# My tool room



## jhuston (Apr 19, 2022)

Hi folks, my name is James and I'm a power tool repairman; I collect and restore Porter-Cable power tools and have been doing restorations for other people as a sideline for years. Since COVID hit, I've been slowly building my own vintage tool/machine repair and restoration business, and I don't need to tell any of you how vital a decent array of machine tools are to breathing life back into a machine that hasn't had parts support in several decades.

Since I'm a Porter-Cable guy, the lion's share of machines in my shop are of that brand, and the tool room area ( a little presumptuous to call it that, but it makes me feel more official!) is no exception; after all, Porter-Cable's roots are in lathes and milling attachments.




This is as you enter the machine tool area ( woodworking and grinding machines not allowed!). The band saw on the right is a 1920's Porter-Cable BS 20" model that was adapted to metal cutting. The gear motor on the bench is one I'm retrofitting to it to clean up the conversion.




My lathe is a 1918 Mulliner Enlund 14"  named Millicent. This lathe was produced, probably for war work, right before the company was purchased by Porter-Cable in May of 1919. It's a great machine, even if there is 104 years of wear on the ways.





To the left of the engine lathe, I have my 1966 Rockwell vertical milling machine, my 1940's Porter-Cable AS-7 &" shaper ( under construction due to a damage tool head), and my 1890's J.E. Costilo horizontal milling machine with a Porter-Cable #2 universal milling attachment fitted in place of the overhead arbor support. This milling machine was badly abused by former operators, and has been fitted with a new lead screw and nut,had the table ( broken in half!) brazed and surface ground, and over a dozen components fabricated. I use it extensively for cutting keyways, spot drilling, and any other operations that require power but not a great deal of accuracy. The cabinet between the Rockwell and the lathe is where I store most of my mill tooling.




another shot of the Costilo, taken for it's entry on lathes.uk, where it is the only representative. No other Costilo machines are known to survive, so this old fellow is an orphan ( I call him Lonesome Jim).




One of the few machines with no Porter-Cable connection ( SSHHH, don't tell him he's adopted), this Keller power hacksaw does a fine job of keeping the other machines fed.




The drill presses- the 1952 Delta 17" is the first vintage machine I ever owned ( a birthday present from my wife and in-laws twenty years ago now), and has been retrofitted with a T- track table from a later Delta, a 1hp repulsion induction motor, and a #2 Morse taper spindle. The 14" is a mid-30s delta with a #1 Morse spindle and a 1/3hp repulsion induction motor. 





When I can't bring the work to the drill press, this 1960s Rockwell mag drill ( 1hp, 7" drilling depth) handles the job. 

The sanding and grinding machines live on the other end of the shop,




Left to right: 1943 Porter-Cable B6 -W wet belt grinder undergoing repair, 1936 Porter-Cable D-5 horizontal lapping machine, 1951 Delta Toolmaker surface grinder, 1940's Porter-Cable G-4 belt grinder, 1940s Porter-Cable BBS belt grinder, and lastly my 1940s Porter-Cable N-2 bench grinder, powered by a Hoover-badged Kingston-Conley grinder that actually came from the Hoover factory near work.

-James Huston


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## matthewsx (Apr 19, 2022)

Wonderful collection of WORKING tools!!!!

Thank you for sharing

John


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## matthewsx (Apr 19, 2022)

Yes, definitely a "toolroom" by any definition....


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## woodchucker (Apr 19, 2022)

That's a little bit of heaven there James.  Nice tools, nicely restored.


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## NCjeeper (Apr 19, 2022)

What an awesome shop.


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## 7milesup (Apr 19, 2022)

jhuston said:


> One of the few machines with no Porter-Cable connection ( SSHHH, don't tell him he's adopted), this Keller power hacksaw does a fine job of keeping the other machines fed.


That one really caught my eye.  I live about 40 miles North of Eau Claire, where apparently these were made.

Really neat collection of tools you have there!


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## DavidR8 (Apr 19, 2022)

Amazing collection!


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## BladesIIB (Apr 19, 2022)

Very fine collection, thanks for sharing.


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## Aukai (Apr 20, 2022)

Very nice, I'm not sold on the idea that you actually use them.


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## Dabbler (Apr 20, 2022)

Your shop is a beaut!  Thanks for letting us glimpse inside!


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## MikeInOr (Apr 20, 2022)

_"even if there is 104 years of wear *experience *on the ways."_ 

Very nice shop!  I love all the pictures!


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## jhuston (Apr 20, 2022)

7milesup said:


> That one really caught my eye.  I live about 40 miles North of Eau Claire, where apparently these were made.
> 
> Really neat collection of tools you have there!


A friend gave me the Keller in a swap for a casting tumbler I rebuilt; it's a great machine that only needed new bronze gibs and a better motor.
- James Huston


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## jhuston (Apr 20, 2022)

Aukai said:


> Very nice, I'm not sold on the idea that you actually use them.


I cleaned the lathe maybe ten minutes before the photo. It's rarely as clean as this in the shop!
- James Huston


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## jhuston (Apr 20, 2022)

MikeInOr said:


> _"even if there is 104 years of wear *experience *on the ways."_
> 
> Very nice shop!  I love all the pictures!


You get it. I like to tell people that I don't know much about machining, but I have a lot of employees that do.
- James Huston


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## ConValSam (Apr 20, 2022)

Wow! And Wow one more time!

