Thread: Bush shed Machine rescue, Wolfenden mortiser, Thicknesser ?? Wellcome saw and more.

Originally Posted by lightwood

Matty, A Wolfenden!!! Before they were casting there name on the body. Do you think they were casting at that location in Footscray? So the thicknesser museum is coming along nicely eh? Peter

Pete I have no doubt it was made there, machined and assembled, but as for casting, I would of said the Wolfenden Brothers may have contracted this out to a foundry, not sure, I do have a couple of very early photos of what the Wolfenden brothers were making when they started in 1918, apparently 26 inch bandsaws were the first off the production line.
Why their name was not on this machine I do not know, both catalog cut and photo reflect this as well.
And as for the thicknesser museum, well, I can't say I won't stop, should a J.A.Fay machine machine appear, lets just say Ill need someone with some decent property to hide it on, You don't happen to know any one who could help do you Pete ?

Melbourne Matty.

very nice planer I'd love to get one in my shed some day, I was lucky enough to win the bandsaw from the same seller that you got the wellcome saw from & am very happy with it.
scrounger

Originally Posted by scrounger

very nice planer I'd love to get one in my shed some day, I was lucky enough to win the bandsaw from the same seller that you got the wellcome saw from & am very happy with it.
scrounger

Hi Scrounger,
Rob, Peter and myself did have a look at your bandsaw when we were there, its a nice machine, I'd like to see a post on your Bandsaw, I got a suspicion that Thomas McPhersons in the beginning imported Silvers bandsaws from the US, let's just call it a hunch....

Melbourne Matty.

The saw was good value Scrounger, Did you have fun getting it out of there? It was a bit tight with a tandem trailer down that driveway. We had to drive in and do a three point turn to get out.
A few inches of tyre went on the brick border of the garden and next minute I had an old lady yelling at me " YOUR ON THE GARDEN!! YOUR ON THE GARDEN !!

Me . " Sorry "

No harm done

I'm thinking, " Calm down cranky britches"

Rob.

thanks for the info Matty I'll try to put up some pic's over the weekend if I'm not to busy scrounging .

Rob the 6x4 trailer was alright to get up there but it was a hell ride home, putting it on the trailer was fun though kids & dogs every were, no old lady's hanging round must've been nap time.

scrounger

Its been a while both here and on the Antique Machinery section but I thought I would keep this post together and add a bit more here.
I have had some time over the holidays to have a bit of a clean up around the place and drag the early Wolfenden thicknesser in for some TLC.
Upon the clean up and disassemble, the amount of muck that came out of that machine was just unbelievable, oil and sawdust everywhere !!
I went through 5 liters of kerosene and 4 wire brushes for the grinder.
Here are some progress pic's so far .....


Got the old girl in for a complete tear down.

Some bad news with the cast bottom table slide ways, one was broken in two places, I'll machine up two new ones in bright steel.

Block and Tackle very handy for this kind of work.

Out comes the cutter-head.

Fresh coat of satin black after a good grind back to bare metal.

Assemble the sides.

Starting to look like something now.

A little bit of Gold on the Badge I found for it, quite tasteful I felt.
Melbourne Matty.

Matty, that feeling you get when you have "rescued" an "article" from a fate that would destroy it, is something that makes the exercise really worthwhile!
Even to scrape back years of crud and get it working is fruitful. These dear old "articles" are so rewarding for a few hours of elbow grease. When you pull them down its amasing just how "basic" they are in their construction. Its usually not much to get them operating again, then with a new coat of paint they are ready for work.
Just before Christmas I had to dress some hardwood down for a project my nephew was doing for school. I asked him if the school had a thicknesser? ...Yes...(he is no conversationalist) What brand?....not sure....does it sit on a bench?....no, its a floor model..... But its not old like yours.
I couldn't get over this kid's attitude. He is 18 and seems to live in his own little world, not wanting to know anything about anything (well that what it seems to me)
I shudder to think of the fate of machinery when this latest crop of youngsters become old enough.

It Looks great Matty , Block and tackle ?? you mean your gantry crane in your amazing shed , quite a few times while holding a coldie in one hand I have looked up and said to myself " He's got a gantry crane in his shed " I wish ..

Looking back at the start of this thread , what a state that Lovely machine was in when you got it.

