My tool room

[Charles scozzari]

Thank you, it's a combination of factors:
-I'm known as the Porter-Cable guy in some circles, so people are forever contacting me with leads on machines
-I prefer the basketcases to the pristine examples, so it's a lot less expensive to buy them
-I'm in the MidWest ( Ohio), where all the industry was, and machines are easy to come by
-I genuinely have no other hobbies

The woodworking area is next door ( our shotgun bungalow has the basement divided by a cinder block wall, making it relatively easy to keep dust off the toolroom machines and grit away from the woodworking equipment). The first machines you see if you walk into that room are the band saws,
View attachment 404759

The one on the left is a Syracuse Sander BS 20" band saw, made around 1919 before the company was purchased by ( you guessed it) Porter-Cable in 1922. It's the only known example, and a truly wonderful machine to use. The smaller machine is a 16" Hutchinson Speed Marvel band saw, made around 1925. Hutchinson was allied ( noone's sure f they were purchased, or merely became partners ) with Porter-Cable in the late '20s and early '30s.

There's also the Hutchinson Beaver combination woodworker,
View attachment 404760

a clever machine that can function as a radial arm saw, rip saw, jointer, or horizontal borer. I use it as a RAS more often than not, so it lives right next to the wood rack, as it's the first machine a board encounters on it's way to be made into something.

Right beside the Beaver is the Hutchinson Handy Hutch,
View attachment 404761

A 12" tilting table saw with an onboard 6" jointer. I've modified this machine quite a bit, from adding dust collection and a counterweight, ceiling-mounted guard to the Delta micro-set fence and rails and three-knife jointer cutterhead.

Then there's the Hutchinson Speed Marvel shaper,

View attachment 404762

a 2hp, 1" spindle monster. Next to the shaper is my gang drill,
View attachment 404763

a frankensteined machine made from a 1939 drill press head ( left), a 1946 drill press head( right, set up for mortising), and a 1949 gang drill base.

Then we hit the air compressor.
View attachment 404764

This is a 1945 Devilbiss that I'm almost finished restoring. I hydro-tested the tank, rebuilt the 130 pump, turned the armature in the repulsion start motor, and repainted it.

I have two wood lathes,

View attachment 404765
The main one being this 1947 Delta 1460 12". I also have a 1930s Delta 9" that I'm turning into a mini lathe with a variable speed D.C. motor.

Then there's all the sanders.

View attachment 404766
Left to right: a 1923-24 B-1 sander ( black) that's the only known example, and a complete heap that is going to take me years to rebuild, a late '40s B-3 10"x54" belt sander, a 1925-ish D-1 15" disc sander, a 1940s B-9 6"-54" belt sander, twin 116 6" bench grinders set up for lathe chisel sharpening/buffing, The c.1922 S-1 oscillating spindle sander, and lastly, my late'20s O-3 benchtop OSS.

I have another radial arm saw,
View attachment 404767

a 1950 Porter-Cable ERA radial arm attachment. With the right bracket in place, this machine can use any Porter-Cable saw of its day from 6" to 12", and also mount a router. Perched on the back is my Rockwell 9" miter saw, and to the left is my Delta 18" wedgebed planer.

Then there's my UBS shaper table,
View attachment 404768

It was built around 1948, and was the first of many Porter-Cable router tables.

I have my smaller ( 1/2" spindle) shaper, and my 14" jigsaw,
View attachment 404769

Both made for Porter-Cable by Henry Tools of London, Ontario, and only sold in Canada. The jigsaw has been retrofitted with a chopped and channeled Delta jigsaw stand, variable speed reeves drive and air blower, making it the most needlessly upgraded run-of-the-mill jigsaw you're ever likely to see.


This, however, is what it's all about,

View attachment 404771

View attachment 404772

I have a toolcrib that houses something North of 140 power tools, all made by Porter-Cable between the years of 1926 and 1963, when the Rockwell name took over ( Rockwell purchased Porter-Cable in 1960, but kept the name around for a little while) . I have nothing against Rockwell tools in general, and there are some models that I've stored over a hundred examples of, but I prefer the earlier tools for their quality, looks, and performance. I restore handheld and stationary Porter-Cable machines for people from all over the United States, and hope to do so for many,many more years.

-James Huston

Unbelievable, top notch restorations on every tool/machine.

