Since I first subscribed to Fine Woodworking in 1975, I have been on the mailing list of every woodworking marketeer in the country. If I ordered something, I was upped a level in catalogue frequency. I have obliged the marketeers by participating in my self-styled Tool of the Month Club. I bought what I needed but with substantial influence on what I needed being dictated by what was on the cover. As I pull tools out of mothballs for renewed utility in my retirement, I hope to report on the nostalgia and the useful qualities of those tools.
Today’s subject is the Delta Motorized Miter Box. This is Delta’s combination woodworking tool and body building equipment. Introduced in 1966, it is cast iron tool intended for construction site trim work or even accurate framing. The thing weighs a ton. It is an historically significant because it is the first motorized miter saw. Along with the innovative Delta scroll saw and the Unisaw, it firmly placed Delta at the forefront of affordable, accurate motorized woodworking tools. It was not, at least at that point, called a the undignified moniker of the chop saw which it later came to define.
My Delta saw was purchased in 1992 according to the sales receipt, a time when I was building the house at the lake, finishing a basement rec room for the kids in town, and helping many others with home projects. Except for changes to the blade guard and motor, the design is preserves the qualities from the original patent that made this saw a necessity for any carpenter and which tolled the death knell for the Disston Saw Company. It was accurate and, due to its weight, vibration free right out of the box. So long as you had an apprentice or a flunky to carry it, it was the perfect job site saw.
I had an extended midlife crisis where I went off to pursue a PhD in mechanical enigineering and left the tools mouldering where they were left. For many years, my Delta Motorized Miter Box lived in the garage being used only to cut an occasional piece of PVC or scrap wood. After finishing the PhD, I purchased a sexy, new Dewalt DWS779 hoping to replace both the Delta miter box and my original saw, a Craftsman 10” Radial Arm Saw with one tool. The Delta went to the storage unit.
Recently, I built a new shop. I included a screened porch in the design, not knowing that no one would want to apply the screen. Failing to find a subcontractor willing to take the job, I investigated doing it myself. Aluminum extrusions for the frame and polyester screen seemed feasible for a DIYer. Materials orders were placed and then tooling was considered. I did not want to cut aluminum extrusion with the Forrest Chopmaster II blade on the Dewalt DWS 779 and realized the Delta with an 80 tooth Freud would be perfect. It built the classic two rail extension design from Delta’s manual. Here is the picture from the manual. Clearly, it is 1966.
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I have made the extension table at least two other times. This one is the best yet. I jointed the rails to ensure they were straight and parallel. I used pocket holes to attach 2x4 supports on top of the rails. I used 3 1/2” deck screws to attach the dividers between the rails. The result looks very much like the 1966 plan.
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We are ready to screen.
I want to find a charitable home for the Delta 34-080. It needs to be someone either very young and strong or someone who has a permanent location for it. I may make a tool cabinet to go underneath it to make the offer more attractive.
Next story, a modern history of pocket holes.
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