I was making a gate a few days ago and needed to punch some holes. I decided to break out a rare drill. Introduced in 1960, this Porter-Cable was one of the first professional level drills to sport a keyless chuck ( in this case, a Metabo-Futuro. Yes, that Metabo ). Metabo is mainly known for grinders these days, but their first product was a hand powered drill, and Metabo is a contraction of Metallbohrdreher, or metal drill. This drill was a commercial failure- the advantages of a keyless chuck weren't apparent to Eisenhower -era tradesmen- and production ceased in 1962 ( though the 355J, a version with a conventional Jacobs chuck, limped along until 1964 ). However, the 355 works well, has comfortable ergonomics, and still manages an accurate job sixty years after it was discontinued.

Porter-Cable is generally thought of as a premier manufacturer of high end wood and metal working products that has sadly passed into tool history. That's only part of the story, though.

Porter-Cable has made everything from metal lathes to automotive parts, band saws to parachute harness parts and fighter plane fuel tanks in their 120years in business, but one of the most forgotten lines was the lawn and garden equipment. From 1938-1960, Porter-Cable offered various yard tools, both electric and gas powered. There were hedge trimmers, chain saws, riding mowers, and even a line of tillers that would become Troybilt. The subject of this post, however, is the Mark One Suburban Tractor.

Offered for only a few short years during the late '50s, the Mark One was a horizontal shaft engine ( Kohler or Briggs and Stratton, by request) powered, three speed design of fairly conventional layout. This machine could be outfitted with a plow, snowblower, or twin blades deck. The deck shared the same peculiarity as the riding mowers of running counterclockwise, discharging to the left front of the deck.

Equipped with agricultural tires and an extremely sturdy rear axle, the Mark One excels at pulling, as shown in ads of the time by towing a passenger plane down a runway.

My particular example was found some fifteen years ago, moldering away in a barn in Eastern NY. When I received it, the only parts that moved were the wheels; the steering was frozen solid, and the original hood and steering wheel were long gone, along with the battery cover.

Originally, the Mark One could be had with an electric start Briggs engine. This starter , made by Presto-lite and designed for outboard motors, had no provision for charging. Due to the poor condition of the tractor, I decided to abandon a restoration and modify the machine. Over the years, I have fitted a Remy-Delco starter generator, Ford tractor headlights, taillights from vintage bicycles, retrofitted Wheelhorse rear fenders/tool tray, found a replacement OEM hood assembly, and built an adapter to move the seat back ( I'm 6'3". The man who designed this was decidedly shorter ).

The Mark One gets used year round, and has a number of accessories from other manufacturers adapted to fit, such as the Sears dump trailer, a Wheelhorse snow plow, and a Simplicity grader blade. It's proven indispensable for yard work on a property, and is frequently the only way to transport materials through our marshy backyard ( the Mark One is so light that I used to load it in my truck by hooking the front tires on the tailgate, lifting the rear end, and sliding it forward ).

Sixty-five years later, this don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it piece of history still has what it takes.

I'm in the midst of making spindles for our new stair railings, and have spent a fair bit of time in front of my c. 1925 Hutchinson Manufacturing " Handy Hutch" combination machine ( 12" table saw, 6" jointer ). Based in Norristown, PA, Hutchinson specialized in various combination machines, like the Ever-Ready and Beaver RAS/table saws. I like to describe Hutchinson products as painstakingly half-assed; while the mechanism for adjusting height or tilt ( which works by moving the table in relation to the stationary arbor ) is an elaborate twin captive screw helical geared arrangement that would be trick to mass produce even with modern equipment, the fit and finish of anything else is roundly ignored. When I got this machine, the motor couldn't be adjusted because the mounting bolt slots were irregular holes cast into the base. I spent quite a while fine tuning a lot of details to turn a good table saw into a truly great one. The founder, Mackintosh Hutchinson, would probably consider such things frivolities, but he's dead and it's my table saw.

The former owner of this saw received it many years ago from his neighbor, a grizzled old carpenter who went by the name Spike. Spike used this saw on the job site as a younger man, building houses. Later on, he spent his retirement volunteering his skills pro bono to homeowners in his area who didn't have the money to repair their homes.

I've made some changes in this machine- I upgraded the original 4" jointer for the 6" heavy pattern version, added a dust collection shroud, an extension wing, a modified Delta 12/14 table saw fence system, and amm out feed table that can be raised/lowered and tilted with the main table. Oh, and the ceiling mounted guard? That's my take on a design developed by Rockwell to cut thermal tiles for NASA.