 

[Charles scozzari]

Thank you, it's a combination of factors:
-I'm known as the Porter-Cable guy in some circles, so people are forever contacting me with leads on machines
-I prefer the basketcases to the pristine examples, so it's a lot less expensive to buy them
-I'm in the MidWest ( Ohio), where all the industry was, and machines are easy to come by
-I genuinely have no other hobbies

The woodworking area is next door ( our shotgun bungalow has the basement divided by a cinder block wall, making it relatively easy to keep dust off the toolroom machines and grit away from the woodworking equipment). The first machines you see if you walk into that room are the band saws,
View attachment 404759

The one on the left is a Syracuse Sander BS 20" band saw, made around 1919 before the company was purchased by ( you guessed it) Porter-Cable in 1922. It's the only known example, and a truly wonderful machine to use. The smaller machine is a 16" Hutchinson Speed Marvel band saw, made around 1925. Hutchinson was allied ( noone's sure f they were purchased, or merely became partners ) with Porter-Cable in the late '20s and early '30s.

There's also the Hutchinson Beaver combination woodworker,
View attachment 404760

a clever machine that can function as a radial arm saw, rip saw, jointer, or horizontal borer. I use it as a RAS more often than not, so it lives right next to the wood rack, as it's the first machine a board encounters on it's way to be made into something.

Right beside the Beaver is the Hutchinson Handy Hutch,
View attachment 404761

A 12" tilting table saw with an onboard 6" jointer. I've modified this machine quite a bit, from adding dust collection and a counterweight, ceiling-mounted guard to the Delta micro-set fence and rails and three-knife jointer cutterhead.

Then there's the Hutchinson Speed Marvel shaper,

View attachment 404762

a 2hp, 1" spindle monster. Next to the shaper is my gang drill,
View attachment 404763

a frankensteined machine made from a 1939 drill press head ( left), a 1946 drill press head( right, set up for mortising), and a 1949 gang drill base.

Then we hit the air compressor.
View attachment 404764

This is a 1945 Devilbiss that I'm almost finished restoring. I hydro-tested the tank, rebuilt the 130 pump, turned the armature in the repulsion start motor, and repainted it.

I have two wood lathes,

View attachment 404765
The main one being this 1947 Delta 1460 12". I also have a 1930s Delta 9" that I'm turning into a mini lathe with a variable speed D.C. motor.

Then there's all the sanders.

View attachment 404766
Left to right: a 1923-24 B-1 sander ( black) that's the only known example, and a complete heap that is going to take me years to rebuild, a late '40s B-3 10"x54" belt sander, a 1925-ish D-1 15" disc sander, a 1940s B-9 6"-54" belt sander, twin 116 6" bench grinders set up for lathe chisel sharpening/buffing, The c.1922 S-1 oscillating spindle sander, and lastly, my late'20s O-3 benchtop OSS.

I have another radial arm saw,
View attachment 404767

a 1950 Porter-Cable ERA radial arm attachment. With the right bracket in place, this machine can use any Porter-Cable saw of its day from 6" to 12", and also mount a router. Perched on the back is my Rockwell 9" miter saw, and to the left is my Delta 18" wedgebed planer.

Then there's my UBS shaper table,
View attachment 404768

It was built around 1948, and was the first of many Porter-Cable router tables.

I have my smaller ( 1/2" spindle) shaper, and my 14" jigsaw,
View attachment 404769

Both made for Porter-Cable by Henry Tools of London, Ontario, and only sold in Canada. The jigsaw has been retrofitted with a chopped and channeled Delta jigsaw stand, variable speed reeves drive and air blower, making it the most needlessly upgraded run-of-the-mill jigsaw you're ever likely to see.


This, however, is what it's all about,

View attachment 404771

View attachment 404772

I have a toolcrib that houses something North of 140 power tools, all made by Porter-Cable between the years of 1926 and 1963, when the Rockwell name took over ( Rockwell purchased Porter-Cable in 1960, but kept the name around for a little while) . I have nothing against Rockwell tools in general, and there are some models that I've stored over a hundred examples of, but I prefer the earlier tools for their quality, looks, and performance. I restore handheld and stationary Porter-Cable machines for people from all over the United States, and hope to do so for many,many more years.

-James Huston

Looking at your beautiful selection of belt sanders I can't help but see the strong resemblance to the steam locomotives of yesteryear.

 

[jhuston]

Looking at your beautiful selection of belt sanders I can't help but see the strong resemblance to the steam locomotives that I just love, especially the Big Boy. Have we really progressed and is/was it really worth it. ????????????

 

[woodchucker]

Looking at your beautiful selection of belt sanders I can't help but see the strong resemblance to the steam locomotives of yesteryear.

