Tool gloat! A 1956 Walker-Turner Metal/Wood cutting bandsaw

[GK1918]

It pops John love that color!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[toag]

ok that makes me freaking jealous... can't sniff a 14" bandsaw for under 400 here

nice score and resto

 

[stevecmo]

John,

Just WOW! That was a super score and fabulous restore job. You must have a shop full of elves to get that done in a week. It took me all winter to get my mill back together. :whistle:

Steve

 

[itsme_Bernie]

John

That is a beaUUUUtiful machine- you did a beautiful job restoring it! $150 is an absolute steal!

I got really lucky on a smaller 12in Walker Turner a few weeks ago with a beautifully retrofitted speed reduction. Love it!

I am in NJ, so they are still hard to find, but not there are more than other parts of the country.

Good luck man! There are catalogs on OWWM with that exact model you have. You can download it.


Bernie

 

[jgedde]

It pops John love that color!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks! It took some research (and trial and error at Sherwin Williams) to come up with a color the matched the original walker-Turner Gray/Green. It turned out Benjamin Moore 1575 is a very close match. Adding a bit of "dark" to it made it exact.

John

- - - Updated - - -

John,

Just WOW! That was a super score and fabulous restore job. You must have a shop full of elves to get that done in a week. It took me all winter to get my mill back together. :whistle:

Steve

Thanks Steve... It was really more like 1 and a half weeks. It really wasn't too bad. 1/2 day last Saturday, 1 full day last Sunday and a few hours here and there during the week.

John

- - - Updated - - -

ok that makes me freaking jealous... can't sniff a 14" bandsaw for under 400 here

nice score and resto

It's really no different here as far as prices. This was just luck based on an idle conversation with someone who was moving his elderly Dad out of his house. He gave me an opportunity to buy what I wanted from the shop before an estate sale the following weekend.

John

 

[110octane]

John

That is a beaUUUUtiful machine- you did a beautiful job restoring it! $150 is an absolute steal!

I got really lucky on a smaller 12in Walker Turner a few weeks ago with a beautifully retrofitted speed reduction. Love it!

I am in NJ, so they are still hard to find, but not there are more than other parts of the country.

Good luck man! There are catalogs on OWWM with that exact model you have. You can download it.


Bernie

These are fabulous old machines. Much more rigid than today's lightweight castings and welded fabrications. The extra cast iron in the components, especially the bullwheels makes these machines smooth. Delta made a similar model in their 14" size with the gearbox for wood/metal, but it is not the machine that this Walker-Turner is. You will enjoy this machine every time you use it. Cheers, Geoff

 

[jgedde]

These are fabulous old machines. Much more rigid than today's lightweight castings and welded fabrications. The extra cast iron in the components, especially the bullwheels makes these machines smooth. Delta made a similar model in their 14" size with the gearbox for wood/metal, but it is not the machine that this Walker-Turner is. You will enjoy this machine every time you use it. Cheers, Geoff

Thanks for the good words in favor of the Walker Turner. They actually hit home with me...

Here's why. I am an avid woodworker as well as a HSM. That said, before I got the walker-Turner, I had a Craftsman 12" Bandsaw (wood only). This saw was problematic at first, but I fabricated new blade guides, and made a few other tweaks, etc and got it cutting very well.

Then, one day, when I was cutting up a cherry tree that got knocked down by a big oak during a storm, I found a rather large burl. Naturally that was spared from the firewood pile. But what to do with it?

It occurred to me, that if I fabricated a riser block and a longer blade guard for the Craftsman saw, I could saw and resaw the burl into usable figured lumber. I sized the riser block to be able to use standard 93 1/2" blades and ended up with a 13+ inch usable cut height. This idea worked out extremely well and I successfully got enough beautiful burl wood to make some inlays for an end table I made (that is actually a home theater servo subwoofer) and to make a hand dovetailed jewelry box for my daughter.

So, now I had a saw that could resaw wide stock as well as do regular bandsaw work (apart from metal). Granted, I have to disassemble the saw and install the riser block whenever I need the extra height and that is a nuisance.

I always had it in my head that one day I'd buy a bigger bandsaw that could do wood, metal and had the capacity for resawing without muss or fuss.

Enter the Walker-Turner... Number one the price was very right, number two it can cut metal by means of the gearbox, but the third item on my want list is lacking... I'm giving up the ability to resaw wide stock in favor of a much more rigid saw and the ability to cut metal. On the other hand, I got two out of my three wants and didn't spend $2000+ for a bandsaw.
So, you're probably asking why don't I just permanently install the riser block into the 12" and make it a dedicated resawing unit? Problem is, I'm out of room in the shop... The Craftsman saw has got to go... I hate to sell it, because after the modifications to the blade guides, this saw works extremely well and I have a bunch of blades that fit it... But, someone somewhere is gonna get a nice little saw when I get around to putting it up on Craigslist...

That's why your words about the W-T hit home...

John

 

[kd4gij]

Sounds like it is time to expand the shop.:roflmao:

 

[Ulma Doctor]

that is a super sweet saw, excellent work!
the color is fabulous , it looks showroom new!
thanks for posting the old girl!!!

 

[woodtickgreg]

Great looking resto! I like the old iron myself.