Saw Till

I recently replaced the table on my 1958 Delta radial arm saw. The original table was made up with 3 beautiful pieces of 1" clear Fir, but they were deeply grooved on both sides after 53 years of use. I couldn't bear to toss them into the burn box, so I decided to make a saw till to hold all my hand saws. The deep grooves resulted in some unexpected breakage during construction, but with a few glued repairs, I ended up with some useful storage and the price was right! For the classic saw shape, I drew around my Disston Acme 120.

Workbench

Some 20 years ago, we had just built a home in Kingston, Washington and I needed a workbench. I had planned on building one but the local Ernst Hardware store got in a batch of European style benches. They were a knockoff of the Hoffman & Hammer compact bench, but also had 3 drawers & a storage cabinet. The vise & drawer hardware wasn't bad & they were made with Mai Pradoo (Burma Padauk) which is a nice looking, medium hardwood.

Ernst offered them at $400 but there were few takers. I kept researching bench designs and pricing wood. Meanwhile, Ernst cut their price several times. When it got down to $169, I bought. It was easy to assemble & made a good light duty bench. I put it together without glue so it would be easy to dis-assemble & move.

Life went on & I was quite happy with my new bench until one day I heard a crash from the garage. Shortly, my dear wife entered the house and told me I needed to go buy another bench! Our killer Audi hit the bench pretty hard, smashing the drawers, cabinet door and face frame. So off I went to Ernst.

There were 2 benches left & they were marked down to $99! I put the new bench together, then, after a few weeks, started to take apart the old bench, thinking to use the wood for other projects. I found the main structure was mostly undamaged, so I rebuilt it. It wasn't as pretty as the new one now & had a bit of racking, still it was useful.

The problem with such inexpensive benches was, I tended to disrespect them. In addition to woodwork, I used them for car & tractor repair, even dis-assembling & overhauling 2 tractor & 3 Mercedes engines on them. They got pretty beat up as a result.

I hadn't glued my benches during assembly & they developed racking problems as bolts loosened, requiring re-tightening every few months.

We moved twice since I got the benches and both times they weren't dis-assembled, just moved in one piece. So I decided to re-assemble them with glued joints this time.

Our new home in Stayton required some big, Fir beams and I saved all the large cut-offs along with some 4X4 & 4X6 pieces. Since I was going to tear down anyway, why not improve the bench while I was at it? One of the beams approximated the size of my bench top. Also, I had been admiring a vise I'd seen. It used a hand crank to quickly move the jaws. Only the astronomical price held me back. I found a crank on e-Bay & so I began to re-build the bench into a Hermaphrodite Roubo.

I'm quite happy with the results. I got rid of the annoying tool tray, raised the benchtop height to match my Delta radial arm saw & added the beam to the back of the bench with two 4X4 legs dovetailed in for support. The bench top has twice the area now (24" X 55") & I incorporated a reversable planeing stop down the middle. I put the hand crank on the front vise. The extra mass, glued joints and 2 additional legs make the bench extremely rigid and solid.

I liked the results so well, I decided to make the remaining beams into a larger bench. The result so far is a massive 24" X 84" Roubo style bench with 4" X 6" legs dovetailed into the top. I tied the two beams together with 2" X 4" scraps. I didn't bother fitting either cross piece with dovetails or through mortises, just bolted & glued it into place. My son was disappointed with me for taking this short cut. I don't agree. Its crude, but effective and doesn't detract much from the overall appearance. The bench is also the same height as my Delta RAS, & has a reversible plane stop down the middle. I'm going to have a local artisan make 2 hold fasts & I will drill the bench top for them. I had intended to tie the legs together with stringers and through mortise joints, but the bench is so stable already, they may not be needed. I will use the bench with hold fasts for a while but may add a good vise later.

Old WoodWorking Machinery

Old woodworking machines offer a great deal of utility for not much money. Over the years I acquired several:

The 1958 Delta 900 Radial Arm Saw(3rd & 4th from top) is my best buy so far. Picked up from Craigs list $35 to use as a dedicated dado machine when I had to fabricate door jams to hang our fir doors.

Despite noisy bearings, it handled that job & several others well, but eventually the blade began to wobble & the bearings developed a grinding noise. I dis-assembled the motor, installed new bearings ($20) & repainted the saw with some Benjamin Moore Industrial Machinery paint ($5 at the Habitat Re-Store), so now it is a $60 saw. When I replace the table, I will still have less than $100 in this Articulated Turret Saw.

The top 2 pics show my 1948 12" Red Star Radial Arm Saw. At $250 it is my most expensive used machine but it was newly cleaned, rewired & repainted, so almost a new saw.

Red Star produced their line of Radial arm saws until 1948 when Delta bought the company. Their Multiplex saws were more versatile than any other RAS, but had some features that were expensive to manufacture and a name like "RED STAR" was a handicap when the cold war began.

Delta continued to produce the Multiplex line unchanged except for adding a Delta decal. Later Delta redesigned their RAS, changing to a fixed turret mount and adopted a different bearing system for the saw head. They soon dropped the 9" & 10" saws, but the 12" & bigger models are still available today. They are often found in commercial shops but rare in home shops.

The bottom picture shows my 80's era General 6" jointer. I own a General 10" Table saw that is impressive in its quality, accuracy & durability, so I was quick to buy this machine when I found it for $150 on Craigs list. It has a new motor, is usable as is but needs a tear down for cleaning & repainting.

Back in the 80's I picked up a Sears 12" Bandsaw and a Shopsmith Model 10ER, for $150 each. I will add some pics of them later.

Mickey

Lynna's mom, Mickey, will be 92 this August. She was widowed years ago & lived a very independent and active life for many years. She had a cottage at Lakeside Assisted Living nearby, but came to live with us in January when she was unable to continue living on her own.

To accomplish this, I needed to quickly finish the West Bedroom & Bathroom trim & hang the closet doors.

Everything got done in good time and that part of the house is much improved.

Mickey is much doing better but there have been a few setbacks along the way. Her doctor continues to search for a more effective medication to slow & moderate the progress of her dementia. A caretaker comes daily to take some of the load off Lynna.

Sometimes Mickey has "Sundowning" episodes but I secured all our gates & she is always back to normal the next morning. We have visited all the memory care facilities in our area and found a few that are acceptable, but for now, the present arrangement is still her best option. Mickey is able to attend church with us on Sundays & still enjoys lunch out afterwards.