New to me jointer

[Mike Cozad]

Picked up a piece of American history today for a song. 12" jointer made by the W.W. Carey company. It was originally water powered so I will have to fabricate a motor mount and wire in the switch. It came with a new 5hp 1ph motor (with mounting bracket) and Woodtek magnetic switch, both new. It came with an Oliver 2 knife head, but will need to buy them. I am sure to ask plenty of questions as I start the resto on her. My oldest boy is a machinist so fabricating the necessary parts should be no problem. It is a complete machine, there are a couple of modern bolts that I will replace with period correct bolts (may have to make those ourselves) and we will need to figure out some sort of guard. There is no mounting hole or bracket of any kind and the few pics I can find of this exact machine show that it never had a guard .

We should have it running in no time. I plan to strip it down and give it a period correct paint job or at least a better paint scheme than it has. I'll also figure out a better roller stand than is on it. And dust collection may be a wish that never come true lol....

I think it will be a fun little project for my son and I to do together as well as preserve a piece of american history for generations to come. Not to mention a 12" jointer far exceeds my wildest dreams of what I would end up with. Especially for almost no investment.
WW Carey Jointer.jpg

[David Kumm]

What type of head? I can't see it well from the picture. Sweet. Babbit bearings are in good shape? Dave

[Mike Cozad]

It's stamped Oliver Tool Company Grand Rapids, Mich. It also is stamped to ask for knife 4204 when ordering. There are also several sets of numbers on the head. The sequencing makes it seem like a manufacturing date. If they are it would have been made in 1921. I haven't found the specs on the knives yet but will keep looking. I haven't taken the bearings apart yet but the head turns very smoothly and easily. They appear to be in great shape. I will be taking them apart, cleaning and regreasing them soon. I'll take pics as I go through the resto and post them in a dedicated resto thread.

Here are some pics of the head sitting on the floor. I had to disassemble the machine to get it home. Way too heavy with the beds and head in place.

Oliver Head 1.jpgOliver Head 2.jpg

[Steve Rozmiarek]

That is one classy looking machine, have fun!

[Andrew Fleck]

That sure is a nice looking jointer. I'm not sure how much you know about those old machines, but that looks like a clamshell cutterhead to me. Those are notorious for throwing knives. I would research and check that cutterhead out really well before I ran it.

I also see that somebody has installed grease fittings on your babbitt bearings. That was a conversion that somebody did so they wouldn't have to oil as much. Those should be oiled as the grease will break down the babbitt.

Hope this helps you out. I just got myself a babbitt jointer 6 months ago or so.

Andrew

[joe milana]

Andrew is correct.

A must read...

http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/Clamshell%20Heads.ashx

[Mike Cozad]

I started researching today after I got it home and read that same artcle. I set out trying to research a replacement but am striking out on anything but a Byrd. While I'd love one, its not in the budget. It seems I should be able to find a replacement at a reasonable price if I knew where to look.... If anyone can point me towards a search string to get me on the right track, I'd appreciate it...

I thought babbits were oiled not greased based on past readings, so I'll remove that retrofit if I am able to keep the babbits with a replacement head.

[Mike Cozad]

Hope this helps you out. I just got myself a babbitt jointer 6 months ago or so.

Andrew

What type of head do you have and did it come with it or did you purchase it separately? If you have any advice I'd be grateful.

I am more about preserving this piece of history and having a safe, good user than I am saving money, but I have to be practical too (SWMBO glares at me when i talk about what it needs.

I have a 6" delta on the hook for $100 to get me by while I restore this one. I'm waiting for the current owner to fix the motor bearing and shorted switch. He owns a local machine repair shop and is getting out of WWing, so I was in the right place right time for that one too. When he figured out I was prior military he made me jump in his truck and head down to his barn so he could auction off nearly everything he had to me, lol... It was a good time but odd to say the least...

[joe milana]

Mike, head over to the owwm forum. You'll get some good advice over there.

