Delta-Rockwell 8" Homecraft Table Saw acquired

My father (who is 87) is closing down his house and moving to assisted living, so he gave me his table saw, which I grew up with.

The construction is cast iron and mild steel (table and mechanism) and sheet steel (box and table wings), and the whole metal assembly has to weigh 70 or 80 #.

The motor is 115 volt single phase 3/4 HP, made by GE.

The rubber power cord is hard, and crackles when bent. It will be replaced. (I installed the switch and cord when I was a kid, but I don't recall when.)

It turns out to be almost a cult object; I never knew. Here is a writeup: .

My father bought the saw used for $50 on 1955 (when I was 8), and it isn't nearly so pretty as the one in the writeup photo. I'm in the process of cleaning it up. Everything does work, and is tight, but there is a heavy layer of dry rust on all the unpainted iron or steel surfaces, in particular the table top and miter grooves. A carbide paint scraper works well, as all the surfaces needing attention are flat. Wet sanding with a machined aluminum sanding block also works.

Joe Gwinn

Reply to
Joseph Gwinn
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Joe, went to the dump last week and one of these was lying there in the metal section - right beside a Sears Roebuck 15" jigsaw (1950's vintage?). Hard to fit a table saw in a car trunk so I picked up the miter gauge and brought it home. Told my buddy, whom it was destined for, to go after school and pick it up - of course it was gone by then! Bummer. Electrolytic rust removal made a very nice job of the miter gauge mind you, I should put it in the local Buy&Sell as a freebie for the guy/gal who picked up the saw.

Amazing what you can find up there, my aforementioned buddy found a WW2 gas powered gen set on a 3 wheel cart there a few years back. Cleaned the carb. put in new plugs and away she went! The khaki paint was still new looking. We should all be so fortunate. Mike in BC

Reply to
Michael Gray

I got the saw into my station wagon, but it took some disassembly, which took something like an hour to accomplish.

I have found things at the town dump, but nothing that good.

My biggest score was a maple tabletop on a trestle base. Again, required disassembly (and a guard wife holding the other scavengers at bay, and away from my tools). It's now my work table in the shop.

Joe Gwinn

Reply to
Joseph Gwinn

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