Vintage Martin T75 restoration

[Patrick Walsh]

More 45 year old Burmese teak..

3944AAAF-7B29-4DB2-8902-8ECB91E571D5.jpg

E56F2D3E-99F0-4D8D-9D71-7C53A384F1D0.jpg

Then a pile of figured cherry I ran into a couple years ago when I was sourcing cherry for a large cherry project we did at work. I couldn’t pass on it. My intention is to build a flat top highboy with it. I actually love period reproduction or just antique period furniture. It was actually period furniture that first inspired me to delve into a more skilled form of Woodworking that just the general carpentry skills of a home builder. I walked into a store full of very high end period furniture “little of it could I afford”. But by the time I walked out of that store I had myself convinced the stuff was largely very simple and most of it I was perfectly capable of making. I actually fell in love with a $35000 bonnet top secretary. I will build that piece someday but probably not till I retire. I know I’ll never be buying it that’s for sure!

C34AF151-230A-4D37-B905-392C6426D676.jpg

A307C1F2-4BD2-4C37-ADDA-ABB12EF3A937.jpg

And that’s not even my whole cherry collection. Those are just matched boards for one project.

[Patrick Walsh]

Any guesses what this Is?

It’s like a weeks pay lol...

It’s 8/4

3B0B73B7-AE90-40A9-B780-D3478734CFEF.jpg

Then that ramp finally unburied.

6EA7ED77-FAB1-4B12-9C35-A8B8EB65C178.jpg

A piece of unreal 8/4 Birdseye it’s like 48 long.

D7872850-AB4F-456D-9808-B552DE56F6D8.jpg

And none of that is really even the special stuff I have. I think I’m like The Forest Gump of wood. I’ve got curly maple, I’ve got blistered maple. I’ve got fiddleback maple, I’ve got quilted maple, I’ve got hard curly maple, I’ve got soft curly maple. I’ve got flat sawn maple, I’ve got qs maple. You get the point it’s kinda becoming clear it’s a sickness.

Any guess what is below. Here is a hint. Good luck finding any ever and if you do your gonna have to sell a organ to afford it. My bench that it’s stacked under is 28” wide to give you some perspective. Some of those pieces are like 60x12-15 and a solid 4/4-5/4...

F72FD305-D604-479A-9AE7-3436E0C37ED3.jpg

A8665ED1-39CC-4E7B-A072-B9DCA65293BA.jpg

So the trailer is rented and saw is coming home Saturday. Im very excited if you can’t tell.

The best part is I’m gonna have time this over the next couple months to put the machine back together. I’m back working 40 hrs a week currently 4-5am to 1-2 pm. That gives me so much free time I have no idea what to do with myself. The saw will be put together. Then I’ll finish the master bedroom provided work does not take my life over again.

[Patrick Kane]

Serious wood hoard. My guess on the stack under your bench is macassar ebony. I have a few small pieces, but looks similar. Chunk of change for sure.

I have to tell you, i am very very interested in you getting this saw up and running. I very much want to know how it compares to a modern saw. Is it better? Worse? How about compared to your other shop's newish martin? In the last month ive watched a couple 1980s T71s selling for $2k+/-, and im curious how they have aged. Your t75 is from the 70s or earlier? Just want to store your impressions of the machine in my memory bank for when i move and have a bigger shop. I will ultimately upgrade my 80" stroke Felder KF700, just not sure to what yet. I will need to stumble into some serious money to afford anything blue.

[Patrick Walsh]

Not Macassar. Think like 4-5 times the price. Again this is another thing I just fell into.

As for the martin well I can say this. Or rather my t75 vrs the t73 at work vrs our neighbors entry level brand new Scmi.

First and foremost if I have learnt anything since I got into shop machines it’s that simple rules the roost. Kinda like with off-road vehicles. It’s common knowledge in the off road world that the more “stock” you can keep your truck the less breakdowns you will have and hence the further you can get into the middle of nowhere.

The more buttons, the more features is just ore to go wrong. And chances are they are things that when they go wrong you can’t just fix with replacement bearings a wheel puller and wrench. Old machines really have nothing to go wrong with them other than bearings so long as they are in good working order.

Modern machines with electronic everything, even just blade height tilt and electric breaking are just all things waiting to become a issue as the machine ages. That Martin at work is a royal pita. The blade break trips pretty easy if you start and stop a lot. It’s a simple fix but a pain. Then the one off button has a connection in the main electrical box that gets dusty and needs cleaning at least ever few months. Sometimes it fires right up. Other times it will be down a day or two at a time.

The electronic bevel of the blade get stuck also. When it does you get a error code and you have make love to the dam thing for a good half hour till it wants to work again.

