This machine oozes cool no doubt but that is as an object of past design and production. As a tool it is a relic and is our performed by inexpensive modern designs and production. What is your goal? Answer this and you will or will not restore this jointer. I hope someone does to preserve the history...
Not sure on this particular jointer, but many of the older jointers IIRC had four points of attachment-adjustment for the bed. Probably from what I ahve seen more precise adjsutment of the bed than a standard jointer. Parallelogram jointers also seem to work very well.
The square cutter head will need to be replaced: square heads were taken off the market decades ago for safety reasons. There is a pretty graphic older advertisement at
http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/Clamshell%20heads.ashx. (Not that you can believe everything advertisers say, but it would convince me.)
If updating an old machine is your cup of tea, go for it. Crescent machines are very well regarded. If not, list it on the owwm site and someone will likely be happy to get it. I have some old and some new and enjoy them both.
Terry T.
Last edited by Terry Therneau; 10-18-2018 at 10:33 PM. Reason: spelling error
Terry
I have a 16", square head, jointer at home. It's' "nerve wracking" to use it, which is why it is now a work bench until I find a replacement cutter head, but at the same time it is pretty cool. That machine will take a 1/2" off at a time easily, of any type of wood. It sounds like a small Cessna flying around the garage when it's running.
I can't say I won't ever use it again as is, but I'd really like to put a safety head on it.
"The first thing you need to know, will likely be the last thing you learn." (Unknown)
I really like the Video of Frank Howarth and his Jointer on Youtube. I have an American made Powermatic model #60 8 inch jointer that runs flawlessly. Still kind of dream of an older larger jointer. But changing the cutter head out on an older direct drive machine is a big project.
I have 60yr old oliver. It's sad to think someday 40 yrs from now some yuppie will be in Control of my joints fate.
I can hear him now it's too heavy for my flying car how will I get it home to my plastic house. )
As an owner of a Crescent jointer, I'm not able to give you unbiased advice. These are incredible machines. Barring theft (Ha!) or an Act of God catastrophe, it will be my last jointer, as I doubt I'll ever need one wider than the 24" mine will cut. These big machines are incredibly solid and very straightforward to set up, and they're not going to get knocked out of tune if you bump them the wrong way with a chunk of 8/4 (Or with your pickup truck for that matter.) If you're up for restoring your machine, you'd be hard pressed to find a better 8" jointer. That said, Crescent invented the 4 knife round "Safety" head specifically to replace those square head designs on jointers. Not saying you can't use it as is, but I'd replace it. On a planer, it wouldn't be as big of a deal, but I'd be cautious here (and I'm not the safety police type - all my stuff is old and heavy.)
Babbitt is easy. Don't turn it down because of that. Adding a motor is easy. Don't turn it down because of that. That said, if you have limited time and limited interest, pass it along to someone who will get it up and going. Limited skills shouldn't stop you. There are plenty of sources of information around to get you through it, but if you're not up for a project, that's ok too.
I have a 166bd definitely not a hobbyist machine. If you know what I mean 😃
It looks most of people thinks old machines is synonimous of better quality ones. It isn't.
Of course there is some great old machines but from my own experience, most of them isn't worth the work to repair it - I did not know if it applies to that specific machine but I guess so.
I would repair if it can be reward you someway, either for the quality of the machine or for the pleasure to recover a collector item, if it is your particular case... otherwise I would scrap the thing. In my place of the world it is quite easy: I simply call the local town administration and in 24h time lapse they will send someone to collect it "free of charge" (well, this service is included in our yearly municipal tax).
Regards.
Like anything, when you rehab machines you need to be selective. The sweet spot is finding a machine that would cost 15-20K for 2K, Oliver, Yates, Newman, Porter, Northfield, etc. Rehabbing an old Delta that cost $800 twenty years ago and $1200 today due to foreign labor doesn't warrant the effort. An old Wadkin PK may cost the same as an old Unisaw because few people do their homework. If you do the homework you will be rewarded. If you don't you are squandering your time. Dave