Bought a Belsaw

[George Sanders]

Saturday I drove over to Indy and bought a Belsaw 910 for $295. It has a 3 HP, 220v, 33 amp Century motor and factory stand. The seller bought it new in 1980 and had all the paperwork including the bill of sale. He was a nice old gentleman who was selling it because of health reasons. He also had a 10" Craftsman contractor saw from the 50's that was a twin to mine. He also showed me a Craftsman 8" saw that belonged to his father and was made in the 40's. He said it still cuts good. I have no doubt that it does as it has a heavy cast iron table and saw housing. I cringe when I look at the new aluminum table saws in the borgs.
When I got it loaded up I stopped by my nephew's house about a mile and a half away for a visit. He has a huge walnut tree that has to come down. The backyard is a triangle with the tree in the corner. The yard was sliced off by I-70. Can't drop it that way. Neighbors fence and utility lines on the other side. Can't get a boom truck in the back either. I told him whoever cut it would probably have to take it down in 2' sections tied to a rope. Tough nut to crack.
All in all its been a very good weekend.

[Jim Becker]

George, congrats on your find, but can you please tell us what function the Belsaw 910 does? Planer?

[jerry nazard]

George,

Your post quickly brought back fond memories from the early '80's. I have run thousands of feet through a 910 creating mountains of shavings. Does yours have a dust hood? The planer that we had vibrated so badly that we had to use vise-grips to lock the height adjustment. But, with all it's shortcomings, the Belsaw with that Century motor will most likely still be going strong when all the rest of us are long gone. Good score!!

Best!

-Jerry

[George Sanders]

Jim, it's a planer, a molder and a saw. The molding blades piggyback onto the planer head. The saw is pretty much an afterthought and I have never met anyone who actually used it. I may; as I have a lot of roughsawn 1" oak to rip and that 3hp Century combined with the 2 1/4 rip capacity and powerfeed is very tempting. I plan to build a workbench this year and I want 4' legs and cross bracing to eliminate any racking.