we bought a humongous bandsaw recently, with a 7 hp 3-phase motor powering it. It has a 36" throat, and it makes our other antique-but-really-good bandsaw with a 27" throat seem miniature.
Anyhow, that reminded me of a time in 1995 when we were in Melbourne and I happened to stumble across an old machinery warehouse, with a lovely painted old bandsaw.
I scanned the photos I took of it, just before.
Enjoy them!
This is the big one we bought-still on the truck at the time I took the pic, but it is now off, after we worked out how we were going to shift it. The cast base is huge!
Posted by Craig Sjoquist (Member # 4684) on :
That some beautiful eye candy on that old saw wow thank you...That lower picture geez that's huge what do you do to have good use for that monster?
Posted by Catharine C. Kennedy (Member # 4459) on :
Now THAT'S what machines should look like! I presume you will call your new machine "Sir"!
Posted by Dale Feicke (Member # 767) on :
Now you can whiz right thru that 1/2" HDU, Ian!
That thing is a monster! Kinda reminds me of when I worked out on the road several years ago. Some of the companies we worked at made dry ice; they used similar saws to this to cut the large blocks of it down to various smaller sizes.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
wher in the heck.....DO YOU FIND NEW BLADES?????
Posted by jack wills (Member # 521) on :
You make your own blades...
Master Craftsman, work on the decor...
Posted by Michael Boone (Member # 308) on :
I have a 24" band saw....it needs a motor and a "tire" anybody want it???
Posted by goddinfla (Member # 1502) on :
I sure miss my old bandsaw with a 5 1/2 foot throat. I could cut to the center of a 4 x 8 the long way. Blades were 21' 7" long and only cost about $25 each.
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
Our 'little' bandsaw takes 13 ft 6" blades, but OP, you can get them from any decent saw blade supplier- or buy a roll of the stuff and silver-solder your own as needed.
I've put bi-metallic ones on our current machine-for their longevity- but it also involves making sure the kids don't cut any wood with hidden nails in it, or the benefits of the expense are wasted!
Dale, I have just 'acquired' a big old flat-top waggon of the type that used to carry 12 to 20 tons of wool bales across Australia. This one has 6 ft diameter back wheels, a 4.5" x 1" tyre and a HUGE hub, but the felloes are rotten, and so are several spokes. IN fact the waggon was here breifly in about 1998 & I got a few photos of it. It spent the last 12 years up the coast, largely in the rain unfortunately. However it is my plan to eventually rebuild it for ourselves.
I'll need the ability to cut through 5" thick hardwood without too much ordeal-that's where this machine will earn its keep!
Here's a pic of the type of waggon it is- called a 'Bennett' flat top or table-top waggoon:
and here:
Ours is much sadder though-MUCH sadder Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
A bit more of the story:
These old flat top waggons are fascinating-there are many similarities between types, and in non-sheep areas, they carried bags of grain (wheat etc) rather than wool, or they might have carried whaetevr was needed. 'Bennet' from St Mary's in Sydney was the 'Rolls Royce' of the big waggon builders.
It is interesting too, if you can find the photos in enough detail there's frequently a dog sitting in the shade underneath it!
I took a few photos of it with some of our kids in March 2000.
Anyhow, last week, I was able to acquire it for good, but it has spent the last four or five years in the wet, wet, wet at the Sunshine Coast, and it is largely rotten throughout. The wheels are 'shot' now, and one back hub has split from inside to outside, so it'll be a major rebuild for us, but it WILL happen in due course!
[ July 24, 2011, 05:14 AM: Message edited by: Ian Stewart-Koster ]
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
This is it with some sad machinery wheels we put on for transportation purposes:
Here are a couple more historical photos I found-Enjoy!
Posted by David Fisher (Member # 107) on :
Gday Ian, I recall when we were up at your place the last time you had one of these in the paddock (the carriage, not the bandsaw) It looks like a job of work to revive it.
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
Dave, the 'spare parts heap' has a few- but none were quite that size, till this one.
Posted by Dale Feicke (Member # 767) on :
That's going to be a humongous project, brother!! Both physically and financially.......
Do you have a use for it, or is it purely for display? Historical significance?
Or could it possibly be to transport a huge bandsaw around.......?
Posted by Dennis Kiernan (Member # 12202) on :
Those your kids playing under the wagon?
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
Dale, it'll be 'historically significant', but we'd be able to put our clydesdales in front of it for the occasional parade etc. I wouldn't plan on selling that one.
Dennis, yes, those are three of the six-the oldest is now almost 20 -she was 9 in that pic!
Actually Dale, that bandstand/stage idea is a good one-thanks! Posted by Bryan Lynch (Member # 15295) on :
Those wagons look magnificent when they are restored. Why don't you get all the paint heads to come out and help you stripe it? I would throw my hat into the ring for that one. What a great project!!!
Posted by Pierre Tardif (Member # 3229) on :
Those were the days!... when everything, well almost, was decorated. Thanks for sharing Ian!
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