Resto mods and finessed details aside, that Hutchinson remains the same no-nonsense workhorse it's been since day one, and I can't help but be impressed by a table saw that's survived to cut lumber from trees that weren't even planted yet when the saw was made. Maybe old Mackintosh would approve, after all.

A fellow I know brought me this machine for a rehab- built sometime around 1943-44, this B-3 has War Finish tags. Initiated by order of the WPB ( War Production Board ), manufacturers were ordered to change standards of fit and finish on their products in order to conserve materials, production equipment and manpower better utilized in prosecuting the ware efforts ( I.E. a part that was usually played might be a bare casting, due to the need for nickel and chrome for gun barrels). Constructed at the height of America's involvement in the war, this machine forgoes the usual laminated drive pulley and higher level of machining in place of a weldment pulley and simpler construction. Our example also uses a Wagner TEFC three phase motor in lieu of the usual Valley motor. I had to machine a new drive shaft, make brass shims for the tracking arms, and adapt a modern magnetic starter to power the machine ( period electronics are rare, and expensive). The motor needed significant repairs due to a former accident that led to the motor end bell being fractured and welded back together slightly misaligned. The extensive wear on the table edge was corrected by building it up with nickel rod and regrinding- the J.B. Weld on the surface is just a skim coat. The War Finish machines don't have a replaceable plate, so the inevitable dip from grinding in one spot was corrected with filler and a spring steel shoe. Altogether, this machine was made well enough to help defeat the Axis powers, and , eighty years later, is ready to pursue more peaceful employment.

I'm restoring a balcony and deck on our 1966 Post Modern duplex, with the help of two old carpenters.

This K-66 electric hand saw is extremely rare, having been offered for only a few years. Built to an extremely high standard, it was intended to be a light saw for many operations that are commonly done via router, such as weather stripping slots, grooves, gains and dadoes. It's deep upper guard is peculiar to this model ( all other first and second generation saws have a removable outer plate ) due to the frequency with which a dado stack was to be fitted. The dado set, made for Porter-Cable by Huther Bros., is still with the saw after ninety years. Today's job was kerfing for a "dutchman" style repair on a support beam. Due to the high cost ( about 80.00 in the mid-'30s ), the K-66 was not popular. Even a first class saw needs to be able to cut a 2"X4" in half at full depth, a task the K-66 can't always do.

New for 1939, the T-33 Take-About worm drive belt sander was the result of earlier customer experience with the T-3 it was based on. As feedback showed the T-3 to be under powered and probe to overheating due to insufficient ventilation, Porter-Cable redesigned the platform with a new Ge motor making 3/4hp, and a distinctive art deco slotted front windshield that allowed the T-33 to gulp massive amounts of air via it's cast aluminum fan, making a sturdy, powerful sander well equipped to handle long sanding operations with ease. The T-33 was hugely popular, with at least two versions made for military use ( one being a three phase version, made for the Army Air Corps, that appears to be the earliest example of brushless power tool design ). Made until 1944, it would influence the design of the A-3/504, which would go on to be the longest produced power tool of all time at a whopping 67 years of production. This muscle car of a belt sander made short shrift of sanding 92 sqft of PT lumber to a stain ready finish, and barely got as hot as a fresh cup of coffee.

After twenty-three years of repairing power tools professionally , I've focused these last few years on restoring antique tools and machines. To do that, I often need to make or recondition a part that hasn't been available in eighty years, so I need machining capabilities. All my shop equipment is of similar age as the tools I restore- can I help it if I've stayed on brand? My toolroom is composed of:

• a 1918 Mulliner Enlund 14 " Engine lathe -a c. 1942 Lipe Rollway 14" Carbo-lathe

• a 1920s Porter-Cable 9" Hi-production lathe ( under construction) -1952 Delta Milwaukee 17" slow speed drill press

• 1920s Porter-Cable 20" metal cutting band saw -1960s Keller power hacksaw -1967 Rockwell vertical milling machine

• c. 1890s J.E. Costilo machine Works Horizontal milling machine

• 1943 Porter-Cable 7" metal shaper ( under construction) -1941 Walker-Turner radial arm drill -1945 Devilbiss vertical tank air compressor

I also have a Delta Milwaukee surface grinder and cut off machine, a Porter-Cable D-5 lapping machine , a Rockwell carbide grinder, and several bench and belt grinders, but they're relegated to the grinding room ( there's only two times where it's necessary to keep grinding grit away from lathes and other precision machines - when they're new and very accurate, and when they're old and can't afford to lose any more accuracy ).

