Jay brought up some more interesting points. He said that he plans to learn how to weld and maybe acquire some machine tools. Oh Boy, what a slippery slope he is on!
Last week I was working on my tractor loader and was working on some flat parts. I made these parts from 1/2 in by 6 in hot rolled steel flat stock. Of course, being an exhibitionist, I have to document my progress on the internet. Here is my URL...
http://www.users.qwest.net/~emchd/D1...nry_loader.htm
In cutting this stuff and milling this stuff, I could not help but see the analogies between using metal or using wood. And with the metal being in the flat, it was like working with extremely heavy super select hardwood. Where does one draw the line between wood and metal?
So you want to restore a heavy piece of american woodworking history. Get that huge jointer you have always dreamed of and get it cheap and with a bit of style to boot. So you haul this rust bucket home and break it down into the parts. Throw out a couple of pounds of old sawdust and pitch desposits. Put all the bolts and do-hickies into plastic baggies. And spend the next two weekends with a drill or grinder wire brushing and stripping paint and rust of the castings. Hey, being new, you not into sand blasting and acid dipping .... YET!
You come on some handles and their shafting. They are bent, stripped, busted or missing. NOW WHAT? So you call around and find that the company no longer exists or if it does, the parts are a holy fortune. You take what you have to a machine shop and your fear and confusion is just exuding from that ever confident self image you once had. You get the quote back and realize you now need to make a decision. Either you send your kids to college or you send the machine shop's kids to college. You go home with your tail between your legs and wonder now what?
You complain to your wife and of course, she has no idea what your talking about. But to help, she says that grandpa was an old machinist and he had some wird machines in the basement. Of course grandpa is 88 years old and no longer does machine work but you call anyway. Always wishing to help out his daughter, he gives all his old machine stuff to you, the son in law and helps you to get started.
So know you have a bench mounted, circa 1940s, South Bend Model A 9 inch toolroom lathe sitting on a bench in your dark basement with a floresent lamp overhead. You get some videos from the home machinist crowd and you get a subscription to the Home SHop Machinist magazine. Never mind searching for this one at the news stand. What do think this is, Fine Woodworking magazine? They just recently went to using color for just the outer cover.
So armed with a little knoweldge and grampas help, you knock out the first of these replacement shaft parts. Not bad for a beginner. But this is going into a woodworking machine so you wonder if your handiwork is accurate enough for this application. Afterall, your not a machinist. You barely know where the on switch is. Shhhhhhhh, I will let you in a secret.... the orig part may be less accurate than the one you just made! So now, you and grandpa with the help of an article in HSM knock off a homemade milling slide for the lathe. Now your getting stoked. Your wife asks, Honey, how is the woodworking going? Woodworking? Ohhhhhhh, yaaaa, woodworking. Ummm, its going just fine dear. Truth is, you have already forgotten where you left your table saw blades last. Your having some much fun milling stuff for your jointer restoration.
You tell a buddy at work about this. He smiles and says, Ohhh by the way, have you heard that were getting rid of some old machine shop stuff downstairs? Its obsolete and management wants it out of here. So the two of you go downstairs during lunch to see what it is. Not sure what it is but it says milling machine on it. The forman tells you that if you want it, come back after 5:00 PM with a trailer and its yours. It will save the company having to haul it away as junk. So your brother in law and you snag his garden trailer and you go over there and they drop this thing into the trailer using the forklift. When you get home, you tell grandpa that they gave you some kind of machining tool at work and that he should look at it after dinner. His jaw almost drops to the floor. Its a 30 year old Bridgeport, V-Ram, Series One milling machine with an R-8 J-Head and a 48 inch optional table with an after market X axis power feed. Of course, you are still parsing what the old man just said! With your best Will Smith expression, Yaaaa, Sureee, itsnt it nice! Gramps leans over and says, Sonny, your clueless arnt you? Yuup, I admit it, I have no idea what your talking about.
So with a few of your new machinist buddies, gramps and your brother in law and wifie out of town for the weekend, you guys spend Saturday learning about the art of rigging. You have set up pulleys, come a longs, car jacks, jack stands, cable returns, ply wood skids, etc. You have moved this greasy pig through the back kitchen door and into the door that goes down to the basement. You have spent 8 hours moving this thing down one flight of steps an inch at a time. And now, fully exhusted, you admire your new milling machine sitting in the basement on pipe rollers. Its been a good day. And for an 88 year old man, its been even better. You have finally bonded with the father of your LOML. And he gets to tell you his machine shop war stories of the old navy days and how they did this and that what you can do with this milling machine. Your not sure what he has said completely but you now know how lonely he has been.
So you got your bridgeport running. Sitting proudly next to grandpas old south bend and you keep your company's property management tag on the mill to remind you of its colorful history. Your now a pretty good machine jocky in your own right. You would rather use a micrometer than a ruler and you reach for an oil can each time you want to drill a hole. You talk the slang with phrases like, "Ya, just slap on an indicator base, check for tram and see if you can slide a two thou feeler gage under dere. May have to take it down 5 thou for level." Your woodworking buddies look at you and wonder exactly what did he say again?
You have now got that old jointer restored. Every dimension is worked out and balanced and accurate to one thou. You installed super precision bearings, which is over kill, but it runs smoother than a purring kitty. You spend a few weekends back at woodworking but somehow the joy is not there anymore. You miss the time in the cellar. You wonder what a big hunkin jointer would be like. So one night, you find yourself putting the restored jointer and your bought as brand new table saw on ebay for auction sale.
The next saturday, you and gramps are going to an auction. Some kind of pattern shop is going out of business and gramps remembers them from the good old days. You check it all out. There she is. An old, dusty queen from yesterday. An Oliver 88DM table saw with a ball bearing, roller top. Gramps is telling you how wonderful that saw is and how his high school buddies almost cut their fingers off on it during summer intern jobs at the pattern works. And whats next to it.... Removing a bit of clutter, its none other than a Newman 60 jointer. And its massive! You see Gramps having a great time with the memories..... and then it hits you. These things are comming home with us. You and Gramps go and get registered and you walk about with your auction cards sticking proudly out of your shirt pockets. Your scoping the competition. But its going to be a two ring affair and the saw is in one ring and the jointer in another. You tell Gramps to score the saw at all cost and that you will score the jointer and be back at the BB-Q van for lunch.
So both of you show up for a bite to eat. You have scored both machines and saw went cheap but the jointer cost a bit more than you wished. But in the overall scheme of things, life is good. Your father in law (aka gramps) is now your best friend and he tells you how much trouble your in with your wife. You retort back by saying, Ya but you bought the saw. Your just a guilty as I am. You pull out your credit card to pay for this and gramps tells you to put it away. That this is an older auctioneer and that the old ways still work here. He opens up his fanny pack and pulls out a wad of cash and pays in cash for your loot. You can pay me back later, trust me on this. As you guys check out, you realize a large number of these guys are paying cash. Gramps was right. I'll be darned. Transactions in the USA where old, fashioned cash is the preferred medium.
So Gramps, how did you know to bring cash? Sonny, I know you and I suspected this would happen. Besides, I miss our time together in the basement. So you knew I was going to bid on these things? No, but I would have if you didnt. But does it matter who was going to bid first now? The point is, we have enough projects to spend some quality time together for the rest of the winter.
And so another old iron junkie was born. There is more to old iron than just dragging home a woodworking machine. Everyone has a story like one listed here. Its a sliperry slope and there are no definitive yes or no answers. But this is typical of how it happens....... Good Day & Good Luck...
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