How do you guys decide whether or not to sell one of your old pieces of woodworking machinery?

I have an old 18 inch Jointer that I bought for a song, restored it and am awaiting a use. I thought maybe I would use it for jointing lumber off our sawmill or something, but the only way I have to power it really, is to drive it off a tractor PTO. While that is doable...it has sat for 6 years collecting dust.

I would like the room it occupies to be of a little better use, but at the same time I know if I sell it, someday I will say..."well I used to have an nice 18inch jointer built back in the 1800's." I mean I know its of good quality, and there are no more being made like it, but at the same time...it has not moved in years either!

So how do you guys make the decision on whether or not to sell something you have invested so much time in, yet have not really worked? Its a tough decision really...

Do you have electricity available close to the jointer? If so, and its sized appropriately a 5hp motor with a belt drive would fit nicely.

As for selling, my opinion is only if I am upgrading. I sold a newer Craftsman hybrid table to saw for a 1960's 3 ph unisaw. I sold the unisaw for a 1952 Oliver 232. Now, not everyone is going to see my logic in this , why sell a brand new shiny machine for an old rust covered relic? After the restoration they are much better than anything that you can buy today.After all, they have lasted 60+ years and will go many more.

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My job is to give my kids things to discuss with their therapist

Travis, the non rational side of us keeps things we don't use, the rational side of us disposes of items we don't use. This is a fight between the two and you need to decided on a few things. This is my own criteria.

1. Will it benefit my family's betterment in any way.

2. Have I used it in the last 3 years

3. Can I sell it and put the funds to better use to better my family's position in life.

Yes, yes and no, are my answers and solution for the end result in keeping an item like you have.

No, no and yes are my answers and solution for the end result in disposing of an item like you have.

Those are my ideals and guide lines that I feel are very rational, these will differ from person to person.

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Hi Travis,

I've never sold any of my old machines, but have sold parts that were surplus to my needs such as when I buy two or more machines so I can assemble one complete machine from the parts. I feel that doing so helps keep another old machine alive so someone else can get the enjoyment of using thier machine.

You could also power the jointer from a gasoline engine if there is no electricity close enough for an electric motor. The motor from a rototiller, or snowblower would work nicely. There  are  pulleys available on ebay for doing so. One that I have seen is for a Delta sawmill. It is similar to the clutch pulley for a minibike, but has  v-grooves for belts.

I've found from experiance that about the time I sell something I haven't been using, shortly afterwards I now have a use for it.

Yes it's a tough decision, and you have to ask yourself do I see myself using this in the future? Only you can answer that question.

If the answer is yes possibly I do, then check to see what it would cost to get another if you do sell it. As Ken said it is built better than anything available today, and you allready have it so there would not be a replacement cost to you in the future should you need it by keeping it.

I find it hard to let go of an older well built machine, because I have bought new machines that didn't last through doing the first job that I bought it to do.

The machines that I am now redoing I've aquired over the past ten to fifteen years so that I could set up a little shop for my retirement years. Some of them didn't run when I got them but I have hung onto them for my retirement shop which is now happening.

Just my feelings on the subject,

Larry

 

 

 

Yeah it is a very hard decision. It was such a great find and even today if the thing was running, I could use it by jointing some 8 x 8 beams that I am making for my home. I will admit I never thought about using a gasoline engine for it. Electricity is out because I do not have 220 volts in my shop, and 3 phase is nowhere near my house (miles away). I just thought of the tractor's PTO because it would be fairly easy to hook up, and you can get some semblance of control over it by controlling the engine RPM.

I am correct on this right...I should be looking at a RPM at the cutter of about 2000 RPMs? That would be about a 4 to 1 increase to go from 540 RPM up to 2000. I do not have a high speed PTO on my little Kubota Tractor (25 PTO hp).