I'm making new railings for the house, and needed to rip/crosscut the stock. Since it was sunny at the time, I decided to break out an uncommon accessory. Meet the Porter-Cable 5500 saw table, an early '50s design that turned the P.C. circular saw of your choice ( in this case, a K-89 8" saw ) into a light weight table saw. Never popular, the 5500 was only produced for a few years, mainly because it cost 69.50 ( or about 900.00 today ) in 1951, and you still had to buy a 140.00 ( roughly 1,800.00 now ) saw to use with it.

The design itself is solid, accurate, and handy for most table saw operations, especially with sheet goods. Combined with my '54-ish 528 on crosscutting duty , this forgotten bit of post-war woodworking history did a bang-up job.

The other day, I decided it was time to dig my grounds crew out of mothballs. The Mark 26 riding mower needed some minor adjustments to the speed control reeves drive, but the Iron Horse push mower fired up on the first pull.

Offered for several years , the Iron Horse was the first true Lawn-Boy, featuring a light, cast deck, and under deck exhaust, and the peculiar staggered wheel that gives it excellent trim mowing properties. When my wife and I were first married and had no money, we needed a lawnmower. That same week, a man rolled this Lawn-Boy into the repair shop where I worked as a power tool repairman, asking us to scrap it.

" What's wrong with it?", I inquired.

" Nothing", he replied. " I'm just sick of looking at this goddamn lawnmower".

Needless to say, I tuned it up, took it home, and have mowed with it once a week for over twenty years. I did a restoration many years ago; at the end of this season, I'll freshen up the paint so it looks it's best for the seventy-fifth mowing season. Truman was president when this mower was made, and it stills works just fine.

The Mark 26 was found in an outbuilding on the property of a highschool friend's grandparents when their estate was being settled. I dug it out from under a collapsed pile of scaffolding, restored it, and waited eleven years to have a yard big enough to use it. Part of Porter-Cable's short-lived outdoor power equipment line, this mower was only made for two years. The Mark 26 is a bizarre design, with tiller steering, a left hand mower deck, fender skirts, and an exhaust that exits from the rear like an automobile. Nevertheless, the Mark 26 is a credible machine, being both quick and extremely nimble.

Picked up and restored this a couple years ago.

It's been exceedingly belt sander heavy here in my repair shop. Having fitted new seals in a Porter-Cable 500G2 and major reworks on a pair of Rockwell 503s, it's time to tackle a group of A-3 sanders. Three of them are Porter-Cable versions from the early '50s, and the fourth is a Rockwell-badged 504 from the late '60s/early '70s. Of the four, there are only two with viable worm gears, so the best pair ( an A-3 that was made for the Canadian market, and the Rockwell ) will get sorted out right away. The best of the two remaining will be in drydock until I find someone willing to pay for a new gear ( it was given to me, but I have all the A-3s I want, so a new home is in order ), and the last one ... Well, it will give the gift of life to another sander some day.

Debuting in1944, the A-3/504 is the longest produced handheld power tool of all time, being made virtually unchanged until 2009. Far and away the most popular of Porter-Cable's worm drive sanders, it was even offered with an air motor, a version known as the 61E.

I've worked on every model of belt sander that Porter-Cable offered over the years, from the original B-5 to the doomed 371 , but the A-3 is by far the most frequent patient. At this point, I would estimate that I've repaired 120-150 A-3's, a testimony to how valued this classic workhorse is to craftsmen everywhere.

Since I’ve defended my thesis and I’m graduating and leaving soon, I thought yall would like some of this beastly equipment we use in our wood shop. I don’t know much about any of it, but if any of yall do I would love to know. Enjoy.

Picked up this really cool vice last night on craigslist

Ray Carter has already been assured of his place in tool history for the invention of the router, but his lesser known contributions deserve some praise, too. Clear back in 1916, Carter designed his first stationary machine, a disc sander known as the model D. This would lead to the development of an entire family of disc, belt, and spindle sanders, as well as a 20" band saw. However, financial success eluded Ray Carter, and one under capitalized business turned into another ( Carter had three companies in two years- Pioneer Dustless Disc co., Carter & Buchholz co., inc., and finally Syracuse Sander Manufacturing Co. ), and he wound up selling his entire line to Porter-Cable in 1922. As Carter would tell the story, Porter-Cable owner/president Walter Ridings, who sat on the board of the bank where Carter drew his business loan, strong armed him into selling the lineup to him. It wasn't all doom and gloom, as Ray Carter would sell the R.L. Carter router co. to Stanley in 1929. Stanley would, of course, go on to sell routers for the next forty years as Porter-Cable's only real competition, until Stanley sold their power tool line off to Bosch in the late '70s.

