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["Don Bowen" <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>]

I recently restored a 40 year old table saw.  There is no room here for my
bug Unisaw and all the small saws are mostly plastic and are around $500.  I
was given an old, rusty and plaint splattered Craftsman table saw.  A little
sanding and coat of paint, nre bearings and decent quality thin kerf blade
and for around $100 I have a good table saw that is more accurate and sturdy
than anything else for that price.

 

Along the way I had to get some new bolts so rather than just buying the few
needed I bought the box.  While there I bought a box of the next sizes up
and down.  I have done the same for screws, ordering the assortments from
McFeely’s.  With what I have here and what is in storage I have enough
bolts, screws, and nuts to last for a long time.  I have another project
planned that will need some ½ bolts and will provide another excuse to
improve the investments.  For the last couple of years whenever I see a box
of assorted roll pins, C clips, Cotter Pins, whatever, I pick it up and add
it to the store.

 

I rebuilt a planer that was to be thrown away.  $44 worth of parts got me a
planer that is over $500 new.  I now have two planers, one for good stuff
and another for rough or to sell.

 

Craig’s list is a good part of one’s investment strategy.  I needed a bench
grinder but the little one is buried deep in storage so found a really nice
commercial grade Baldor with little use on Craig’s list for $50.  With stand
this one new is around $400.  For the last four years I have been keeping my
tools in a clamshell tool box.  Every year it gets a little heavier and no
matter what I want, it is buried deep in the bottom.  So everything comes
out and usually winds up on the floor.  I have been looking for tool cart to
get it up to shorten that ever greater distance to the floor.  Nothing I saw
in a price I could afford was very sturdy but this last week I found an
older S-K Wayne tool cart on Craig’s List for the price of a plastic cart at
Harbor Freight.  I needed a drill press for a project I was working on but
again my floor standing press is deep in storage and there is no room for it
here.  I found a 40s era Craftsman bench top drill press on Craig’s list for
$40.  This must have had very limited use over its life.  He told me that he
had tried to sell it at $200 but kept dropping the price because everyone
thought it was too old.  It is very heavy but a good solid unit much better
than any benchtop press available nowdays.  I am still looking for a 9 in
angle grinder but that is not needed until I get back to the beautiful
Ozarks.

 

Repaired planer

http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/images/together.jpg

 

Restored table saw

http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/images/tablesaw.jpg

 

Grinder on stand

http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/images/baldor%20front.jpg

 

Tool cart with clamshell box on top

http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/images/tool%20cart.jpg

 

Bench top drill press

http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/December%2008/images/drill%2
0press.jpg

 

Don Bowen  KI6DIU

http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html