Look at what jumped me from a pile of junk. 

 

 

It's an "Alien" head 2" X 6" surface planer!

Made for Sears by Central Specialty Co. which later became part of King-Seeley Corp.

I found it listed in Sears catalogs from 1941 through 1964. I couldn't find a 1965 catalog but they are not listed in the 1966 catalog.

These were sold under two different model numbers 103.1801, & 103.23700 in their later years. This one has the 103.1801 model number on the tag.

 

Here's a few more photos for your enjoyment.

 

 

These are a manual feed surface planer that will do a 6" wide board in a single pass, or a 12" wide board by feeding both sides. 

 

BTW, I lost the fight, and just had to adopt it. 

Edited April 27, 20197 yr by Larry Buskirk

I found a YouTube video showing an "Alien" in action.

 

Larry what a nest find my friend.

You know, that manual feed is actually a great idea, you have built in variable speed, slow it down for figured lumber and shove it through for lumber that don't matter. Much better than my 745 Dewalt with two speeds. Heck you could have 400 cuts per second just slow it down.

Whatcha got planned?

9 hours ago, John Morris said:

Whatcha got planned?

John,

The poor thing looked like a scared puppy sitting in the pile, so you know I just had to adopt it. 

 

I did a quick preliminary check, and found that the set screw on the drive pulley had worked loose.

I'll have to get the pulley off to check the shaft, but otherwise I plan on just cleaning it up for now and putting it back into service. The blades are still quite sharp. (DAMHIKT ) 

 

These machines are very similar to and if I'm not mistaken use the same blades as the Craftsman jointer/planers of the era. I found four versions of the manuals two for the 103.1801, and two for the 103.23700 model numbers online. These machines are heavier than they appear due to being Cast Iron. ( Not a speck of plastic here folks. )

15 minutes ago, Larry Buskirk said:

These machines are heavier than they appear due to being Cast Iron.

It looks like a bulldog. Can you give me the dimensions of the blades? I have a stash of NOS planer blades that date waaaay back.

Just now, John Morris said:

Can you give me the dimensions of the blades?

Or link to the manual.

1 hour ago, John Morris said:

Or link to the manual.

Alien Planer 103.1801.pdf

Sears part # 10921

Edited April 28, 20197 yr by Larry Buskirk

Hmm, that doesn't give a whole lot of info on blade size, I can take a picture for ya and give you dimensions of the blades, if you can use them you are more than welcome to them.

@John Morris

I'll see if I can cross reference the blades to their 6" jointer/planer machines.

They are 6" long blades, so suspect they may have used the same blades.

It appears my suspicions may be correct! 

Sears catalog part number 9-2293, or Manual part number 11812 are all 6 1/8" long blades.

Almost all of the 103 prefex (Made by Central Specialty) model number 6 inch jointers use the same blades.

 

Edit: I just checked the manual for the later model 103.23700 planer and the blade part numbers are the same as the 103 series jointers. 

Edited April 28, 20197 yr by Larry Buskirk

Larry, I thought I had more 6" lengths, it appears the sixes I do have are cut from 12's. If you can use these I'll drop em in the mail. The 6's are 9/16" wide. If there not what you had in mind, no hard feeling!

@John Morris,

Sorry I didn't get back sooner, had to go retrieve one of the vehicles yesterday.

I found the specs for the blades, 6 1/8" X 3/4" X 1/8" with the recommendation that the blades be replaced when they reach a width of 9/16" . 

21 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

width of 9/16

Looks like the ones I have then already met their end of life. I have a bunch of 12" ones too at that same width, the gent I got them from made his own shaves and wood cutting hand tools from those plane blades, so I wonder if he was using blades that were end of life, or re-purposing in other words.

4 hours ago, John Morris said:

Looks like the ones I have then already met their end of life. I have a bunch of 12" ones too at that same width, the gent I got them from made his own shaves and wood cutting hand tools from those plane blades, so I wonder if he was using blades that were end of life, or re-purposing in other words.

That's quite possible, they're good quality steel. 

I recently purchased a very old vintage series and roebuck 6 inch planer. It turns on it seems to be working fine, but how do I adjust the blades to come down further I raised it all the way up and steel could not get it to plain any wood or how do I replace the blades? I have a new set of blades

Welcome aboard Tom, I am sure @Larry Buskirk will be along to get you an answer.  Glad to have you here.

13 hours ago, Tom2506 said:

I recently purchased a very old vintage series and roebuck 6 inch planer. It turns on it seems to be working fine, but how do I adjust the blades to come down further I raised it all the way up and steel could not get it to plain any wood or how do I replace the blades? I have a new set of blades

First off Welcome to The Patriot Woodworker Tom.

Do you have a model number?

If not post a photo, and I'll see if I can ID the machine.

Sears used several suppliers over the years.

I'll see if I can find a manual.

I'm just guessing it's a jointer...though Sears often labeled their jointers "jointer/planer".

12 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

First off Welcome to The Patriot Woodworker Tom.

Do you have a model number?

If not post a photo, and I'll see if I can ID the machine.

Sears used several suppliers over the years.

I'll see if I can find 

 

Oh, wow....a King Seeley. Quality machine for sure. It is a planer...here's the manual. It one of the Alien things like Larry has (or had).