Friday, October 26, 2007

Tools from September 8th 2007

I went to a really unusual estate sale on the 8th - the basement was full of old tools that had belonged to the home owner's father. Amongst them where the following:

Walker Turner tabletop Drill Press
Delta tilt-table Table Saw
Craftsman 1/2" shaper (unusual, cast iron round table and guard)
Boise Crane snowflake Bandsaw (looked to be 12 inch) table top model
Walker Turner bench grinder
Walker Turner Sanding Machine setup

There were also several work benches, bits and pieces, hand tools, etc. there was also an assortment of small old motors and many threading taps. Looking over everything - the pricing seem pretty close to what I would expect collectible retail to be - for instance the bandsaw was priced at $400 - the drill press had already sold so I'm not sure what it ended up going for. The table saw was priced at $350, etc. The sanding machine setup was the thing that interested me, as I had never seen anything like it - it had $350 on it and apparently I was the only one interested as I'm to pick it up the following week for $200. It came with what looked like most if not all the parts plus two original WT wrenches (and the dust collector underneath)

More images from the original CL post:




This is what I ended up bringing home:


Includes the two tables (one mounted with the sander), the WT sander, the Craftsman Shaper and a box of handtools, sand paper and bits.

Detail Pics of the Sander:









It turns out that the sander is a Walker Turner SM900 and is actually pretty rare. It came with a little vacuum and bag that hangs underneath (the bag is ripped though - dry rotted) - you can see it in one of the photos of all the parts. It also originally had a sliding table (I've got the two rails) to make it into a stroke sander - I think the table was in the basement stacked on some other things. The "stroking block" might have also been amongst all the bits but I wouldn't have known it was part of this setup.

The Craftsman Shaper is also unusual. It appears to predate most of the numbered tools you usually see produced by Sears. It's entirely made of cast iron, stand, table and fence. The base has "Craftsman" "14" Bearing" and the "Patent Number 1893080" I looked up the patent and it was assigned to C.A. Roberts in 1932. The blue paint looks to be original.




Turns out that this is a Craftsman branded Herbert's Shaper. Patent Link: http://www.google.com/patents?id=w3s_AAAAEBAJ&dq=1893080

-- John

Friday, October 5, 2007

Some tools I acquired on 9/12

Figured I should do an update - I picked up a few items on 9/12:

There was a gentlemen down in Florida that posted looking for a home for a Dewalt RAS - he was looking for someone who would appreciate it as he didn't have it in him to restore or even use it - the price was "free." When I saw the post I PMed him and told him if he couldn't find a new home for it, I had a friend that didn't live to far from Vero Beach (where he lived) and I thought he wouldn't mind picking it up for me. I was contacted a while later as no one else offered to take the saw - he also pitched an old Drill Press he wanted $50 for - a Champion Blower and Forge 50E (there's a couple of images on OWWM.com) - I thought it was interesting and hey - anything that looks kinda like a sewing machine couldn't be all bad. My friend Joe Black picked up the tools some time ago and came to visit during that weekend - how's that for a Rucker from someone who doesn't know what that means?

Dewalt MMB-23 - complete/working with wrench. Has some rust but nothing a little electrolysis can't fix I don't think:


Champion Blower and Forge 50E - interesting old DP - has an old working GE motor, probably from the same era:

Second set of tools came from an Atlanta CL ad - it showed a blurry picture of a mess of tools on a table - I could make out a small Delta Jointer and figured I couldn't go wrong for $50.

Included were:

  • Dayton 14" DP Model 3Z305
  • Delta Rockwell Homecraft 4" Jointer with an old Serial Number tag F-4768 working w/motor
  • Craftsman Lathe 103.23881 with rests, original CMan Motor and turning tools
  • Couple of cheapie grinders, oak mallet and an old metal hand drill:






-- John