Black and Decker - A Lethal (?) bit of history!

[jimi43]

Hi Guys.....

Doug's sale of the DeWalt rotary planer prompted me to post this rather interesting item I recently purchased on fleaBay.

Lately, I have been on the lookout for the Wagner Safe-T Planer to do some thicknessing on guitar tonewood...it works excellent for this and I found one courtesy of our dear forum member John....thanks mate!!!

On my journey and before I found John's Wagner...I found these on fleaBay and decided to purchase them as they looked interesting and the price was great....

One thing I did not realise from the original auction is how HUGE these things were....there is one head that is flat and for thicknessing and the second is for "gouging" (AAAAH! Fear!!!) being convex....

They both come in a beautiful solid oak finger-jointed box with a lovely instruction label on the inside:

I thought these were very old...and obviously the intended use on a HANDHELD rotary sander...is entirely before Health & Safety ever took over...even in America!!

The blades are near perfect and only needed slight honing (that was fun!) and now they are super sharp...

Now for the interesting bit....

I was after putting them on an arbour with a view to putting them in a vertical milling machine...there is no way on earth I would put sideways pressure on anything this big with an MT2 in my drillpress holding it in place...so I checked out the patent...the only thing I had any knowledge of...and found this at the US Patent Office....

ROTARY PLANER PATENT

As you can see, the patent was first registered in 1937 by none other than ALONZO G DECKER (Inventor)...!!!!

The plans are beautifully drawn....the whole description is fascinating...and it would appear this is one of the first patents from that fascinating company....just as it started out...

This sort of stuff absolutely fascinates me and I really don't care if they stay safely in the box until the day they are used by someone with a little more guts and a hell of a lot less risk averse!

I still plan to try to find a suitable arbour once I work out the thread...but I am not sure I would spin these too fast...they are rated up to 6000rpm!!

Anyway...that's the journey...I hope it interests someone here...it did me!

Jim

 

[Smudger]

Nah. You'll be alright. Don't forget the safety glasses and hold the work with your feet. No problem...

 

[jimi43]

Nah. You'll be alright. Don't forget the safety glasses and hold the work with your feet. No problem...

Darn right there Dick!

I was thinking of sending them to Norm for his birthday!

:wink:

Perhaps he would send me a shirt for mine....they only need dark glasses!

Jim

 

[Smudger]

I've seen someone use a sort-of chainsaw wheel in an angle grinder. Apparently that was the most dangerous thing you could use in your hand* - I think this takes the biscuit, though. So I imagine Norm would love it...



*Kenneth Williams impersonations invited here.

 

[Benchwayze]

Nah. You'll be alright. Don't forget the safety glasses and hold the work with your feet. No problem...

Darn right there Dick!

I was thinking of sending them to Norm for his birthday!

:wink:

Perhaps he would send me a shirt for mine....they only need dark glasses!

Jim

I see that 'George' in Asda are stocking the 'plaid' quilted shirts again. That was before the big freeze mind! I kinda outgrew mine. (I.e I put on weight!)

Best of luck with the retro-find.. And Jim, I hope to get into the shop today to dust off that piece of Mahogany.

Regards
John

John

 

[big soft moose]

I've seen someone use a sort-of chainsaw wheel in an angle grinder.

thats an arbortech - they arent really that dangerous at all so long as you are sensible and keep your hands away from the spinny bit - much less hazardous than a chainsaw for carving as their is no kickback risk

 

[Smudger]

This was in the context of my wife (Smudger screams: "Don't lean over that unguarded tablesaw blade whilst it's running!!!) using it...

She also wants a chainsaw and a welding kit. Do you think that would be safer?

 

[kenf]

My wife has one of those for slicing vegetables in a Magimix.

Could you not use it in a bucket?

 

[jimi43]

I see the level of ancient interest is high here today! :wink:

Darn it...I WILL run them up and see what happens...in a bucket maybe!!

Hey John...thanks mate but take your time...watch out if it is icy...I nearly fell on my buttocks twice this morning and it was pointless taking the car out!

Cheers

Jim