| Oh dear, another OWWM'er on HN :-) I lurk, but I mostly try to avoid that rabbit hole unless I'm trying to solve a specific problem. Turns out, I waste enough time on the internet already without drooling over the work people do there restoring old machines to better-than-new condition. Seriously, some of those folks are nuts (as you well know). It sounds like you've got a nice shop going. I'm a little jealous. My stationary tools are actually stashed in a literal barn right now because I no longer have a basement to put a shop in. I work out of a makerspace, but that's closed due to present conditions, so I moved my bench into my living room. I gave in and fetched my band saw, and it's now sitting on my covered porch. And I have no blades for it at the moment. I'm getting a lot of exercise milling lumber entirely by hand. Honestly, my arms are going to fall off (or get huge) if the lockdown continues much longer. I'm with you on the modern tools, by the way. On the vintage stuff, a lot of companies really took pride in their industrial design (as you well know). And even the totally utilitarian stuff has stylistic variation between manufacturers. The only difference between Grizzly and current Powermatic tools is the color of the paint. I remain hopeful that Festool having proved that there's a market for higher-priced tools means that somebody will start making nice stationary tools again. That's probably a lot to hope for, though I recently discovered that Northfield is still chugging along and so is Tannewitz. They're out of my price range for the time being, but I hope they survive long enough for my price range to intersect their prices! It's a real pity that Oliver is now yet another nameplate on the same castings from overseas. The school I went to has a vintage 166 jointer and a 399 planer that I'm in love with. > Checked out your website... Wow. I have a long, long way ahead to that kind of woodworking projects. ;) Thanks! I'm a long way from making actual money at this. I'm lucky to be married to somebody very supportive. We'll see how the economy does. I have a couple of paid projects that appear to be holding, and we'll see where things go from there. I guess there's always software to go back to? |