I was watching the Big Boy youtube video of it being at the 100 year anniversary of the driving of the golden spike.
what a beast.. what a beauty. The only one running. 5 years to restore it. That's pretty quick..

 

[Charles scozzari]

Sometime ago I saw a video of a car on a highway running parallel to train tracks in the midwest, if I remember correctly, and driving at 85 mph and at their side was a Big Boy cruising without breaking a sweat also at 85 mph. with a load. Absolutely an incredible, beautiful, testament to our country.

 

[jhuston]

My great grandfather was a Pennsy mechanic for forty-six years, until the advent of diesel-electric engines. Every time I add a new worm drive sander to the family, I always line them up like a Pennsylvania Railroad promotional shot in his memory,



As for Big Boys, the largest of the Porter-Cable locomotive sanders was the short-lived T-4.



Yes, that is a full-sized can next to it. Sporting a 4"x27" belt running at 1650SFPM via the 1-1/4hp motor, the T-4 suffered from being too powerful for most people to handle; I'm 6'3" and 200lbs, and using the T-4 is a bit like trying to hold back a rottweiler with your thumb and index finger- you better have one heck of a grip. In fact, letting go of the front handle will result in the sander immediately popping a wheely. This 29lb bruiser was only produced for five years, the shortest production run of any of the Take-About sanders. I own two of these tanks, as it was available with or without dust collection.

As for whether we've made progress, in terms of tools I would say no.

Here is a 2022 circular saw.


Does it perform the function of cutting wood? Yes. Is it light? Yep, I suppose. And it's only 129.95 plus tax !

Here is a 1942 circular saw.



Does it perform the function of cutting wood? Yes. Is it light? In its day, yep. And it only cost 125.49 ( including the cost of the extended arbor special order) plus tax!

The difference?
The DeWalt was made in another country, largely by machines, as cheaply as possible. It will be purchased by someone who needs a circular saw, and discarded when it has anything approaching a major failure.

The Porter-Cable was made in Syracuse, N.Y. by people who were in the company bowling league, to outperform the products of a legion of competitors and get the work done accurately and well at all costs. It was purchased by a homebuilding firm that wanted to speed up the process of making houses, and it was greased and serviced when needed. As a result, it has lasted for eighty years, and after a thorough rebuild, will likely last another eighty.

Both were made to make a profit, but only one of them was built by people proud to make it, and sold to someone who was proud to own it.

It took me less than three days to restore the K-88 special order saw. It is in perfect working order. It will be in perfect working order as long as I or the people who own it after me are living. It will live to see the DeWalt get tossed into a landfill, even though it has already done more work than the DeWalt will ever survive to do. Modern saws build houses; this icon built neighborhoods. It put food on the table for someone's entire career. It put kids through college, paid for the owner to take his wife somewhere nice for vacation, and constructed houses that are still providing families with a home, long after the original purchaser was in his grave.

Adjusted for inflation, this saw cost 2,275.34 plus tax.

If you were to put these two saws to the test on a job site, the DeWalt would be favored for lightness, and maybe the ease of blade changes. it is inferior in every single other aspect. If you were to torture test these two saws, the Porter-Cable would survive long after the overrated motor in the DeWalt fried like an omelet. If the DeWalt is a Kia, the Porter-cable is Duesenberg.

Thing is, I own this very expensive, incredibly accurate, beautifully balanced, extremely powerful piece of American Engiuity, and I own 140 of it's relatives. I couldn't begin to buy even one of the machines or power tools in my shop new, even if they were still made. In a way, I've got the best of both worlds, and I'll be saving as many of these tools as I can and spreading the gospel of America's heyday as long as I'm on the green side of the grass.

The thought of buying new tools makes me break out in hives. I prefer to reinvent the term, 'antique shop".

-James Huston

 

[Firstram]

What would the extended arbor be used for?

 

[jhuston]

What would the extended arbor be used for?

In the days before routers were common, carpenters would run dado sets on a handheld saw, which is why the upper guard of a Porter-Cable saw could be removed. You would simply order your P.C. saw with an extended arbor, buy the matching dado set and off you went. There were extended arbors available for all saws from the 4" A-4 to the 12" BK-12. The K-88 in the photo was ordered with the longest version and can mount an 1" wide stack. Additionally, this saw was ordered with a steel base instead of the usual Duralumin.
- James Huston

 

[woodchucker]

In the days before routers were common, carpenters would run dado sets on a handheld saw, which is why the upper guard of a Porter-Cable saw could be removed. You would simply order your P.C. saw with an extended arbor, buy the matching dado set and off you went. There were extended arbors available for all saws from the 4" A-4 to the 12" BK-12. The K-88 in the photo was ordered with the longest version and can mount an 1" wide stack. Additionally, this saw was ordered with a steel base instead of the usual Duralumin.
- James Huston

holy Shnikes... Even on a radial arm saw a 3/4 " stack was hard to hold , it wanted to race at me. crazy.

