So last night I dug through the classifieds, scoping out garage sales. I was determined to finally find some inexpensive worker planes, and maybe some odds and ends. Launched my quest this morning full of hope and coffee.
After slogging though countless sales with nary a sniff of anything interesting, my optimism was failing. Then, I happened on a sale with some promise. Actual tools. Tools that had been used by someone that cared for them and knew what he was doing. Most of the stuff was for plumbing and metalworking (some nice stuff, though), but there was this largish hunk of iron that caught my eye. It's the biggest darned scroll saw that I've ever seen. It's a Craftsman, but was clearly made before all quality and sense left the line. I poke at it a little, then look around some more.
I'm not really a scroll saw kinda guy. I mean, those are for making frilly gingerbread and stuff, right? Not the kind of he-man wood butchering that I'm into.
Thankfully, common sense tapped me on the shoulder and said "If you don't buy this now, you will regret it. You'll never get this chance again." Actually, common sense said several more things, but I've edited them out so as not to offend those with delicate sensibilities.
So I look at it some more and fiddle with it a bit. It seems a solid enough machine. The kind lady running the sale tells me that I can plug it in and fire it up, if I'd like. It purrs. It actually *purrs*. The lady confers with her mother and she tells me that it belonged to her father when he was a kid. She has $65 on it, I offer $50. Sold. I tell them that it's going to a good home. That I'll clean it up and put it back to good use.
I unbolt it from it's stand (did I mention that it came with a seriously heavy-duty roll around stand?) and load it into the truck. Get home, put it in the shop and start looking for info. What I know is it's a 24" Craftsman 4-speed scroll saw. What I don't know is vintage or manufacturer. I didn't see too much on OWWM. Looks very similar to the
1940 model from Walker-Turner, but there are significant differences. I'm guessing that it's late 30's, but I could be way off. I haven't found a Craftsman model number yet. If anyone would like to help me identify this guy, I've posted pics at a.b.p.w.