely! :)

[Bruce Page]

Bruce,

She ain't all that far from you (the BS is in Denver) and my Dad makes regular trips to Grants (where he is from) to visit his folks. :)

Nope, no cracks...just some gunk most likely! :)
Yeah, I thought about picking it up and storing it for you. :p :p

[Alan Turner]

Chris,
I love old iron. Have fun. What will it cut under the guides? Are you going to put a set of carters on it?
Alan

[nic obie]

Pretty cool saw.

I specially like the tilting mechanism.

Don't think I've ever seen a band saw with the mitre slot between the blade and the frame before.

It even looks like you have room to put in a bigger motor if you ever feel the need for 'more power'. :D

[Hank Knight]

Chris, my dad had a Walker Turner 16" band saw. He got it from a local lumber yard that went out of business. It was a tank! and it cut great. Of all the band saws I've used since, I haven't found one I like as well. Unfortunately, he sold it while I was in college. I'd love to have it back. You're going to love yours.

[Chris Padilla]

This is supposed to resaw 12" and I'm not sure all what we will do to it right now, Alan. I wouldn't mind upgrading the guides but I have to admit my BS know-how is very limited right now so I'm sure I'll be posting a lot about this in the future. It certainly needs new tires...I think a set of those new-fangled urethane tires would fit the bill (16" wheels).

Nic, I too found the miter slot in a strange spot! :) If the motor is original, it'll be a 3/4 HP. It does look roomy in the engine bay! :D

The fact that I'm in CA and the BS is in CO should make things interesting. It'll be up to the old man how far he wants to take any restoration. It might be a fun project for him...or me. We still haven't figured out any details for shipping it out here so it may well stay in CO for a spell. :confused:

[Chris Padilla]

Chris, my dad had a Walker Turner 16" band saw. He got it from a local lumber yard that went out of business. It was a tank! and it cut great. Of all the band saws I've used since, I haven't found one I like as well. Unfortunately, he sold it while I was in college. I'd love to have it back. You're going to love yours.
Interesting...now my dad has one! :) Thanks for the note, Hank.