The 3 phase is an easy fix even without power company supplied power. But the lack of 220 is an issue. If you had the power a VFD will convert the 220 single to 3 phase and allow you to run a 3 phase motor at 100% output.  As for RPM of the cutter head you should be looking to get it about 4000. How many knives are in the cutter? 3 knives will give you 12,000 cuts per min and 4 knives 16,000. 12,000 is a little on the low end. If this is a babbit machine I would not go over the 4000. As a for instance my jointer is a ball bearing 8" with a 4 knife head and with motor of 1745rpm, 10" motor pulley and 3" cutter pulley I am turning at just over 5000 and getting 23,000 cpm.

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My job is to give my kids things to discuss with their therapist

No this is an 18 inch wide, 2 knife cutter head and does spin on Babbitt bearings. I guess I just thought that the older line shaft machines were roughly geared for 2000 RPM but I might be wrong (I typically am). Here is a picture of the ole iron...

Ken Rasmussen said:

The 3 phase is an easy fix even without power company supplied power. But the lack of 220 is an issue. If you had the power a VFD will convert the 220 single to 3 phase and allow you to run a 3 phase motor at 100% output.  As for RPM of the cutter head you should be looking to get it about 4000. How many knives are in the cutter? 3 knives will give you 12,000 cuts per min and 4 knives 16,000. 12,000 is a little on the low end. If this is a babbit machine I would not go over the 4000. As a for instance my jointer is a ball bearing 8" with a 4 knife head and with motor of 1745rpm, 10" motor pulley and 3" cutter pulley I am turning at just over 5000 and getting 23,000 cpm.

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My job is to give my kids things to discuss with their therapist

Very cool looking. Would like to see more

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My job is to give my kids things to discuss with their therapist

Travis,

That looks like a keeper to me! I myself wouldn't sell it but put it to use. It would not be hard to put a gasoline engine on that machine. There is someone on ebay that has the clutch pulleys for the Delta sawmill, if I remember correctly the buy it now price is about $30.00. I'm sure you could scare up a used gasoline motor for not to bad of a price.

Regards,

Larry

I thought I heard somewhere that a jointer requires 1 hp for every 4 inches of knives. In this case that would be a 4.5 HP electric motor...BUT if I also remember correctly it takes a far bigger HP gasoline engine to operate a piece of machinery than an electric motor because of the ineffeciencies of a gasoline engine. If that is the case, and I assume since a gasoline engine fires every 4th stroke, you would need to at least double the HP size...so a 8 or 10 hp gas engine would be required????????? I have a 18 HP vertical shaft gas engine, but the 5 hp horizontal engine I have, would be far easier to hook up I think.

This ole jointer has an interesting story behind it. I was going through one of the many junk barns we have here in Maine with the wife. I did not see anything I liked that was reasonably priced, so we started to leave. Out by our car, and tucked in the weeds was this ole jointer. I took some pictures of it but was not too interested thinking like the rest of the stuff the guy had, he wanted way too much money for it. A few weeks later though I stopped in and asked him what he wanted for it.

"That old thing, I don't know...a hundred bucks." I asked if it would fit on my Ford Ranger Pick-up, and he said, "if you got the hundred bucks it will." It did and so that is how I acquired it. I move it around with my little Kubota Tractor.

Everything worked on it, it just needed a little cleaning and greasing, and of course a new coat of paint. I chose white because I dislike the navy gray it had. I checked the bearings but they were in mint shape, it just needed some shims to make the Babbitt bearings work a bit better. The only real thing it needs is a new set of knives as these are worn down to the adjustment slots, but that is an easy fix for a machinist by trade. Other than that it was an easy rebuild and feel I was lucky in that it came with the original fence.

Overall I thought this jointer, used in the wooden shipyards of the day, would match up with our family sawmill and big ole planer, but just have not done much with it since getting it home. This is in part due to our sawmill (1901 Roberts sawmill) being down with a blown engine. We have a replacement diesel engine for the old 1965 327 Chevy that used to drive it, but that is another thread entirely!!

Here are some pictures of it though. The green colored photos being what it looked like at the place where I bought it.

That's too cool Travis, what a great story too. How many of these ol dinosaurs are sitting in the weeds like this around the world. Incredible.

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Pretty awesome planer Travis. I think if I could I would put it to use somehow.

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John Moody
John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com