Restoring a 8" Northfield Jointer

[Robert Miller]

I'm new here and I thought I'd intoduce myself to the board.
Here is a 1950 Northfield *" Jointer that I completely restored last year.
I found this machine on the big auction site and drone 1200 miles each way to go get it. I'm glad I did because my total cost including the machine was about $1400.00.
Northfield still makes this exact machine and they are $10,000 new.
I just love this machine, it is the pride of my modest shop.



This is the before as found.

Follwed by complete disassembly



Sandblasted and primed parts


Going back together











Closer........





Before.....








The pride of my shop!

[Bruce Page]

Robert, welcome to SMC. That’s a beautiful restoration on the Northfield jointer. Northfield is wonderful American iron, but 10K ? Yikes!

[Tom Maple]

Nice job! It has to have been difficult to man-handle that heavy cast iron while cleaning and painting it.

[Jim Becker]

Wow...nice restoration, Robert! I actually came real close to having a similar machine in my shop a few years ago, but fate wasn't falling in that direction. If I did, I doubt I could have done half as good a job as you did on the machine in your shop!

[Carroll Courtney]

That is fantastic.Beautiful!Love those older machines,with alittle TLC,last forever.By the way what type of paint did you use, and did you spray or brush it on.I'm doing a powermatic 100 planer and was debating type of paint to use. Good job Carroll

[Robert Miller]

Wow...nice restoration, Robert! I actually came real close to having a similar machine in my shop a few years ago, but fate wasn't falling in that direction. If I did, I doubt I could have done half as good a job as you did on the machine in your shop!

Thanks everyone, I hesitated when I bought this machine, but it's just an awesome jointer. I cranked through 12/4 white oak with it and it didn't even slow down.
By the way, Northfield was incredible. I called them to see if they still had any parts for the machine and they told me " sure, we've never changed it".
No kidding, cause this thing is bulletproof. It weighs 1150lbs. You can see the skid that I made for it when I went to Penn. to get it. Northfield told me the machine was built in January 1950 and shipped to Penn. they asked me for the serial number and said it they still had the build reconds on it!
They registered the machine to me, and sent me all new correct decals, the correct paint, owner and parts manuals, the Northfield emblem was missing from the front of my machine. The factory said they now make that in plastic but they said hold on and the guy went through the shop until they found me a new old stock metal one. They did all this no charge and shipped it all to me,and thanked me for saving this machine.
I couldn't believe it.
I had to disassemble the machine on my trailer because of the beef of this thing. That base in the photo weighs over 300lbs.
I cannot describe the absolute feeling of satisfaction I feel ever time I use it. The tables are dead flat and it cuts like glass. The board is so flat that it actually is suctioned down onto the outfeed table.
If you get a chance to snag a Northfield go for it.

[Ken Garlock]

Fantastic job.

How did you restore the name plate?

Everything looks so new....

Welcome to the Creek, Robert. Do stop in and join the discussions frequently.

[Robert Miller]

That is fantastic.Beautiful!Love those older machines,with alittle TLC,last forever.By the way what type of paint did you use, and did you spray or brush it on.I'm doing a powermatic 100 planer and was debating type of paint to use. Good job Carroll

Hi Carroll, thanks.
I sprayed the primer and the paint . I first carefully used duct tape to seal all the machinedareas to protect it from the sandblasting . I organized the parts in zip lock freezer bags and labeled them along with digital photos of the assemblies. Because I had the parts manual from Northfield it was easier to re-assemble the jointer. It just about wore me out moving all of heavy parts around.
I'd wondered about the correct paint also.
The factory told me to go to Lowes/HD and get Rust-O-leum High Performance enamel. That's what they and most manufactures use. Sure enough, it matched.
Go figure.

[Chuck Wintle]

Nice restoration job on the jointer! I find it amazing this company has all the prioduction history going back that far and they sent you all the decals etc to finish the job.

["Gary Brewer"]

Robert: What a wonderful story and restoration. Thanks so much for posting it and all the pictures. It is like a classic old car restoration. It is nice to see that this can be done and maybe encourage others to do the same. It made my day.
Gary

[Gary Herrmann]

Amazing job, Robert. That jointer turned out beautifully.

[Robert Miller]

Thanks everone, I really did enjoy the whole expierence. I'm looking for an old Cresent/ Rockwekk/Delta 20" or larger bandsaw to do the same thing with.
These machines are very high quality and I don't believe I'd be able to wear this jointer out in my lifetime.
It's really neat to save something like this. I could never afford a new one or justify 10k for a new Northfield.
I give this jointer a lot of respect and I use every precaution with it.
The quality of my projects has improved dramatically because my stock is so dead flat and square.
I'm on for lookout for more of this vintage iron, it's a lot of fun and I just love this machine. I'm saving a lot of money with it becuase I can now now mill anything to any size. I have a 15" Delta planer I use it with, so I buy stock in the rough.

I smile with accomplishment every time I use it, and that's what we all woodwork for right?

[Robert Miller]

Here is a brand new Northfied, about $10,000 .

[Gary Ratajczak]

Hello:
May I ask what treatments you did to the surface of the infeed, outfeed and fence? Surfacing, sanding or other??

Thanks

[Robert Miller]

Hello:
May I ask what treatments you did to the surface of the infeed, outfeed and fence? Surfacing, sanding or other??

Thanks

Hi Gary, if you look closely at the picture of the jointer as found on the trailer you can see that the surface was not very good. It had some surface rust ,paint, etc.
The first thing I did to restore it to new condition was to to take a safety razor blade in a holder and scrape the entire surface . This removed most of the surface rust/ paint drips/ etc.
From there, I cleaned the surface with mineral spirits. I then used a friend's Starrett 36" straightegde to check the tables for flatness and warp using feeler gauges.
Right on the money.
I called Northfield and thet told me they season all of their castings before machining them so they are usually dead flat, reguardless of age.
They were right.
Now, I used a 3m green pad and put my random orbit sander on top of it. (The pad will stay on the hook sander.) I then sanded the entire machined areas to a uniform sheen.
From there, I used wet/dry 300 paper lubed with mineral spirits. I worked on up to 1000 grit.
By now, the beds were looked brand new and you could see yourself in the machined beds.
You can see this from this angle.


I did all this after I painted the machine as I did not want to mask it , or get any orderspray on the fresh beds.
I then re-checked the beds for flatness with the Starrett and feeler gauges and finished by paste waxing all the beds and the fence.
Looks absolutelt brand new, but it was a lot of work!