Vintage Martin T75 restoration

[Tom M King]

Search for "red plastic rod" in the ebay search box. You might have to add something like "turcite" to the search. There will probably be many choices to come up. Look for the seller listing a number of different types for sale, and contact him, letting him know the diameter, color, and what you want to make from it. The exact item may not be currently listed, but I've done just this, and was sold some oil-filled Nylon, and Delrin, at different times, in sizes that worked for what I needed without having to buy way more than I would ever need for some small job.

If you were closer, I'd loan you my Maasdam rope puller, and some tree work ropes, and rigging stuff. I also move what needs to be moved by myself when necessary. The rope puller works like a come-a-long, but you're not limited to a short cable. You can run any length of twisted 1/2" rope through it, and there are very strong, low stretch tree work ropes that it can use.

[Patrick Walsh]

Tom,

That’s some good advise. I’ll give it a try.

The real issue is not having a lathe and you know I don’t see buying one at this moment considering the electrical work. I’d be half inclined to send the piece to Brian and pay him to replicate it if he would be so willing. Depending it could be just as expensive to buy a jet mini lathe but I doubt it.

Search for "red plastic rod" in the ebay search box. You might have to add something like "turcite" to the search. There will probably be many choices to come up. Look for the seller listing a number of different types for sale, and contact him, letting him know the diameter, color, and what you want to make from it. The exact item may not be currently listed, but I've done just this, and was sold some oil-filled Nylon, and Delrin, at different times, in sizes that worked for what I needed without having to buy way more than I would ever need for some small job.

If you were closer, I'd loan you my Maasdam rope puller, and some tree work ropes, and rigging stuff. I also move what needs to be moved by myself when necessary. The rope puller works like a come-a-long, but you're not limited to a short cable. You can run any length of twisted 1/2" rope through it, and there are very strong, low stretch tree work ropes that it can use.

[Brian Holcombe]

Sure, happy to do so.

[Patrick Walsh]

I said this was a lot of work.

Today I started by digging out the ramp I use to get machines down the three steps into my shop. It doubles as a lumber rack when not being used.

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When you need it it’s a real pita but I’m always glad I have it as I would be a bigger pita to build another, plus expensive. The ramp I was lucky enough to salvage scrap materials from a house I was building at the time.

Fist I have to unload it. Without much space it all ends up on the table saw. I always loath, then “lOVE” doing this as I get to look at all my prized lumber that just sits waiting for the day I’m not working 70 hrs a week to use it.

On this wall I have some pretty sweet Birdseye. I just had to have these boards when I ran into them. Yes they were expensive but you only live once is my approach. I actually have like 300 more bf of Birdseye all medium to high figure, but his stuff is just so unique. I have no idea what I’ll build with it. I’m inclined to think drawer fronts combined with a carcass of a completely different species.

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Then a sweet score, I came across this pile of 4/4 and 8/4 45 year old Burmese teak a number of years ago. I got it for a steel. I was going to make a couple shop doors with it. I may still but I doubt it as I’m pretty sure I’m moving. Maybe it will become a bed and beside tables for the new master bedroom when it’s done.

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[Patrick Walsh]

More 45 year old Burmese teak..

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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!

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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

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Then that ramp finally unburied.

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

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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...

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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.

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[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.

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And just like that magically on my bench.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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[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.

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[Patrick Kane]

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.

Id say you did a pretty good job reviewing the machine and comparing to contemporary counterparts. For someone like me, i will never use numerous makes/eras of machines, and so i will ultimately take a stab in the dark on something and hope for the best.

I know what you mean. I lay workpieces down on my Felder 700 outrigger like im putting a sleeping baby to rest. Im beyond gentle with that machine. However, like your colleagues attest to, in two years i havent recalibrated the crosscut fence, and i take the whole assembly off the saw every other month. Nothing against the Felder, but for my "forever" saw, I want something better, even if its a lot older.

I very rarely see anything critiquing Martin, but your electronic gremlins are similar to stuff i recently read on woodweb. Saws not starting if its too cold. replacing many thousand dollar control boards a few times in a decade. Slightly alarming stuff for what is supposed to be the best of the best. Honestly, its all enough to scare me off a used saw with a bunch of options. especially, because a used <20 year old Martin saw isnt exactly cheap.