The Scmi in the shop next to me feels exactly like my Felder F700z shaper. It’s just feels like a toy. It feels like if you actually us it it wouldn’t be long before you broke it. The sliding table feels so light I can’t imagine ever throwing a 1” 4x8’ piece of mdf up on it. Never mind the thing holding settings. But you know I know plenty of people that use those machines and they all say they hold settings like a champ and are problem free.

Me though I’m over electronic anything. When I first started I had myself convinced digital everything was needed to get repeatable this and that and for ease of setup. Doing what I do, largely one off operations with the exception of cope and stick profiles there is little benefit of a modern electronic everything machine when I’ll never do that exact operation again. And if you can’t setup a basic cope and stick on two machines in like three minutes without electronics we’ll than you got much bigger problems.

Honestly once this saw is setup “cast table flat” sliding table set to it and cutting square I really can’t see anything not to love. Once it’s dialed in into nothing moves. It’s a slider, if it cuts square and runs when you press the on button your good.

The only thing I’m concerned about is dust in the ball bearing ways of the sliding table. The newer machine has a far superior be it very similar solution.

The question you are asking is honestly very personal. When I began Woodworking I wanted brand new everything with all the bells and and whistles. Now actually knowing how to build a thing or two I’d take a well cared for and functioning machine from the early eighties or older anyway.

Proof I can build stuff and what I’m working on right now, all be in pocket screws butt joints and really just a piece of crap destined for a landfill sooner than later. It shows what I mostly do with these machines.

Oh and nobody had best ask anything regarding the island and it’s design. I build whats on the stupid plans.

E4CAD6C0-F357-420E-9342-57892368B003.jpg

[Jeff Duncan]

Just catching up on this thread so probably missed a lot but....

What's the diameter and thread on the black knob you need to replace? I have a couple sizes left over from re-building my machines.

Is that dark wood rosewood or cocobolo?

Lastly for now.... why are you spending on upgrading your service if your planning on moving soon? Seems better to put that money aside for wherever you move to, which will likely need that same work done? I know you want to run the saw once you get it together.... but I wouldn't want to invest that unless I was happy staying awhile. Believe me I know what it's like to dump thousands into electrical work.... and I don't even own the building I think my last shop move put me out about $15k.... not all on electrical, but more than half.

good luck,
JeffD

[Patrick Walsh]

Jeff,

Long time. And you have not missed a thing. I have been head down building cabinets and working on the outside of my house for the past six months.

The knob does not thread on right now. I suspect it never I did. I just figured I’d make it thread on and off at this point in the event it was to ever break again. I don’t have the knob. All i have is the shaft with the glow of resin that can be seen in pictures. I’ll re post so you don’t have to dig.

As for electrical investment well you have a point. However I have two things going on. First being I have decided to stay put for another 5-7 years. I know that time will fly by but for now that’s the plan. The plan at such point is to hit the road in my new 4x4 sprinter I’ll be converting into a mini Offroad house on wheels and spend a couple years exploring all of north and South America. Ideally Alaska to Patagonia. I’d even like to throw the van on a cargo ship to Africa and spend a year of so over there exploring. The intent is I’ll find where i exactly it is I really want to be.

Reason number two for doing the electrical now is my boss is kinda going out of business. Well I’m pretty sure he is going to go fully out of business in the coming year. For now he is going to try continuing to get work but sub the work out. I dint see this going well for a myriad of reasons. Fist being he just does not get nought money for the majority of his work. Anyway I’ll probably be taking a new job all be it only 40 hrs a week. In such a case I’ll be looking to do mucho side work to try and hit the six figures I have become used to living off the last number of years.

Only time will tell but I only have room for one saw in my shop and that saw needs to fiction as I’ll need to be able to use it. And honestly I can’t just throw this machine into storage after doing what I did only to pull it out in the years and find a pile of rust. It needs to get used.

And yes it’s Brazilian rosewood. And potentially my regiment fund lol. Kidding I’ll never part with it. Have no idea what I’ll do with it but I’ll do something great at some point..

Just catching up on this thread so probably missed a lot but....

What's the diameter and thread on the black knob you need to replace? I have a couple sizes left over from re-building my machines.

Is that dark wood rosewood or cocobolo?

