[nohuhu]

> I could see a barn find in bad shape suffering a lot more than that.

Yeah well, in between being a bottom feeder and looking for fun, machines usually come to me as project pieces rather than usable tools. :) I'd never opted to restore any of these rust buckets if I'd depend on them to do woodworking for a living; that said, the purpose of a hobby is to occupy my mind and give me a challenge that is rarely encountered in my day job anymore. So, the rustier, the better. :)

> I've somehow become a Delta man for the stationary tools, probably because of the ubiquity of their old stuff.

I can definitely relate to that, W-T makes a minority of my resto projects. Most of them are Delta as well, as I'm looking to build myself a fully equipped vintage woodworking shop. I'm almost there in fact, as several projects are nearing the assembly stage: a '64 Unisaw, a '52 HD Shaper (going in tandem with the Unisaw), a '54 14" bandsaw, a '60 combo sander, a mid-50s LD shaper, and a '42 6" jointer that I got for free in a total rust-bucket condition. That one was a challenge in itself, especially the motor.

It's just Walker-Turner machines are so beautiful, they're special. Next up after the lathe is a 1939 16" bandsaw, the final quest machine that I acquired last fall. I'll have to fight scope creep real hard on that one...

> My 14" band saw is (I think) pre-war, but the original buyer didn't spring for the cast art-deco base :-(

Ye shall seek and ye shall find, if you want to. :) Besides trawling your local Craigslist (that's where I find my projects), sign up on http://www.owwm.org and post an ad in BOYD forum. Cast iron bases do come up for sale somewhat regularly. Beware that even looking at that website is very dangerous, slippery slope ahoy. ;)

> Do you have pictures or a build thread on this project? I'd love to see it.

I don't usually take pics of the resto projects... I guess I'm just lazy. If you're into vintage tool porn, check out the OWWM community I linked above, and its sister site http://vintagemachinery.org. Lots of drool inducing pics there, I really cannot add anything that hasn't been done already. :)

> The paint job is not what anybody would call flawless, but at least it isn't coming off :-D

That's usually enough for many cases... If a machine doesn't have a sentimental value, why, just refurbing it to acceptable mechanical condition is par for the course. That's what I did with my current set of machines; no offense to Grizzly but their utilitarian cabinet saw aestetics do not really justify the amount of work that goes into stripping and repainting. A vintage Unisaw, on the other hand... I had to learn how to do cabinet scale electrolysis derusting, some basic metalworking, spray painting techniques, not to mention mechanical and electrical challenges. Heaps of fun! :)

Checked out your website... Wow. I have a long, long way ahead to that kind of woodworking projects. ;)

[mauvehaus]

Oh dear, another OWWM'er on HN :-) I lurk, but I mostly try to avoid that rabbit hole unless I'm trying to solve a specific problem. Turns out, I waste enough time on the internet already without drooling over the work people do there restoring old machines to better-than-new condition. Seriously, some of those folks are nuts (as you well know).

It sounds like you've got a nice shop going. I'm a little jealous. My stationary tools are actually stashed in a literal barn right now because I no longer have a basement to put a shop in. I work out of a makerspace, but that's closed due to present conditions, so I moved my bench into my living room. I gave in and fetched my band saw, and it's now sitting on my covered porch. And I have no blades for it at the moment. I'm getting a lot of exercise milling lumber entirely by hand. Honestly, my arms are going to fall off (or get huge) if the lockdown continues much longer.

I'm with you on the modern tools, by the way. On the vintage stuff, a lot of companies really took pride in their industrial design (as you well know). And even the totally utilitarian stuff has stylistic variation between manufacturers. The only difference between Grizzly and current Powermatic tools is the color of the paint. I remain hopeful that Festool having proved that there's a market for higher-priced tools means that somebody will start making nice stationary tools again.

That's probably a lot to hope for, though I recently discovered that Northfield is still chugging along and so is Tannewitz. They're out of my price range for the time being, but I hope they survive long enough for my price range to intersect their prices! It's a real pity that Oliver is now yet another nameplate on the same castings from overseas. The school I went to has a vintage 166 jointer and a 399 planer that I'm in love with.

> Checked out your website... Wow. I have a long, long way ahead to that kind of woodworking projects. ;)

Thanks! I'm a long way from making actual money at this. I'm lucky to be married to somebody very supportive. We'll see how the economy does. I have a couple of paid projects that appear to be holding, and we'll see where things go from there. I guess there's always software to go back to?