Official Luthiers Forum!

" I have decided to gradually replace all Asian made machinery in my shop with vintage American made machinery."

And save a lot of money!
Vintage American made stuff seems to be going pretty cheap these days. A friend of mine picked up a 6" Powermatic jointer and an "extra" 14 inch Delta bandsaw because they were too cheap to pass up. A couple of years ago someone - gave- me an old Unisaw to get it out of their garage. I bought a Powermatic 66 for less than the price of an iPhone.
With children not being exposed to the manual arts in school anymore I think the demand for wood working machinery is way down. It is unfortunate that the only American made machinery you can buy is "vintage".

We don't use the stock tool rests on any grinder - the Veritas rests work well and have greater adjustability, albeit at a cost of $55 per side. I have my eyes on an accurized 8" Baldor, but the $1000 price tag (with a CBN and Norton 3X wheel) is my entire tool budget for the year! While I doubt the shop's Rikons will last nearly as long as even a modern Baldor (let alone the overbuilt vintage units), they can be tweaked and balanced with the right approach and dressing and balancing equipment. What I have found is that wood turners depend heavily on their grinding equipment for final edges, so have led the way within the woodworking community on both grinding wheel technology (e.g., CBN and seeded gel wheels), as well as balancing methods and practices. Spending a bit of time on the turning forums such as those hosted by Woodcentral or Saw Mill Creek is useful to both understand the current state of the technologies and to pick up the methods and practices used to get a smooth-running grinder and good edges.

Perhaps with the recent changes in the US business environment, we will see a return of some manufacturing of home and small commercial shop stationary power tools to the US. The barriers to establishing these types of businesses have been such that my own home area on the MD/VA/WV border has numerous closed industrial sites which would be suitable for this sort of manufacturing, as well as a pool of readily available mid-skill and aging high skill labor, but no businesses interested in operations here. Just getting approvals to reopen or upgrade a foundry as needed for something like this, however, has been a practical impossibility, leaving the few US manufacturers still operating in the heavy manufacturing space at a practical disadvantage.

Although shipping costs for a cast iron 16"-18" band saw would likely be several times that of a steel frame saw, I would love to have the opportunity to choose to buy a U.S. or Canadian-made cast iron saw with modern, OSHA-compliant features which ran as smoothly as the ancient saws I have seen in some of the shops I've visited. I have not made it up to Mr. Hall's shop yet (although the boss and Mr. Morelli have suggested the trip), but both mentioned the marvelous little Walker Turner band saw there as an exemplar of US-made small shop stationary machinery (and it would actually fit into my little garden shed shop).

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We have become a civilization that elevates idiots, prostitutes, and clowns. Am I still to defend it? Yes, for its principles. Yes, for what it was. Yes, for what it still may be.

-Mark Helprin, The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story (A Novel)

Agreed. I’ve made a few great scores on Craig’s List but I got a little impatient this time. I watched for several weeks for a good used grinder and nothing came up that seemed like a good one.


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