Lastly for now.... why are you spending on upgrading your service if your planning on moving soon? Seems better to put that money aside for wherever you move to, which will likely need that same work done? I know you want to run the saw once you get it together.... but I wouldn't want to invest that unless I was happy staying awhile. Believe me I know what it's like to dump thousands into electrical work.... and I don't even own the building I think my last shop move put me out about $15k.... not all on electrical, but more than half.

good luck,
JeffD

[mreza Salav]

Nice stack of wood. 5-6 years ago when I was on the hunt for wood to build an exterior door I came up with a guy about an hour from me who was closing his shop due to illness (sad story). He had a pile of Honduras Mahogany bought late 80's or early 90's, some 10/4, 18" wide and 12' long. I bought everything he had. About $6k worth of wood at that time. Used some to build our entry door unit (documented here) and I still have a whole bunch left. Paid a lot to have them haul in our last move and still don't know when/if I'll use them, maybe when I retire LOL

[Patrick Walsh]

I can’t help but laugh as I know that problem well..

I’m sick though. I had all this lumber. I embarked on a full gut of the second floor of my house or what will be a master bedroom I decided none of the lumber I had was suited to a bungalow. I won’t say how much $$$ I spent on a pile of CVGAYC and CVGDF.

I’m sick. Their is this unreal bubinga board I know of and have for a solid 4-6 months. It’s still there and I think about it at least ever couple weeks. I just got to much else going on. It’s one of those boards that someday I will never be able to get again and say “remember when”... wish I had

Nice stack of wood. 5-6 years ago when I was on the hunt for wood to build an exterior door I came up with a guy about an hour from me who was closing his shop due to illness (sad story). He had a pile of Honduras Mahogany bought late 80's or early 90's, some 10/4, 18" wide and 12' long. I bought everything he had. About $6k worth of wood at that time. Used some to build our entry door unit (documented here) and I still have a whole bunch left. Paid a lot to have them haul in our last move and still don't know when/if I'll use them, maybe when I retire LOL

[Patrick Walsh]

Stage numero uno done.

All went well easy peasy. My uncle helped me get the pieces into my van at work. Then a neighbor helped me huff them onto my workbench.

On their way out.

47A2710D-3EE8-4283-92EE-F0986699A383.jpg

And just like that magically on my bench.

DF200E54-3A2F-4E3B-BB91-CD5446CC3AFB.jpg

6186DFA9-6044-40FE-A369-60BA8238B85B.jpg

Sadly I found a bit of rust had begun to develop on the guides for the bearings. Should be easy enough to tend to. Rust was one of the my biggest motivators. On the first floor of the old mill building I work in it gets very humid in the summer.

7F5B928B-CB2A-4848-989F-E91EAD3FB9FB.jpg

This is what I have to tend to tomorrow. Well sans the cast table. I still need a plan for that one. Plus I figure get the trunnion in and not hog up valuable space in my shop. Really I need four strong men. I don’t know four strong men. Somehow I’ll probably figure something out on my own. What I have no idea as it has to go through the door in its side. I’m thinking I’ll build a pallet around it.

B805353D-B5D4-4D7E-9321-4490DACFFD63.jpg

It’s killing me to look at my jointer and not be bringing it home tomorrow. If I don’t move it before it snows it’s simply not coming home this winter. How excited would I be to get it home before winter!

08375D5F-FBCA-46FE-9A9A-06AD65673C08.jpg

[Patrick Walsh]

And a few pictures of recent work.

The doors are all fit on that island. A good dayish of sanding and it’s done.

A042C6E8-C757-4A7D-9CAC-15BBE9FCE327.jpg

5A996E7C-7590-4932-9E8C-74CB5ED996F2.jpg

C811177F-5166-448B-8EC6-BE80573DB7CB.jpg

[Patrick Walsh]

Some qs white oak doors and drawers for a full overlay island and some lowers. Actually no drawers in the pictures and a end panel is missing. They look exactly the same and you get the picture I’m sure.

48EA506B-1AE1-4CDC-B00C-F0451FE1EF7E.jpg

0B8DFE41-B994-4C16-81F9-861F76CB9802.jpg

1024A7EE-2B2E-4A83-9EDD-69D71B2E9BB3.jpg

Every single one perfectly grain matched both stiles and rails. This took quite a bit of time and was pretty labor intensive. I think I made 25 piece like this including the end panel. I did this as a side project and I won’t admit the hours I have into these pieces. Let’s just say I didn’t loose but it was not my biggest money maker.

6A9D9A38-982F-4794-82B5-CDD1E22CA24F.jpg

More saw fun tomorrow.

[Jeff Duncan]

Sounds like a lot of change in your future. I would guess you'll likely find a good amount of overtime at your next employer as well though. Seems like the shops around here are cranking right now, so finding a new gig and staying busy shouldn't be too difficult.

If you do decide to go with a thread on knob let me know, I know exactly where they are so it's no problem. And if the sizes I have don't work you can find a pretty good selection at MSC.

