I thought I'd seen some large jointers in my time, but the one pictured below, which is sitting in a field next door to my shop, is simply gargantuan. It's an American Woodworking with a 20" cutterhead, but the the tables are a full 27" wide. It has a huge oil cup, presumably because it's still got its original babbitt bearings.
My 12" jointer is the same brand and of a similar vintage (ca. 1910), but was retrofitted with ball bearings at some point in its past.
This monster has a 7.5 hp motor. I've heard that enormous jointers like this one were frequently used in the casket making industry, but I've never found any more detail about how, exactly, they were used. I certainly wouldn't be comfortable shoving a 19" wide piece of maple across this thing's tables--would you?
8 comments:
Whoa, what a beauty! I used to work in the timber framing business, and have friends in the sawmill industry where jointers like this are fairly commonplace. I was this close to buying a 24" jointer a few years back that came out of a door & sash factory. After ten minutes checking it out with a straightedge though I decided that trying to flatten and keep the tables co-planer would be a momentous task! I've kicked my self a few times though for not taking it.
So what is this thing being used for now?
Unfortunately, it's sitting out in the rain, so I guess it's being used as a rust factory. Seems criminal.
What kind of idiot puts a beautiful piece of machinery like that out in the rain?
is this thing for sale? i don't want it, i'm quite happy with my 12" poitras, but someone might. i feel like this thing should be posted at owwm.org, assuming that the owners of the rust factory are willing to part with a machines that still seems operable.
this thing should be put up for sale... it still looks to be in good order. who owns this anyhow? owwm.org seems to be an appropriate selling place, if it's for sale...
Jacques, I agree --if I were selling something like this, OWWM is the first place I'd go. I also wouldn't leave it sitting in the rain for ten days.
who's going to have enough space to house the beast.
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