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BaileyBoy
28th February 2014, 03:46 PM
Hi, I'm looking at getting secondhand Paul Call combination saw and jointer.

I can't seem to find any info on the net. All I know is, its Aussie made. Anyone has one and feedback? Loves to know.

Uncle Al
28th February 2014, 05:42 PM
Paulcall was the brand name of machinery and tools made by Pauls Hardware, who had two retail outlets in Sydney CBD. From memory, one was in the Queen Victoria building, and the other smaller store was in Pitt Street.
The factory was at Bankstown, and I was lucky enough to be taken on a tour of that facility as I was a very good customer of theirs. I was a big buyer of cutting tools and hand tools from them for industry, and I was very well known to their management and sales people.
I saw their small G clamps, pipe clamps and screwdrivers being manufactured, and remember seeing a pile of cast iron bits and pieces out in the yard being 'aged' out in the weather. Some of these components became table saws and jointers.
My father in law had a Paulcall table saw, which was carted all over NSW to job sites for many years. He managed to loose the adjustable fence at one stage, and I was able to pick up a replacement during my factory tour. It was a strangely shaped present under the Christmas tree that year, but he was very grateful to be able use his saw as it was intended.
Their machinery was well made, although a bit agricultural compared to some of the new equipment on the market these days, and well worth grabbing if it becomes available.
The company eventually went belly up in the early eighties, with several managers getting together to form a new company called Ebson, but were into sales only, no manufacturing. I don't know what became of the factory and it's equipment.
Hope the above is of interest.

Alan...

Timless Timber
2nd March 2014, 09:28 AM
My Old man (RIP), had a Paul Call combi saw & jointer in the back shed when was a kid growing up.

Used it a lot as a kid (cut bigger firewood into smaller firewood for the water heater coz the old man was always at the pub so If I didn't do it, mum had too).

He was a carpenter joiner by trade and a master builder by profession.

The saw was always blunt (no tungsten tip blades in those days thru the early - late 60's).

He always seeme dto manage to build "exquisite stuff with it" in the back shed....mostly cold molded ply boats. Dunno how many were built down there at night - but lots of swearing and beer swilling took place is what i remember- along with the smell of nightingale glue & red-lead paint. (That probably explains a lot about how badly I turned out) :wink:.

So it was a functional enough machine...for its day.

I think it bit the old man at least 3 or 4 times over the 50 odd years he had it!

I seem to recall his R palm going into the jointer 2 times... and I also recall the saw took the top of his L thumb off back in 87...

There was a time some where's in between that his onkaparinga's went into the jointer too. I recall he wrapped them in dirty cloth and went up to the hous e- mum saw the blood and passed out so he drove himself one handed into the local docs surgery... he seemed to have an abnormal capacity to handle pain. (He had no choice he was married to my mum and that was everyday agony for lottsa years - putting your hand sin machines was a minor affliction compared to a tongue lashing from her).

So - yeah they will do the job - depending what you want to do.. I seem to recall it was a corner brace for the seat in a 13 ft bondwood dinghy for Lancelin - where he put it over the jointer and being short i.e. only about 8 inches long - it grabbed and tilted forward pulling his fingers into the jointer head... It was Friday arvo and after a few beers after work he was rushing to finish the boat to take it to Lancelin for the long weekend...to use it!

I think we still went from memory... him with fingers all sewn up and in bandages.

Thats the thing I remember most - about the Paul Call - the times the old man fed parts of himself into it... Sister used to jive talk him - said he was too tight to pay for a funeral and was trying to bury himself one part at a time!.

Course it wasn't all bad - years later he cot the top off his index finger opposite the short thumb with a drop saw and once it healed up - they met once again & he could pick up little tacks again for doing glazing beads - after 15 years of using long nosed pliers to pick them up and hold em in place to get them started with the little toffee cracker hammer he got off the counter at Boans!

About the only drawback with the Paul Call combo is that you have no thickness-er - so you can't gauge any timber, every piece is likely to be a little different in thickness once you dress and straighten one edge and one face and saw the other two - if you want them smooth you have to then dress the other 2 faces over the little 6 inch joint-er again so depending how many passes depends on final gauge thickness.

There are so many better more capable combination machines out there... albeit a LOT more expensive than the Paul Call Combi!. (Robland X 31 for e.g.).

The Paul Call have been around forever... from memory dads had a 2 way switch - one way for sawing over the table saw and the opposite way for the jointer. This means you have to stop working (sawing) and wait for it to stop - then reverse direction between each operation. That get's a little annoying (time consuming) at times.

I imagine if you employed another pully and drive belt to reverse direction of the jointer, from the one drive engine... you'd only need a one way switch. Don't ask me why but the old mans was a 3 phase engine... and it was all mounted on a jarrah timber frame.

Can't tell you much more than that about them sorry.

Cheers

Timless Timber
2nd March 2014, 09:41 AM
This was one of the cold molded bondwood boats he built using the Paul Call saw - in our back shed when I was a kid... ~ early 60's.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a70/troutylow/Frosty.jpg

The Paul Call and hand tools, basically. Time seemed to go slower in those days. The built it all - trailer included and marinized ford consul engine.

Cheers

BaileyBoy
2nd March 2014, 06:02 PM
Thanks for the comments.

The machine I looked at looks like its been bashed a bit. so I think I'll going to get something more recent, like a Jet or a carba tec. They seem to get pretty good reviews.
My issue is that I don't have a lot of space (under a Queenslander) and I want to get something small so the missus doesn't notice it.

BaileyBoy
5th March 2014, 10:00 PM
Anyone knows if Durden jointers are any good?

Pete57
17th July 2015, 10:55 PM
Great info on Paulcall - thanks Uncle Al.

I have a Paulcall 6" jointer and a12" bandsaw that were my fathers. Both now in working order.

Peter


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JaydenL
18th April 2016, 04:25 PM
G'day guys. I just bought a 6 inch Paul Call jointer & table saw, but it's missing the springs for the jointer blades.

Any idea where I could buy ones that would fit? I'm in Brisbane.

Thanks,

Jayden

Pete57
18th April 2016, 09:42 PM
My jointer does not have springs for the blades. Are they behind the blades to push them out?
I can ask my father if it originally had springs.

Some of the socket head screws or umbrako bolts ( not sure of correct name) to hold in the blades have damaged heads probably from Allen key not being fully pushed into head before applying pressure. Keen to find replacements for these.

I am also in Brisbane if you want to swap detail or have a look at the jointer.

Peter

JaydenL
18th April 2016, 10:23 PM
Thanks Peter. Sorry about the post hijack! I've posted a new topic (with photos) here about it: http://www.woodworkforums.com/f154/6-paul-call-jointer-table-missing-blade-springs-204685

It appears the initial information I was given may have not been accurate, and that it never used springs. I'm still learning, to be honest. Just very keen to get it working!