Rob

Originally Posted by chambezio

He is 18 and seems to live in his own little world, not wanting to know anything about anything (well that what it seems to me)
I shudder to think of the fate of machinery when this latest crop of youngsters become old enough.

At his age I was into cars in a big way, I had mates who were dropping V8's into small Torana's, back in the day when you wouldn't get locked up for a skid.
Its funny, these days I teach Carpentry at our local TAFE and I see a lot of students every day, yes there are some slow ones lets say, but their exposure to the trade changes them.
They come back for more training after 6 months or so very different, a keen attitude, its like they see everything in a different light, they have responsibilities and become adults.
Many of my finished students still visit my work shop, I'm always happy to show them what i've been up to, or do some machining for them, some are keen to learn more.
I think they will be fine, the key is that when the student is ready the teacher appears..... unless he's having smoko..
Have a look at this if you have a chance...
ox master woodworker - YouTube

Melbourne Matty.

Ah Matty,

That's some fine work!! Was that the machine on your porch last time I was down your way for a visit?

It's a good example for new comers of the fact that when your looking for an old machine, a little bit of rust should not be too off putting (edit: read Matty's response on this one, there is certainly more to this restoration, and Matty is spot on when he says it is not for the faint hearted). Early on I let a lot of good machines go, because I thought they were too far gone, with hindsight most were perfect candidates for restoration (of cause with a rusty machine can come other issues, but they often go for peanuts allowing the funds to deal with any hidden issues).

I like the Black with Gold writing, it seems to suit the machine, out of curiosity, what technique did you use for the lettering? The finish looks neat!! There seem to be a few approaches, some I have tried, some I need to try.

Cheers,

Camo

Originally Posted by auscab

It Looks great Matty , Block and tackle ?? you mean your gantry crane in your amazing shed , quite a few times while holding a coldie in one hand I have looked up and said to myself " He's got a gantry crane in his shed " I wish ..

Looking back at the start of this thread , what a state that Lovely machine was in when you got it.

Rob

Rob, yes I was looking at those pic's too before I did the write up, it was a mess as you say, its had a hard life broken bits here and there, broken bolts, every opening filled with oily sawdust, at some stage they have even put a set of plumbers still-sons/pipe wrench on the bottom threads because the table would of jammed up, made a mess of the threads but it will clean up.
I can't believe what people do to machines, if they had of given it a good clean down with compressed air and then oiled up instead of compacting years of shavings and dust into every corner, gap and hole things would not of bound up and seized.
any way, all free and workable now !!

Melbourne Matty.

Originally it looked like there was no name cast on it. Was it just covered in muck?

Originally Posted by camoz

Ah Matty,

That's some fine work!! Was that the machine on your porch last time I was down your way for a visit?

It's a good example for new comers of the fact that when your looking for an old machine, a little bit of rust should not be too off putting. Early on I let a lot of good machines go, because I thought they were too far gone, with hindsight most were perfect candidates for restoration (of cause with a rusty machine can come other issues, but they often go for peanuts allowing the funds to deal with any hidden issues).

I like the Black with Gold writing, it seems to suit the machine, out of curiosity, what technique did you use for the lettering? The finish looks neat!! There seem to be a few approaches, some I have tried, some I need to try.

Cheers,

Camo

Afraid not mate this is another, don't forget I'm a thicknesser addict ...lol
Cam with this machine, there's a few things that would of put folk off, the broken slide ways, missing rise and fall handle (it had one but it was jerry rigged) Motors have to be remounted, and lots of annoying little things, this one is not for the faint hearted Cam, but I think its worth while as this is such an early Wolfenden machine.
The sexy gold bling is easy, simply take some paper towel and shape it into a rubber the same way you would if you were french polishing and dab it into the gold paint, wipe the excess, and then dab over the raised letters, the rubber being flat will find the high spots and hi-light them.

Melbourne Matty.

Originally Posted by hiroller

Originally it looked like there was no name cast on it. Was it just covered in muck?

No, Your right the first time there was no cast name on it, I had one kicking around so I painted it up and on it went.
I'm pretty confident its a Wolfenden machine, the era of the badge is the earliest I have, but still questionable as far as a perfect match.

Melbourne Matty.