I have a porter cable sidewinder.. lefty ... it's not the porter cable I remember. It's underpowered
I have a bunch of porter cable actually now that I think about it. Most heavier than they need to be.
I have a warm spot in my heart for their old stuff, but in the 80s and 90s.. I can't say they were that great.

I could have had one of their belt sanders like you have... I decided to go lighter. It also has a sanding frame that I can attach and allows me to do large areas and still keep it flat. I really like that frame... Keeps me from gouging. I have a couple of hundred feet of Tiger Maple so without a stroke sander or sanding planer, it helps.

Love your collection.. If I built log homes, those big saws would be nice. Or even post and beam...

For now I would just like to appreciate your collection.. It's beautiful.

 

[Charles scozzari]

My great grandfather was a Pennsy mechanic for forty-six years, until the advent of diesel-electric engines. Every time I add a new worm drive sander to the family, I always line them up like a Pennsylvania Railroad promotional shot in his memory,

View attachment 405357

As for Big Boys, the largest of the Porter-Cable locomotive sanders was the short-lived T-4.

View attachment 405358

Yes, that is a full-sized can next to it. Sporting a 4"x27" belt running at 1650SFPM via the 1-1/4hp motor, the T-4 suffered from being too powerful for most people to handle; I'm 6'3" and 200lbs, and using the T-4 is a bit like trying to hold back a rottweiler with your thumb and index finger- you better have one heck of a grip. In fact, letting go of the front handle will result in the sander immediately popping a wheely. This 29lb bruiser was only produced for five years, the shortest production run of any of the Take-About sanders. I own two of these tanks, as it was available with or without dust collection.

As for whether we've made progress, in terms of tools I would say no.

Here is a 2022 circular saw.
View attachment 405360

Does it perform the function of cutting wood? Yes. Is it light? Yep, I suppose. And it's only 129.95 plus tax !

Here is a 1942 circular saw.

View attachment 405361

Does it perform the function of cutting wood? Yes. Is it light? In its day, yep. And it only cost 125.49 ( including the cost of the extended arbor special order) plus tax!

The difference?
The DeWalt was made in another country, largely by machines, as cheaply as possible. It will be purchased by someone who needs a circular saw, and discarded when it has anything approaching a major failure.

The Porter-Cable was made in Syracuse, N.Y. by people who were in the company bowling league, to outperform the products of a legion of competitors and get the work done accurately and well at all costs. It was purchased by a homebuilding firm that wanted to speed up the process of making houses, and it was greased and serviced when needed. As a result, it has lasted for eighty years, and after a thorough rebuild, will likely last another eighty.

Both were made to make a profit, but only one of them was built by people proud to make it, and sold to someone who was proud to own it.

It took me less than three days to restore the K-88 special order saw. It is in perfect working order. It will be in perfect working order as long as I or the people who own it after me are living. It will live to see the DeWalt get tossed into a landfill, even though it has already done more work than the DeWalt will ever survive to do. Modern saws build houses; this icon built neighborhoods. It put food on the table for someone's entire career. It put kids through college, paid for the owner to take his wife somewhere nice for vacation, and constructed houses that are still providing families with a home, long after the original purchaser was in his grave.

Adjusted for inflation, this saw cost 2,275.34 plus tax.

If you were to put these two saws to the test on a job site, the DeWalt would be favored for lightness, and maybe the ease of blade changes. it is inferior in every single other aspect. If you were to torture test these two saws, the Porter-Cable would survive long after the overrated motor in the DeWalt fried like an omelet. If the DeWalt is a Kia, the Porter-cable is Duesenberg.

Thing is, I own this very expensive, incredibly accurate, beautifully balanced, extremely powerful piece of American Engiuity, and I own 140 of it's relatives. I couldn't begin to buy even one of the machines or power tools in my shop new, even if they were still made. In a way, I've got the best of both worlds, and I'll be saving as many of these tools as I can and spreading the gospel of America's heyday as long as I'm on the green side of the grass.

The thought of buying new tools makes me break out in hives. I prefer to reinvent the term, 'antique shop".

-James Huston

Mr. Huston, Amen.