Thread: Old Bandsaw

not big, I know, but I was thinking about to have a little 40 cm wheel bandsaw. It could be a Peugeot et Fréres (I was told so), 125 cm height, for about a 150 kg weight.
Ball bearing for the upper wheel, dating the machine between 1925 and 1935.

totally covered with a mix of wood dust, and stored for the last 15 years under a heavy coat of oil (over the dust, obviously) in a damp place.
pretty disgustive just think about to touch her, and not the best beginning for a collaboration story.

But after a year sitting in my garage, the rehabbing work finally started. It will be a long, dirty job, but someone has to do it!

That's a nice looking little bandsaw and should come up looking a treat.
A handy addition to any home workshop.
Good luck and keep us posted with pictures of your progress.
Cheers, Stewie

That should be a really good saw when you get it restored. Those oldies have got that good solid feel thet the new saws don't have. Keep posting as the work goes on.
Regards
John

I really love the guards on your saw ... it has real style

I like it a lot. I'm trying to imagine the size properly - but it is tricking me because it is cast just like the really big bandsaws - but smaller.

Can we get a photo with someone standing next to it?

I don't think we see much french woodworking equipment of any kind here in Australia. I have some Peugeot & Freres morticing chisels, and one french jointer plane with some P&F blades, but they came from the french ebay.

Cheers,
Paul McGee

Thanks for your kind words... I could imagine it's difficult for you to have some example of french ww machines, so you could easily imagine my envie for your finds of tons of old australian/english old machines, built to last several hundres of years...

but it's not the moment to be completely green , I've got my mousetrap to dismantle completely.
So, here we are, before christmas 2009 the machine was in her new house, july 2010 the dismantle begun, october 2011 started the rehabbing

the comparison with the english area bandsaw was totally uncomfortable: your bandsaws were built with a care in the construction and refinishing that totally lacks in my french one. not only the varnish is poor, the varnishing was made by a blind monkey, and the primer accurately remained in his can, but some "technical" solution was barely acceptable.
The stop of the tilting mechanism was one of the best examples (of the french engineering):

Hi luca,
That houseing for the trunion looks a bit rough but as long as the thing still tilts the table then you still have a workable saw. A stop of some kind can be improvised to set the table at 90 and 45 even if it is only clamped on. Other angles you will need to use something to guage the angle. On the saws I have so far had hands on with the settings were only rough in any case and and required a square to set thing up to be accurate. in about 10 years of using bandsaws I have only tilted the table a few times. I find cutting aquard with a tilted table so if I want accurate angled cuts then the bandsaw is not the first choice. Anyhow it still looks like a good solid saw and worth some restoration

Regards
John

This is such a wonderful description of dealing with an old bandsaw I've been reading it aloud to my family. Good luck with it, sorry I don't have any practical advice except to say that when it is finished it will be a very useful and beautiful machine.

Originally Posted by pmcgee

I really love the guards on your saw ... it has real style

I like it a lot. I'm trying to imagine the size properly - but it is tricking me because it is cast just like the really big bandsaws - but smaller.

Can we get a photo with someone standing next to it?

I don't think we see much french woodworking equipment of any kind here in Australia. I have some Peugeot & Freres morticing chisels, and one french jointer plane with some P&F blades, but they came from the french ebay.

Cheers,
Paul McGee

the wheel guards? really stilish, I have to admit my only though is they're too small to guard anything. I'll have to build a better quality protection than the actual. and obviously i bet it will be not difficult... the actual being nothing!
When I went to bring her home, I was with a friend (a real woodworker). He, scratching his head, said "It's like my father's one. only... so small!!" so I could easily understand why it's tricky to compare her in a real life scale. I promise some photos with a person next to her (not my 6 year old daughter, maybe, no). here in Italy some french woodworking equipment is the rule. the old times woodworkers (like my grandfather) were every time looking for handplane irons "with the eyes", the old brand of Goldenberg, or "with the lion", so Peugeot. No sheffield here, unfortunately. they made the fortune of the Alsace et Lorraine, the french region of the foundries and steel... (and I still have quite a collection of french pigstickers, but shhhhht! )

So, here we are again: like orraloon said, "That houseing for the trunion looks a bit rough". What a real Lord you are, my Sir! in my opinion, is more similar to something that begins by "C" and ends by "rap", but it's just an opinion
I'm thinking about a little correction like this one:


but we'll see...

And, let's go on. the upper guide (and the only one) was really... ugly. Everything frozen. Dirt and grime all around, the first thing was to submerge it in a cup full of paint thinner and let it seat a couple of days. then an old toothbrush dis the most of the work, the whole thing disassembled, a new bath for every single part, a dremel, a brass wire brush, some paint remover, and voilà!

ok, I agree, I used some glossy paint. No, I didn't go mad. It was the only choice with the primer a shop advertised me. Once the piece went together again, the first look was... ok, I'll let you imagine. I'm seriously thinking of redoing it again. but for the moment it's sitting with the other parts in the "ready" area, under the bench. We'll see.

and after a while, I began dismantle the upper wheel. I was always told that a complete work is been done by a complete dismantling.
No way, here. the upper wheel is tightly retained in place by a couple of ball bearings, and the cast iron U shaped "thing" (don't know the name, the piece taht embrace the wheel) is fixed together with the blade tightening mechanism via a steel pinion. three pieces with an independent movement, and everithing to been hold still on a table to be carefully sanded, primed and varnished. not an easy task, 'cause this is my first "big" restoring.

after a while, in the place where I believe to be only a cast iron fusion, I discovered a sort of cover with three screw. Under, I found the bearings, with a retaining screw on top of the upper part. the bearings being mounted by a zero clearance insert, I'm still believing these are a later substitution of an earlier babbits, but who knows?

after a couple of months, the entire mechanism was done. the pictures were taken before I stripped down the old cork tires.

Looking Good Luca, great choice of color, older machines look good in black!
Thats going to be one nice little bandsaw !!

Melbourne Matty.

Yes ... 100% ... nice job on the clean-up and restoration!


Paul McGee

not sure of what I'm really doing... looks like I'm discussing with the dead spiders inside the metal casting... I definitely surrender, not even trying to extract the shaft from the lower bearings. so, I dismantled the whole wheel. I'll try to rehab it as is. I also tried to improve the tensioning mechanism, by substituing the tensioning spring with a series of (?) cup springs (?) not sure if the term is correct. I still doubt about the correcttensioning force, so maybe I'll try with another spring, maybe it'll be even better than the old one. I found a fine tuning mechanism (the only one I found, really) on the lower bearings: the whole thing is not a cilinder, but an eccentric admits a fine regulation to center it via four screws that retains the bearings on the same side of the pulley. Oh, the last thing: I always thought about the bandsaw might be older than the age her features lead to. Maybe could be true: the last picture is the external surface of the bearings casting. it looks like an older babbit oiler was needed before a rehabbing give her new ball bearings. ("olio" means, obviously, "oil")