My tablesaw island and it's dust collection setup.

[Jerry Hillenburg]

I think they at one time had a 96" rail set up? Maybe they started marketing it after making one for you! I need to see if I can work on the face panels for my Grizzly fence. The material used, while slick, doesn't lend itself to being flat. It's usable, but not perfect. If I can't fix that, I'm going to start looking for a Biese rail, or the right size square tubing that I can make my own. I have some online dealers for the Biese rails saved in my bookmarks, but last I looked, most of the long ones were no longer made. I guess once the actual Biese units were out of the system, Delta didn't make any more of them. Maybe when I get to the point of doing this, there will still be some of the 52" units available so I can shift to the right and keep the length I have now. (I have a Biese on my contractor saw, so I have the fence already.) Jim.

Jim, Biesemeyer may have had 96" rails in 1984, I do not recall - my focus was 84" to fit my space. At that time the fence was the talk of the woodworking industry because it won the coveted IWF Challenger's Award two years earlier. I visited their booth at IWF in Atlanta in 1984 and they were enthusiastic about building me a custom size. They had great customer service and worked hard to accommodate.

Every saw manufacture proudly offered the Biesemeyer fence as an option to their saws. Woodworkers were buying these fences like people are buying IPhones today. My 84" fence caused the "Wow Factor" to play out every time one of my customers entered the shop.

I never understood why Delta bought Biesemeyer in 1995. The retrofit market was slowing because of saturation and the patent for the fence was about to expire. After Delta purchased the company, competitor table saw manufactures made clones and stopped offering the Biesemeyer fence option. Was Delta so naive to believe competitor companies were going to sell their saws with fences made by Delta? I wonder what impact Biesemeyer would now have on the woodworking industry if they were not bought by Delta.

Here is a link to William Biesemeyer's 1980 patent; http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4206910.pdf
Here is a link to the history of the company; http://www.deltamachinery.com/about-...emeyer-history

Jim, since you have a fence already, you might buy the rail material locally cut to your desired length and make them yourself. I did that on my dedicated Powermatic dado saw that is pictured above.

[Andrew Joiner]

Youngdale hinges are cabinet hinges that are almost indestructible and allow a very wide swing on cabinet doors; http://www.youngdale.com/ I am retired now, but when the shop was running commercially, we used these semi-concealed battleship tough hinges until the market demanded totally concealed hinges. I never had any issues with Youngdale hinges, but I had a lot of issues with totally concealed hinges.

Jerry,
I was a youngdale hinge fan too for the same reasons . Beautiful shop. I can see by the photos you took the time to build things to last.

I just looked at your profile and our stories are similar. I'm sending you a PM.

[Jerry Hillenburg]

Jerry,
I was a youngdale hinge fan too for the same reasons . Beautiful shop. I can see by the photos you took the time to build things to last.

I just looked at your profile and our stories are similar. I'm sending you a PM.

Andrew, thanks for reading my Profile "About Me" bio. I just read your woodworking career story and we do have similar stories. Our early retirements were a result of a mirror like retirement funding strategy . Then, in our careers, we practiced our passion - woodworking. Now we go forward in our retirement practicing our passion - woodworking. But there is one BIG difference from then and now; now we can do what we want to do when we want to do it.

[Matt Day]

+1 on that sliding tool tray idea! You should win a router or something from a magazine for that. Now that I think about it, that would be a good place to store threaded rod too.

[Jerry Hillenburg]

+1 on that sliding tool tray idea! You should win a router or something from a magazine for that. Now that I think about it, that would be a good place to store threaded rod too.

Thanks Matt. I did submit it today to FWW. We will see what happens. I do have a little extra space for another router.

[Barry Mabery]

Jerry, I am most impressed with your shop layout and the semi or totally dedicated use of refurbished machines. I have seen other setups with two saws sharing an island and a Bies, but I don't think I've seen 3 (of course, square footage may have a lot to do with that). I read with great interest your carriage door pictorial and have marked it for (I hope) future use. The little touches, such as the rail drawer, the easy accessibility of push tools (at the saw) and the funnel design, are all great additions and will certainly be an inspiration to many of us. Please show us more.
Barry

[Jerry Hillenburg]

Jerry, I am most impressed with your shop layout and the semi or totally dedicated use of refurbished machines. I have seen other setups with two saws sharing an island and a Bies, but I don't think I've seen 3 (of course, square footage may have a lot to do with that). I read with great interest your carriage door pictorial and have marked it for (I hope) future use. The little touches, such as the rail drawer, the easy accessibility of push tools (at the saw) and the funnel design, are all great additions and will certainly be an inspiration to many of us. Please show us more.
Barry

Barry, Thanks for your comments. Here is the link to the carriage house garage door post. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...que&highlight=