Small Bench.jpg
Well this is only half a machine. It's the base from a Ben Franklin Trim O Saw, maybe from the 1800's. It had flat belt drive and a small clunky table and arbor. Scrapped that stuff and now have a great bench.
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Small Bench.jpg
Well this is only half a machine. It's the base from a Ben Franklin Trim O Saw, maybe from the 1800's. It had flat belt drive and a small clunky table and arbor. Scrapped that stuff and now have a great bench.
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Oldest tool=me
My oldest tool is probably either my workbench or a socket chisel. Well, this is kind of a cheat because they are tools made with old re-purposed material but are not truly old tools. The chisel has a wooden handle turned from a piece of barn wood that came from a barn built in the early 1800's. The chunk it came from has over 200 growth rings so it could pre-date the Revolutionary War depending on whether it came from the center or edge of the tree. Some of this beam material was used to build my workbench legs and stretchers as well.
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Yeow.Originally Posted by Will Boulware
Do you actually turn it on? I know since you posted about it that you do, but I think I would be afraid. Very afraid. I'm sure I would get over it, but I can't even contemplate a 24" jointer. WOW. I know others here have them, but... WHOA.I'll never forget using a tiny Delta 4" jointer for the first time as a ute- I was scared poopless that it would grab me and pull me in.
I've advanced since then but still...
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Ooh- I forgot- The point of the thread!
My oldest machine is the first one I bought- a 1973-4 ish Craftsman Radial Arm Saw. To this day, it is the most used machine in my shop. I know I swim in a sea of RAS skeptics but I have it set up to cut perfect 15" 90º cuts and never change it. Can't imagine life without it.
But the truly oldest machine is a Walker Turner 24" scroll saw that I bought intending to fix it up. That won't be happening now but I have no clue how to move it to someone who would like to take a project like that on.
Anyhoo, this thread is a fun read.
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Use it? Oh yes! It gets a lot of use and is by far my favorite machine! It's basically as safe as any jointer you can buy today. It has a 4 knife "safety" cutterhead head that was so good that other machinery manufacturers used in some of their machines at the time, and it was a lot better off than the square head designs that were used in other machines back then. It also didn't have that nasty knife flinging habit that the clamshell heads of that era had. It weighs close to 1,800 pounds, so in that regard, it's worlds safer than the 6" model it replaced as this one doesn't threaten to tip over with a big chunk of 8/4 on it!Yeow.
Do you actually turn it on? I know since you posted about it that you do, but I think I would be afraid. Very afraid. I'm sure I would get over it, but I can't even contemplate a 24" jointer. WOW. I know others here have them, but... WHOA.
I've advanced since then but still...
From a fear standpoint, I rarely use the whole cutterhead. Biggest single piece I've run over it was about 20". They get hard to push at a certain point. I keep the fence pulled as far forward as possible based on the given piece size, so I'm effectively working with a jointer that's the same size as the piece I'm flattening. Use some basic safety protocols and it's no worse off than the 6" model on the floor at your local retailer. Just don't stub your toe on it!
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My dilithium crystal powered warp drive phaser table
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1930’s ish Yates Y30 snowflake
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We need photos Jon...I never tire of looking at Yates snowflake bandsaws.
Still waters run deep.
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Your shop is much too tidy.
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I have an old hand crank drill Press. I also have an old unlabeled wood lathe (12 x 44 inch) intended for one of those leather belts from the ceiling power shafts. Has wooden ways and legs. I had an old Sears Companion (before Dunlap) Drill press that I gave to a buddy. IIRC Sears switched from Companion to Dunlap in 1929.
Last edited by Perry Hilbert Jr; 03-23-2021 at 10:12 AM.
Not old iron, but I have a Craftsman King Seeley 6" jointer probably from the 1950's.
NOW you tell me...
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I have a Diamond Tool Company lathe that was originally driven by leather belts from a layshaft system. Since I don't have a waterwheel, nor the layshaft system in my shop, I use an electric motor to drive it now. This one was made in the 1890-1910 time frame. I haven't been able to pin it down any closer than that yet.
When I bought it, it had a little 1/4 HP GE motor on it with a 3 gang sheave set. It didn't have any power, and changing speeds was a PITA. About 4 years ago, I pulled that motor off of it, and converted it to a variable speed 1.5 HP DC motor setup. I adapted the drive motor and speed control from an old treadmill to drive the headshaft, and have been using it like that ever since.
These are pictures I took of it right after I bought it and had it setup for the first time.
100_1674.jpg100_1673.jpg100_1672.jpg
Last edited by Dan Lambert; 03-26-2021 at 6:51 PM.
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1941 Walker-Turner 16" bandsaw, a 1946 Parks 12" planer, a 1948 Wheatley 8" short-bed jointer and a Canadian Buffalo 15" drill press from the 40s.
The planer and bandsaw are still waiting in the restoration queue. After they're done, I'm moving on to a 1950 Wadkin BXL lathe. That's the only old tool that's younger than me!
Best regards,
Ron
You haven't really been lost until you've been lost at Mach 2!
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Speaking of which... my neighbor has a 12" Yates American w/clamshell head that threw a knife. Not a happy memory. He eventually got the table repaired by brazing and regrinding and the head replaced with a cut-down Powermatic planer unit. Beware.
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Famous-Standard (or is it a 'Standard-Famous'?) 27" band saw from the mid-1920s. Crescent P24 circa 1952.
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