Of tears and blasphemy.... fate of an turner resaw bandsaw and scrap prices.

[Dev Emch]

Well, I am still in a daze from the crime I witnessed last wednesday. I went to an auction mainly to try to snag an old moulder (that is another story..) and in the process I saw my first turner resaw bandsaw. Here is a URL showing another one for sale by a dealer. This one was the same but minus the fancy pants paint.

http://www.machinerysales.com/photo.asp?pic_id=9776

I think this bandsaw is listed for sale at about $6500 bucks but the one at auction sold for $175 dollars. These weigh in at about 10,000 pounds so hauling it home in the old toyota truck is not an option.

At the end of the day, the guy who bought it had a forklift rigger RIP if off its moring bolts and carry it outside only to dump it on its side. He had to dump it on its side because the bottom wheel sits in a pit cut into the floor. He then hauled this turner resaw off to the scrapper who in turn will sell the ground up chunkies back to china for recasting into something else.

If I find out this saw does a killer job on veneer, I will personally kick myself in the behind until the shoe sticks! The OWWM was able to snag the paper work including some vintage turner blue line prints in which all of it was drawn by hand. No CAD in sight. Having never seen one of these before, I am perplexed to exactly what this thing is and how it works. It has two sets of wheels and two band blades so I am a bit confused as to what you would use this for and how. I do know it does a killer job in reducing rail road ties into rough lumber boards.

Sigh.... the humanity of it all!

[lou sansone]

hi dev

wish I had the room for it. I was actually thinking about buying a ships saw a while ago, but did not have the room for it. the resaw would be a much better investment. If you figure out how the turner works let us know. what a beauty I must say

lou

[Reg Mitchell]

WOW....I think I would have screamed. That is a bute and the other one could have beed done the same way.....

[Tim Marks]

This one was the same but minus the fancy pants paint.

Let me read between the lines...

minus the fancy pants paint = rusted hulk?

The picture is one nice looking machine, but most people would be at a loss where to put it due to it's size. A crying shame for good tooling to disappear in this fashion, when modern machinery doesn't provide an equivilent alternative.

[Chris Rosenberger]

I think you have to look at the up side. The scrap from that old bandsaw will be shipped off to China where it may be turned into new tablesaws, jointers & other machines. Next year some of us may be using that old bandsaw after all.

[Jim Becker]

The term "old iron" means different things to different people. Obviously, the fellow who won that auction was more interested in the last word quite literally...'tis a shame for the fate of the tool, but he did have the winning bid...

[Frank Fusco]

In one sense, the loss of that machine is sad. But as an economic factor, to the owner, it was used up and worthless. In bean counter talk 'fully depreciated'. Our local auction house regularly gets stuff from a factory that makes medical devices. The 'stuff' is machinery made entirely of stainles steel and most of it is still on top working condition. Problem is that it is specialized equipment with no usable value to the average person. It normally sells for a fraction of the scrap value of the stainless steel. It's economics. When I raised cattle, an old cow, no matter how much we loved her, went to sale for slaughter when she ceased to be productive.

[Brett Baldwin]

Maybe we'll see that iron come back as a nice hand plane. It is a shame to see an impressive machine like that scrapped but if Dev doesn't know its purpose, I can't imagine many people do. Here's to hoping one of my future tool purchases has a small part of the old girl in it.

[Dev Emch]

O.K. So it looks like i messed up. My adrenline was still pumping after the bidding conflict for the mattison moulder. I got a good price but not nearly as good as I thought I might get. And Danny the junk dealer was ticked off on the moulder as he wanted all of its 9000 pounds of cast iron. My focus was on the moulder and i had never seen a turner before. So yes, I was asleep at the wheel on this one.

Turns out there are two indepdent bandsaws attached to the same frame. i think the front bandsaw is fixed but the one in the back moves back and forth. You can use this as single cut resaw or a double cut resaw. It can take a number of bands including ones that are 3 to 4 inches wide. But I would most likely install a Lenonx Triple Chip carbide tipped 1.5 to 2 inch band on only one of the bandsaws. The same type of band that guys like Mark Singer and Charllie use on their bandsaws.

Then you just feed lumber into this monster and it resaws it with precision.

I dont know where I would place such a huge machine. Weighs about 9000 pounds. The moulder will be a tight fit as is. I need a new shop!!!! But for about $200 bucks, how could you go wrong? It would have been worthwhile to just snag it, lather it in cosmoline and tarp it until I can get new shop digs.

So yes, I deserve a real spankin for this one. A real trip out behind the wood shed with granpas leather belt. I really messed up. And some of you wanted to ask about rust..... there was no rust on this machine. Even the original red oxide primer was present in the castings including the casting from below. We saw this primer when it was sadly sitting on the truck sideways awaiting its new fate.

All I can do is shake my head. I really messed up on this one!