A man needs a hobby...

[dickbrowne]

And mine, it appears, is restoring old tat which other people find useless...

Take this for example:

IMG_4532 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

Load of old tat found in a farmers barn. Table saw apparently. Got a planer/thicknesser as well, or so it's said. Anyway, £15 the lot and a day out at the beach to boot (as the saw was located in Sussex). It's "about" 60 years old, although various parts (such as the motor) have been replaced more recently. The chap I bought it from was the grandson of the original owner and he thought it had been in the barn for about 40 years.

First thing I had to do when I got it home was make sure it all worked, so it went from this:

5a3b1152-e6c9-490b-8a8e-3c44d98c76cb by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

To this:

IMG_0281 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

In just a couple of hours and, miracle! It still cuts wood!

f6f8349f-b78c-4c24-a141-83e13430c55b by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

And that was my plan for the short term - I've got a nice new (big!) shed coming in the Autumn and a pile of firewood ready to be cut down. Get it working, get the wood chopped and tidy everything up over th winter...

Apparently no plan survives first contact with the enemy.

So, I took the stand outside to my man area in the garden

Untitled by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

And set about it with an angle grinder and wire brush, until all the surface rust was either removed or at least told to behave itself - this isn't a concourse restoration, don't forget - it's a working tool

IMG_0296 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

Then it was back into the garage where I painted it blue!

IMG_4545 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

Then decided that blue was wrong, so I re-painted it green. Have you ever tried to re-paint a previously hammerited bit of (Still quite) rusty metal with a slightly different colour of hammerite, in a gloomy garage? I'm sure I'll get it all covered eventually...

IMG_4546 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

IMG_4563 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

Then, because the metalwork looked nice, I thought I'd have a go at the wood. This was covered in years of grime, paint, concrete (!) and who knows what else...

Still, a little love and attention, several coats of dead-flat varnish and it's looking quite nice (contrast this to the original pic!)

IMG_4562 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

I knew that I wouldn't be able to get rid of all of the marks, but I wanted to keep some as a reminder of the life this tool had lived.

Then, with a little fettling, I re-fitted the wood to the frame (fettling needed because the electric/motor mount board had previously been mounted on the outside and I wanted it inside the frame)

IMG_0352 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

Having come this far, it would have been churlish to not show the saw itself some care, so there ensued a two-day festival of rubbing down, degreasing and general fettling before a coat of hammerite blue (or three...) could be applied. After which, the saw was assembled on the bench

IMG_0353 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

The top was given a thorough de-corrosion sand and oiled to protect the raw aluminium

IMG_0354 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

And I spent another happy afternoon in the garage polishing the rust off of all the nuts and bolts before reuniting the various mechanisms which constitute the saw

IMG_0351 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

IMG_0355 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

IMG_0359 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

There were two things now letting the side down. Firstly, the drive belts were on their last legs, so I've ordered some nice new adjustable ones, which should be here today.

Finally, the pulley block was looking ropey.

IMG_4547 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

so I stripped it

IMG_4548 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

Popped it into the parts washer and gave it a scrub

IMG_4549 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

IMG_4550 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

Then spent some time on the polishing machine with the pulleys

IMG_4554 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

IMG_4556 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

And that's pretty much where we are as of today - I did strip and clean the motor yesterday, then gave the outside a matching coat of hammerite blue and I shall reassemble that this evening and possibly get it mounted (with some pics)

Then, it's just a case of the electrics, which really could do with a good looking-at.

IMG_4560 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

IMG_4558 by d1ck_browne, on Flickr

What about the planer? Well, I've no plans to reinstate that as yet - I have a scroll log splitter which I'm hoping to mount on the other end of the output shaft (if I can find the right size of tap) and that will be far more useful in a fire-wood scenario.

More to follow soon

[xellos99]

Good idea. You can paint it with jenolite rust killer before final painting to slow down the rust comming back but adds extra expense / time.

I do simular with car parts to get a lot more life out of them.

[j0hnbarker]

I really enjoyed reading that, thank you! An incredible amount of work and you must be really satisfied with the results so far.

[sickie]

+ 1 Well done.

I really enjoyed reading that, thank you! An incredible amount of work and you must be really satisfied with the results so far.

Sent from my SM-N960F using TZ-UK mobile app

[Maysie]

Great work. I love seeing this sort of thing.
Just wish I had the time (and patience) to be able to tinker on similar things.

There was an old fire-damaged workmate on here a few days back that could do with a little bit of TLC - if you really fancied a challenge...!

[JonRA]

A great read - looking forward to the next installment

Sent from my moto e5 play using Tapatalk

[murkeywaters]

Brilliant, I myself love restoring “things”, plan one day is to move to a house with more room for a proper workshop, I would love that..