[Mike Cozad]

Thats good advice, thanks Joe. I'll probably have to just start a thread and ask there because my searches aren't getting me sources. They are rendering me some great information in the "what I need" department though...

[Jeff Heath]

That's a clamshell head. I'm an OWWM'er, with quite a few restorations under my belt, including a few jointers. Personally, I wouldn't use that cutterhead. Several guys are still running them, but I repeat.....I would not. There are enough incidents of those throwing knives to make anyone wary. Also, over torquing of the hardware bolts over the years (approx. 100) can and has caused them to weaken, snapping off, allowing a knife to be launched.

There have been several pictures shown of the destruction to machine tables when this happens, and let's just say you don't want to be in the room when it happens.

Your options are to find a 12" 3 or 4 knife head that has enough extra length to fit your babbitt journals. Or, you can purchased a used 16" or longer cutterhead from a jointer or planer and have it machined down to the correct size for your machine. Any competent machine shop can handle that. Or, as stated, you can send your head to Byrd, and have them machine one to match your journals.....pretty expensive choice.

You should expect at the least to have to scrape in your babbitt to fit the new cutterhead, and most likely, you will have to pour new babbitt. Don't freak out.....it's not that hard to do, and there are several demo video's available on the OWWM forum and WIKI information at VintageMachinery.org.

It only sounds complicated, but changing out a head is not that big of a deal.......Nice machine.

[David Kumm]

Mike, clamshell is why I asked. Jointer is worth saving. Old PM 24" planer heads might be an option if the diameter works. Long enough to cut down. Dave

[Sam Puhalovich]

Mike; two years ago I bought a Robland combo that has a 12" jointer.
The machine did not have a guard.
While thumbing thru a Grizzly catalog, I came across their 12" jointer that has a 'conventinal' pork-chop guard.
I brought-up their pdf on that machine ... and ordered the complete parts set for the guard.
It wasn't cheap: came to about $160 ... $105 was for the pork-chop.
I drilled and tapped 2 mounting holes ... and, just mounted it on.
Works perfect.

[Andrew Fleck]

What type of head do you have and did it come with it or did you purchase it separately? If you have any advice I'd be grateful.

I am more about preserving this piece of history and having a safe, good user than I am saving money, but I have to be practical too (SWMBO glares at me when i talk about what it needs.

I have a 6" delta on the hook for $100 to get me by while I restore this one. I'm waiting for the current owner to fix the motor bearing and shorted switch. He owns a local machine repair shop and is getting out of WWing, so I was in the right place right time for that one too. When he figured out I was prior military he made me jump in his truck and head down to his barn so he could auction off nearly everything he had to me, lol... It was a good time but odd to say the least...

I was lucky with mine in that the original square head was replaced with a 2 knife cutterhead that uses a modern gib bolt design. It already had the 2 knife head when I purchased it. I agree with others who say to get a longer cutterhead and have it turned down to fit your bearings. That should be your cheapest option. The OWWM forum is a great source for information pertaining to what you want to do.

Like yours somebody had installed grease fittings and greased my babbitt bearings. Luckily there wasn't much damage to them. It just required a little bit of scraping which isn't really that hard.

Byrd heads are nice, but they are expensive. My 2 knife head actually leaves a really nice cut so I am happy with it. There are plenty of old planer cutterheads laying around so you should be able to find one fairly easily.

I do have a technique for getting the tables coplaner that works really well. I use piano wire. I will be happy to share that with you when you are ready for that.

[Keith Hankins]

Please keep a photo record and post. I love old Iron! I've got two now and a 3rd in restoration. What a blessing to have a son as a machinist. I tried to talk my teenager in to looking at that profession, but he would have none of it. Even the elevation wheel shows the craftsmanship of the old stuff. Let us know how it goes! Will you have to deal with babbit bearings, or will you be replacing with a modern bearing?