What a gorgeous shop.


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## jhuston (Apr 20, 2022)

Thank you! I tried to only show the machines that are germain to machining, but the shop also includes a woodworking area full of equipment of similar age, and an extensive tool crib of handheld power tools; would anyone be interested in photos of that, too?
- James Huston


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## benmychree (Apr 20, 2022)

The lathe would seem to be a nearly exact copy of a Hendy Norton.


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## MikeInOr (Apr 20, 2022)

jhuston said:


> Thank you! I tried to only show the machines that are germain to machining, but the shop also includes a woodworking area full of equipment of similar age, and an extensive tool crib of handheld power tools; would anyone be interested in photos of that, too?
> - James Huston



I got into machining to support my old woodworking machine habit.  I would love to see pictures of your OWWM's too!


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## jhuston (Apr 20, 2022)

benmychree said:


> The lathe would seem to be a nearly exact copy of a Hendy Norton.


The Mulliner makes use of a few of Wendell Norton's patents, notably the QCGB and threading dial. It's not known what the relationship between the companies exactly was, but there is a strong Hendey flavor to the design and the build quality and finish of both machines are neck and neck.

- James Huston


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## jhuston (Apr 20, 2022)

MikeInOr said:


> I got into machining to support my old woodworking machine habit.  I would love to see pictures of your OWWM's too!


Coming right up!


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## maspann (Apr 20, 2022)

Impressive!!


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## jhuston (Apr 20, 2022)

maspann said:


> Impressive!!


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,



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,



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,



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,




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



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.



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,



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.



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,



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,



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,



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,







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


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## Firstram (Apr 20, 2022)

Speechless!


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## jwmelvin (Apr 20, 2022)

This was amazing to see, thanks for posting.


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## Boswell (Apr 21, 2022)

Thanks for sharing all of the pictures. Your work is amazing.


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## sycle1 (Apr 21, 2022)

Wow!
Thank you!
Very enjoyable seeing your tool room and wood shop, all that history in one spot, very cool.


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## jhuston (Apr 22, 2022)

Thanks, folks! History is a big part of the equation for me; there are several machines that served in WW2, including two USN stationary belt sanders and a deck crawler (one of the first thousand made to meet a USN contract), an Air Force circular saw and an Army Air Corps handheld belt sander that's powered by a miniature three-phase motor ( making it the earliest known example of a brushless power tool!). There are machines from a number of local businesses, now defunct ( or worse yet, overseas), and several machines that are the only survivor of their kind that anyone's ever seen, like my D-5 lapping machine or the B-1 sander. 
I've worked as a power tool mechanic for the past twenty-two years; when I started, we would still get the occasional retired tradesman, stooped from a lifetime of labor, who would bring in a saw or sander for service that had been in their hand for fifty years- I used to stock the switch for a K-75 circular saw just for those guys, and in those days, Porter-Cable still carried them. I had customers leave the service after the war and go into homebuilding, wanting a cord for the tool they bought new in '46 ( and some of those tools found their way to me after the owners could no longer use them). It was nothing for a contractor to have the same circular saw for his entire career. I fabricated parts, reconditioned things that were too difficult to reproduce, turned armatures... it was a different world.
Towards the end, I was cracking open seventy-dollar grinders to see if I could get away with just a new cord since new brushes would put it over the customers' budget. I mean, who fixes things anymore? I tell you, the last two or three years of shoveling foreign-made dreck into a scrap barrel put such a bad taste in my mouth that I would often come home, walk down into the shop, and just sit amongst the dinosaurs of American engineering until my blood pressure went back to normal. There are few things more zen than a hundred-odd-year-old metal lathe, I think.

-James Huston


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## Charles scozzari (Apr 23, 2022)

Great shop. I absolutely love the lathe, It's a work of art. I have the same Porter Cable 4x54"belt sander.


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## jhuston (Apr 26, 2022)

Charles scozzari said:


> Great shop. I absolutely love the lathe, It's a work of art. I have the same Porta Cable 4x54"belt sander.


Thank you! The Mulliner-Enlund is by far my favorite machine to run. In fact, I just finished up making a drawbar for my set of collets,



As for the sander, I confess I have. Weakness for them, both stationary and handheld ( love a worm drive sander). 
- James Huston


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## Charles scozzari (Apr 26, 2022)

jhuston said:


> Thank you! The Mulliner-Enlund is by far my favorite machine to run. In fact, I just finished up making a drawbar for my set of collets,
> View attachment 405179
> 
> 
> ...


Nice work, looks great.


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## Charles scozzari (Apr 26, 2022)

jhuston said:


> 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
> ...


Unbelievable, top notch restorations on every tool/machine.


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## Charles scozzari (Apr 26, 2022)

jhuston said:


> 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
> ...


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


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## jhuston (Apr 27, 2022)

Charles scozzari said:


> 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. ????????????


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## woodchucker (Apr 27, 2022)

Charles scozzari said:


> 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..


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## Charles scozzari (Apr 27, 2022)

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.


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## jhuston (Apr 27, 2022)

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


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## Firstram (Apr 27, 2022)

What would the extended arbor be used for?


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## jhuston (Apr 27, 2022)

Firstram said:


> 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


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## woodchucker (Apr 27, 2022)

jhuston said:


> 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.


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## Charles scozzari (Apr 27, 2022)

jhuston said:


> 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
> 
> ...


Mr. Huston,  Amen.


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