So is your boss closing his shop.... or just thinking about closing? That would make two large job local shops closing within a couple months of each other. I suppose there's going to be more work for the rest of us!

JeffD

[Patrick Walsh]

Who else closed doors?

PM me if you wouldn’t mind it’s killing me to know.

My issue is I don’t want to put boxes together a cnc cut out. I also don’t want to be in any shop where you do one task of a build over and over again and never actually see any one piece start to finish. I’d be happy to have someone sand my work but that’s about it.

Being somewhat new to the trade my fear is there are not many shops building the way I suggest I’d like to build. Don’t get me wrong I’ll do what I need to do to make a living but I’m also not gonna work the wages a guy that really isn’t a cabinet maker but a assembler commands.

Yes lots of change in my future for sure. I need it as I’m really burnt out on metropolitan living anywhere. I imagine myself way out in the middle of nowhere in Alaska, Wyoming, or the dream Patagonia, maybe New Zealand. But realistically I’ll probably end up in mid coast Maine or Vermont. Both places I have a job waiting for me should I ever want it in one of two very high end shops making the same wages I have been making down here.

I just gotta get all my ducks in order before I can make the move. Another five years maybe seven and I’ll be good. So for now I just gotta keep my eye on the prize.



Boss sold the shop, his intent to keep getting work but sub it out. For whatever his reasons he claims he can’t make money with employees. I have another theory. As shop manager I played a big role in quoting jobs regarding the man hours. In the end he put the price on the jobs but he would always share that number. It’s simple he does not get paid enough for the work. And honestly his clientele never will. So much so that I don’t see it working for him even sub it the work out. If it does the makers are going to make pennies on the hour at years end.

[Jeff Duncan]

I know what you mean, some of the work you need to do to make a living is like.... well.... work! I'm at a point where I'd rather do whatever pays the best, and sometimes, no often times, it's not high end cabinet work. Right now I'm re-milling 3000 sf of engineered flooring which is just grunt work, but many shops either wouldn't know what to do with this stuff, would be too big or too small to handle it, or just wouldn't be interested in it as it's not cabinet work. But it pays very well so I don't mind it at all. My last project involved a punch list of stuff for a local commercial building, a bunch of odds and ends large shops wouldn't be interested in or be able to turn around quickly enough. Just means a months worth of work and a good paycheck for me! My next project is either going to be some restoration work for a historic building if I'm lucky, or if not custom bookcases. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I don't want to do any creative work anymore. I just find for me its harder to make good money on it.

I'll PM you the info on the other shop..... you think your boss is misguided.... these guys are truly clueless!

JeffD

[Patrick Walsh]

Jeff honestly I feel even most cabinet work is grunt work. It’s just less so than other work. At least that’s my opinion. When building paint grade anything I have a hard time putting the same love and care into that I can’t help but apply when doing stain grade work. And then I suppose if I built stain grade face frame cabinets inset doors blah blah the brain would just go on auto pilot with that.

Honestly if I was in business for myself I’d make the same choice you are making as i like money. The problem for me and that kind of work “wanting to be a employee” is that I can’t get paid enough to do it. Yes it would also be mind melting boring if you actually did it day and day out. I absolutely could not run a mounding machine all day, some days sure but everyday no way. I could get a job in a million shops that just jam stuff out like a production line but I’d last maybe a year before I said why did I ever agree to do this.

So what’s the story with this flooring. Why all the re milling. Seems like this is the second batch with a good amount of time between batches. Whomever insists on using this stuff why not just find other flooring. Did a shipping container of the stuff fall off a boat or something and they have a knack for selling it to their clients or what? Did it just get ordered the wrong way and they got stuck with it and have to make hay? What gives seems kinda nuts all be it good for you.

I know what you mean, some of the work you need to do to make a living is like.... well.... work! I'm at a point where I'd rather do whatever pays the best, and sometimes, no often times, it's not high end cabinet work. Right now I'm re-milling 3000 sf of engineered flooring which is just grunt work, but many shops either wouldn't know what to do with this stuff, would be too big or too small to handle it, or just wouldn't be interested in it as it's not cabinet work. But it pays very well so I don't mind it at all. My last project involved a punch list of stuff for a local commercial building, a bunch of odds and ends large shops wouldn't be interested in or be able to turn around quickly enough. Just means a months worth of work and a good paycheck for me! My next project is either going to be some restoration work for a historic building if I'm lucky, or if not custom bookcases. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I don't want to do any creative work anymore. I just find for me its harder to make good money on it.

I'll PM you the info on the other shop..... you think your boss is misguided.... these guys are truly clueless!

JeffD