Craftsmanship in Wood

This time it's a Martin T-17 saw:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Martin-T-17F-Sl ... 1973794009

Notice in the picture that the machine is sitting in some sort of shop and has a red tag on it, clearly an auction tag. The machine is definitely in worn condition, and, as presents in the picture, a little high priced for a 45 year old saw in that condition. I went down to Connecticut and looked at it in person last week. The seller is a guy who is an accountant by by day with an interest in old 'arn. He has 4 warehouses crammed with old machines, giant spools of wire, transit coin boxes, etc.. Crammed so much you have to climb over machines to make any headway into the space, and the lighting doesn't work so it is dark.

Anyhow, he dragged out the Martin, and the table top was all rusted and the rip fence was frozen in position. The saw was basically a complete rebuild project, maybe worth $1500 at best. Apparently he has an interested buyer in California to whom he's offered the saw, + shipping, to for... $6000

I would be interested to see the look on the buyer's face when he unpacks that item from the crate, assuming the deal goes ahead....

Sorry to hear that it was a bust. That is a big asking price for a complete rebuild.

I've been trying to decide what to do about my Wadkin saw, which has a bowed sliding table. Either spend another $2500 or so on the saw to make it right (involves fabricating a new sliding table and rip fence), or put the money into a different saw. Not that I have any money to spare right now, mind you!

it's hard to dump more money into the saw, but I suspect if i were to buy another I would have a hard time selling it, given the lack of brand recognition in the US, bowed table issue which I would have to be up-front about, and, yes the fact that it is not only 3-phase, but 400v 50hz. Not the optimal selling proposition generally. it's a way large and heavy saw for a hobby shop, leaving the power issue aside, and any commercial shop looking for a slider is surely looking for one suited to sheet good, which his one isn't.

So, i've been looking at other saw possibilities, and one of those was a Martin T-17, which is a fairly rare saw.

On the plus wide for the Wadkin is it can take up to an 18" blade and has 7.5 hp. I've already designed a new sliding table, and fitting an outrigger support arm looks very do-able. Fitting a different rip fence also looks very do-able.

I'm likely a poor advisor in this case, but I know you had very specific reasons for going with the Wadkin, and it's the devil you know at this point. If you commit to another 50-60yr old saw, then you have another host of potential issues that aren't visible and less than scrupulous sellers will likely not mention.

That's Kyowa's large saw, the 1300. Their model making saws, the 'Pretty' series, are more their bread and butter. That one looks to be in VERY nice shape and you're quite right about the weak yen making such a purchase more attractive. My only hesitation with that model of saw would be the smaller blade capacity. One of the reason I have been looking at Martin again, as compared to other choices, is their capacity to run blades of 18" or, with some models, up to 20".

There's nothing to see on that page, but I take it that a Tōkai SFJ-1300 was on offer? One of these?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJgv6DKQJXs

I go on the two sites you mentioned quite frequently, and a bunch of others too. Lots to see...

On this site there is another - it seems to suggest a blade capacity of 16":

http://mokkou-kikai.com/stock/a/a03/a016.html

Elsewhere I see it has a max 405mm blade size and 100mm depth of cut.

Hmmm.

Merry Christmas and all that too!!

It's interesting that they stay with a 1" arbor after so many years, for a machine that is not exported and for a home market that is otherwise metric. It's funny how certain dimensions can get fossilized. Most Euro format saws, though they may have once has 25.4 arbors a long time ago, are now 30mm in most cases, I do believe.