Well done and I look forward to the updates.

[Stonewood]

A good project done very well. I love restoring things properly like you have. Especially old things! A nice read too. Well done.


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[catch21]

Great stuff! Enjoyable read, thanks.

[AndyMilts]

Very nicely done and a great read, with a thicknesser and sander you could do some really nice wood working projects, rather than just fire wood

[greasemonkey]

well done ,very enjoyable thread,thanks.it will now give another 50 years of service.the old stuff lasts ..

[ralphy]

Excellent job! Many hours effort, but the results are always worth it IMO.

Would you elaborate on what was involved in the 'de-corrosion sand' please?

R

[Mark020]

Brilliant, I myself love restoring “things”, plan one day is to move to a house with more room for a proper workshop, I would love that..

Well done and I look forward to the updates.

This^^

[dickbrowne]

Excellent job! Many hours effort, but the results are always worth it IMO.

Would you elaborate on what was involved in the 'de-corrosion sand' please?

R

Mainly elbow grease and the production of enough black dust to turn me into something which could have provided valuable Saturday night entertainment in the 70's but would be frowned upon now!

The table itself is some sort of alloy, the sides were painted (although that had worn off mostly) and the top was raw, so it had oxidised into that white powder that Land Rover owners come to dread. My main concern was that the table should stay flat and true, so any machine-based action was out. I started off with a medium grit sandpaper wrapped around a block and onto progressively finer grades of wet and dry, used wet, in order to give a flat surface.

My plan was always to protect the finish with either a wax or oil, so I didn't want a mirror finish as that wouldn't allow the oil to settle into the surface properly. Once the surface was free of corrosion and perfectly flat (but not like glass) I painted the sides to protect them (also after a good wire-brush to remove the loose paint and corrosion), and once that was dry, I gave the top a good clean with carb cleaner, allowed it to dry and then applied a light oil which I allowed to soak in for a couple of hours before wiping it down.

I think I'll need to re-oil it occasionally, but it should be good for a number of years now, I reckon.

[DMC102]

Brilliant - thanks for sharing.

But what watch were you wearing..?

[dickbrowne]

I'd like to correct you and say "Which watches?" as it took place over a number of days, but the sad truth is that all of this kind of work is the sole preserve of my Seiko Black Monster - the perfect tool watch/beater! (IMHO, obvs)

[adrianw]

Mainly elbow grease and the production of enough black dust to turn me into something which could have provided valuable Saturday night entertainment in the 70's but would be frowned upon now!

The table itself is some sort of alloy, the sides were painted (although that had worn off mostly) and the top was raw, so it had oxidised into that white powder that Land Rover owners come to dread. My main concern was that the table should stay flat and true, so any machine-based action was out. I started off with a medium grit sandpaper wrapped around a block and onto progressively finer grades of wet and dry, used wet, in order to give a flat surface.

My plan was always to protect the finish with either a wax or oil, so I didn't want a mirror finish as that wouldn't allow the oil to settle into the surface properly. Once the surface was free of corrosion and perfectly flat (but not like glass) I painted the sides to protect them (also after a good wire-brush to remove the loose paint and corrosion), and once that was dry, I gave the top a good clean with carb cleaner, allowed it to dry and then applied a light oil which I allowed to soak in for a couple of hours before wiping it down.

I think I'll need to re-oil it occasionally, but it should be good for a number of years now, I reckon.

About a year ago I bought a soda blaster, the results are amazing, it wasn't expensive and the media is dirt cheap, for rusty metal it makes life so easy.

[ralphy]

Mainly elbow grease and the production of enough black dust to turn me into something which could have provided valuable Saturday night entertainment in the 70's but would be frowned upon now!

The table itself is some sort of alloy, the sides were painted (although that had worn off mostly) and the top was raw, so it had oxidised into that white powder that Land Rover owners come to dread. My main concern was that the table should stay flat and true, so any machine-based action was out. I started off with a medium grit sandpaper wrapped around a block and onto progressively finer grades of wet and dry, used wet, in order to give a flat surface.

My plan was always to protect the finish with either a wax or oil, so I didn't want a mirror finish as that wouldn't allow the oil to settle into the surface properly. Once the surface was free of corrosion and perfectly flat (but not like glass) I painted the sides to protect them (also after a good wire-brush to remove the loose paint and corrosion), and once that was dry, I gave the top a good clean with carb cleaner, allowed it to dry and then applied a light oil which I allowed to soak in for a couple of hours before wiping it down.

I think I'll need to re-oil it occasionally, but it should be good for a number of years now, I reckon.

Thanks for clarifying.

R

[Wolfie]

I’d love to

a) be capable
b) have the time
c) patience

I’d love to be able to do stuff like this and am generally in awe of people who can!