Thread: A big shed. A long time coming.

Originally Posted by beserkleyboy

Wayne, From the close up pic, definitely not my old one. The crank is in different position and the anti kickback pawls are different. Same basic machine, though. My big test was a 400mm wide by 30mm thick red gum slab. You could here it a kilometer away! But it would take a 2mm pass! Mine had an 8 HP 415 motor. And I reckon it weighed 800 kg. Moved it in with a forklift to my Plywood business in Sydney, then into storage in St Marys for a year, then to Bowral for permanent home. Had it up on 45mm gluts, so I could put 1 1/2 iron pipe under to move if I needed, sorta like building the Pyramids! Sold it to the fellow from Moss Vale in 2012, when moved to South Coast. Bought in about '96 from Henry Black, a well known artisan joiner in Concord, Sydney. I also sold an 8' stroke sander, a 26" Crescent Bandsaw, a 1" spindle moulder and a SuperSaw Radial arm saw (that I got for $150! from a demo bloke who did not know what it was..., with the pivoting head and 700mm stroke, a real cracker of a RAS...I'm now in 7.5 x 7.5m garage on my small block, with 3.6m ceiling. I'm in a residential neighbourhood, so lined the walls and ceiling with perforated ply and rock wool bats. Quiet as..! My main power these days is my 12" Taiwan copy of a Wadkin Table saw with sliding table. And a King drill press ($50!) The saw has been with me since I started the plywood business in 1991. Anyhoo, that's me in a nutshell, long retired timber merchant building bespoke built in bookcases for older women with money, mostly in Bowral...nice little niche I found 15 years ago. Love your shed and your gear. Enjoy.

Jim in Shoalhaven Heads

G'day Jim. I'm even more excited to get the Jonsereds thicknesser working again now after your confirmation of their power & capacity. Same with all of the equipment actually. It's a pain having to work full time and try to fit your preferred projects into the schedule and budget. I'm 3-4 years away from retirement and need to accomplish a lot in that time to make it all workable. Nice to see that you're able to spend some time on your own preferred activities now.

The Jonsereds is indeed a heavy mother, but we get quite good at moving this heavy machinery around on our own, don't we? It's amazing what you can do with some levers and rollers. Did you use the Supersaw RAS much before you sold it? I bought the Wadkin RAS as part of a package deal, but otherwise I probably wouldn't have bothered with it.

We will spending a couple of days visiting relatives in Huskisson in mid July, so could call in for a quick cup of coffee and say hello if you're around.

I'm a little hesitant to post the image below... but what the hell.

The interior shed fit-out continues in between full time employment on other construction projects - need the income. I get maybe one day per weekend and a few hours in the afternoon/evening now & again, so everything takes quite a while. Also, other maintenance requirements on the property always seem to take priority over the shed project. That's just the way it is.

I don't consider myself a hoarder - more a dedicated collector, I think. But it's true that I'm hesitant to throw anything away that may conceivably be useful for future projects. Additionally, along the way I've managed to accumulate many collections of odd items. One of the collections is meat cleavers - mainly larger ones. I'm not sure why. I've bought many cleavers from the USA over the last few years and have also found quite a few in Australia. I consider them to be a fine example of purpose-made cutting implements, similar to wood planes and chisels, with the same expertise required to use the tool properly and maintain a keen cutting edge etc.

Anyway, the reason I'm a little hesitant to show this image is because of the reaction from many people who have seen some of this collection. Comment terms have ranged from "Macabre", "Disturbing" and "I hope you don't go mad and start chopping people up". What? Hopefully there will be a few here who appreciate these fine tools as much as I do. I'm always fascinated by the history of where these have come from and the tradesmen who have wielded them over the years.

As a matter of interest, the larger ones on the right are around 34" (860mm) long. They are known in the USA as "hog splitters", and are very heavy two-handed cleavers which were used to cut or split the carcasses down the backbone while they hang by the rear hocks. This is the first time I've had the space to show the collection together, so here they are:

MeatCleavers.jpg

I think your cleaver collection is cool. If people like you didn't take the time to find and collect things like this they would most likely be lost for good. Now I understand why most cleavers come with a hole in them. It was for the day they could take an honoured place on your wall.

Pete

Originally Posted by QC Inspector

I think your cleaver collection is cool. If people like you didn't take the time to find and collect things like this they would most likely be lost for good. Now I understand why most cleavers come with a hole in them. It was for the day they could take an honoured place on your wall.

Pete

Yes, thanks Pete.

I too think the cleaver collection is pretty cool, and interesting. Some of them need new timbers fitted to the handles and a general tidy up or metal-polish. Some very famous maker's names from USA, Germany, Sweden etc included in the collection as well, including F Dick, Berg, Rostfreier, Foster Bros, Shapleigh, Brades, Lamson, Beatty, Sorby, Ox Head, Barton and many others. A great talking point for anyone who enters the shed.

I also have a nice collection of pen knives and hunting knives, in addition to woodworking/carving chisels.

Wayne
I do have 3 phase.
When we bought the place in ‘86 there had been 15 working on site here in suburbia.
They had nailed up doorways in the house and knocked a hole in a brick wall etc.
They were parking on the grass and compacted it plus parking out the street.
They were making security doors and wanted to expand on site but the council told them to go away.
7 in the shed, 5 in the house/office and 2 in a service truck. Plus the boss I quess that ads up.
The wiring was fabric covered in steel conduit on the 40 foot Oregon beams.
My bro who is a sparky rewired it and we even put a few lengths of Vass buss bar down the middle.
Same with the annex. Plus a main switch to kill everything when I walk out the door at night.
The previous mob had run out of power so we had 7 wires from the back of the house via a pole to the shed. Plus the phone line. Looked wonderfull thru the back yard right where we planted the Red Cedar etc.
I dug a trench and we upped the 3 phase and put it underground plus the phone down a conduit on the new fence.
The lineshaft had a grinder and an old metal lathe running off it.
They took the lathe and I scrapped the grinder.
I left the shaft and worked around it. Now I’m retired I have cleaned the shafts 5 bearings and with two mates help put bearings in the motor and got things running. I also turned up some mice to amuse visitors.
I picked up the Mortiser in Bathurst but it needs rebuilding. I also have a 1900s scroll saw but am busy with other projects atm.
H.