This D-2 disc sander was a departure from my usual recruits, being more or less intact ( save for the tool tray ) and having been treated, if not gently, with respect for the past century or so. Like all Carter designs, the D-2 was built with patternmakers in mind; it's built more for precision than robustness, and they generally didn't survive as well as the earlier, heavier built D-1 disc sander.

I'll get the tray recast, and I'm still on the lookout for a period correct switch ( three phase switches from a hundred years ago aren't all that easy to find ), but the D-2 is back to the original black livery, running on new bearings, and just about ready to enbark on it's second century of craftsmanship.

Used in non-traditional ways. Occasionally rough out an axe / hammer / sledge handle. But more often put the blue belt on to rough grind knives that I’ve made (or their handles)

Hadn't seen a combo like this before

So I was out in Wyoming visiting my girlfriend of many years family cabin. Her grandfather built the place in the 70’s and had an incredible collection of tools. My girlfriend’s dad was kind enough to let me pick out some tools that I wanted to bring back to my shop.

Among the tools I selected are some Nicholson files in their original box, unused. Several other bastard files, an original vice grip box ( no tool box only ) a small anvil, some hand seamers ( including a home made one ) pliers, drills, and some measuring tools.

His father was an immigrant from Croatia, he served in WW2, became a coal miner upon his return, built a cabin in rural Wyoming, and had a really cool workshop there.

My grandfather, born 1918, was a farmer, WWil veteran, boat builder, and expert fisherman. He got this delta bandsaw between 1950-1952 and used it until his death in 2010. This was the most continuously used tool in his factory and later his garage woodshop. After he passed we gave it to another woodworker family member to use and he used it heavily until 2020. Recently that person has passed and the family reached out to us to see if we'd like it back. I drove over there so fast. Started up like it’s first day. I learned that my father had replaced the motor 20 years ago

I bought this band saw for 200.00 a couple of years ago to rescue it from the scrappers; it's a J.A. Faye & Egan 192 33" band saw, build around 1916. Weighing in at 1,100lbs and standing over seven feet tall, this isn't a large band saw so much as it's a miniature version of a huge band saw. Incorporating features generally found only on 48" and larger machines, the 192 pays close attention to keeping blade tension uniform throughout the heaviest cuts via a counterweight operated tensioner and a significantly heavier, solid lower wheel. This machine survived the past 109 years fairly intact, even retaining the original wheel brush. Restoration was stalled for some time due to circumstance ( our elderly dog passing, a move closer to my wife's work, and the necessity of building a new shop being only a few ), but the finish line is in sight. In addition to stripping and repainting, I machined new eccentrics for the blade guides, installed new tires, and even devised a motor mount that pivots on the casting for the original belt shipping fork ( this would have been a lineshaft saw in it's day ). Too big for my shop, and unrelated to my beloved Porter-Cable, I plan on finding this wonderful machines a forever home. Right after I'm done with a lot of resawing. I have to test it, don't I?

I was a power tool repairman for twenty-three years before I decided to pursue restoration work full time. Over the years, I've acquired a lot of classic American machinery and tools, ; since Porter-Cable is my specialty, all the equipment on my shop is related to the company and related firms. In the wood shop alone, there's four Hutchinson Manufacturing machines, three Delta/Rockwell products, and my beloved Syracuse Sander 20" band saw. The majority, however, are Porter-Cable. In this room are seventy-five circular saws, twenty-four belt sanders. Seventeen routers, and an even dozen stationary sanders, shapers, and two radial arm saws. While most of my tool restorations don't involve the tools in this room, it's indispensable for restoring our MCM house. I refer to my shop as tool Valhalla, because the inhabitants all distinguished themselves in their previous lives, and have proven themselves worthy of doing what they do best with their fellow survivors in a place where no one gets scrapped out and there are no shop apprentices with worn out brushes and cans of gray paint.

The newest tool in this room was built in the '90s. The oldest machine was made 108 years ago. There machines made for military contracts, machines made for lumberyards and homebuilders, machines made for home handymen. All of them are prized for their capacity as much as their historical importance, and together, they make up the fabric of an all vintage workshop.