scrimper
Established Member
AES":31o8es5s said:
Perhaps the one you remember was the Gem model which was less ornate than the A1, later Gems had plain foot treadles made of pressed steel.
Hobbies treadle fretsaw
- Thread starter Viking
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Perhaps the one you remember was the Gem model which was less ornate than the A1, later Gems had plain foot treadles made of pressed steel.
AES
Established Member
You may be right there scrimper, I seem to remember 2 separate foot pedals, fixed together (not 1 big rectangular one like the machine in the OP) and I certainly don't remember any drilling bits & bobs, nor any extension shaft coming out of the drive wheel.
BUT (big but!) "remember my memory" - never brilliant at the best of times - assuming I was exactly 10 at the time, then as of yesterday, my use of that machine was exactly 61 years ago! So my "recollections" are not going to be terribly reliable, sorry.
Interesting posts/topic though. Hobbies was certainly a well-known name in the past. And I don't know they made lathes as DTR said.
Your earlier info about a name change to something completely ridiculous rang a bell too - off topic this (sorry), but just as another glaring example, the US aircraft manufacturer Douglas was undoubtedly world leader in commercial & freight aeroplanes from before WWII onwards (DC2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, & 10). They got taken over by McDonnell (builders of the Phantom and other famous fighter aircraft) and from then on became "McDonnell-Douglas", subsequently producing only the MD-11 (a sort of souped-up DC-10, and the MD-80 & 90, souped-up DC9s). None wildly successful with the possible exception of the MD-80. But McD-D have now disappeared completely and what little that's left is owned by Boeing (under the Boeing name!). Remember that Boeing started out as being an also-ran compared to Douglas in the civil aircraft field in WWII, then they slowly overtook Douglas, and finally gobbled them up! I don't suggest that changing names is the whole story but I do firmly believe that this daft management story did play a significant role - as in so many other cases.
Anyway, I digress, sorry everyone. I look forward to getting that Hobbies book.
AES
BUT (big but!) "remember my memory" - never brilliant at the best of times - assuming I was exactly 10 at the time, then as of yesterday, my use of that machine was exactly 61 years ago! So my "recollections" are not going to be terribly reliable, sorry.
Interesting posts/topic though. Hobbies was certainly a well-known name in the past. And I don't know they made lathes as DTR said.
Your earlier info about a name change to something completely ridiculous rang a bell too - off topic this (sorry), but just as another glaring example, the US aircraft manufacturer Douglas was undoubtedly world leader in commercial & freight aeroplanes from before WWII onwards (DC2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, & 10). They got taken over by McDonnell (builders of the Phantom and other famous fighter aircraft) and from then on became "McDonnell-Douglas", subsequently producing only the MD-11 (a sort of souped-up DC-10, and the MD-80 & 90, souped-up DC9s). None wildly successful with the possible exception of the MD-80. But McD-D have now disappeared completely and what little that's left is owned by Boeing (under the Boeing name!). Remember that Boeing started out as being an also-ran compared to Douglas in the civil aircraft field in WWII, then they slowly overtook Douglas, and finally gobbled them up! I don't suggest that changing names is the whole story but I do firmly believe that this daft management story did play a significant role - as in so many other cases.
Anyway, I digress, sorry everyone. I look forward to getting that Hobbies book.
AES
scrimper
Established Member
AES":3b0jaz1s said:
No problem drifting from the thread all threads do this, I think you and I feel the same about stupid pointless name changes, one that springs to mind was changing Royal mail to Consignia at a cost of £30 million then a few months later changing it back! I wonder how much the silly person who thought that up got paid! Another stupid name change (IMHO) is changing the famous Littlewoods store brand to Very! I bet some 'whizz kid' got paid silly money for thinking that one up too! :shock:
Viking
Established Member
Here is a photograph from the other machine which is identical to the one in the first posting. This
one however has been badly painted green, which is definitely not original.
The castings are of a very high quality, balancing finish, strength and stiffness with light weignt. The foundry
that produced these castings must have been of the highest standard.
The shaft is 3/8" diameter and 1 1/8" long. At 1/4" from the wheel there is a flat 3 1/16" wide.
Presumably the flat provides fixing for a grub screw like the one shown on the flange of the wheel
Is this how the drilling attachment was fitted? What did the drilling attachment look like?
I am looking forward to receiving my copy of the Hobbies book. I think the history of the company
as it has started to emerge from your contributions and the machines themselves is an excellent story of enterprise
successfully sustained over many years.
one however has been badly painted green, which is definitely not original.
The castings are of a very high quality, balancing finish, strength and stiffness with light weignt. The foundry
that produced these castings must have been of the highest standard.
The shaft is 3/8" diameter and 1 1/8" long. At 1/4" from the wheel there is a flat 3 1/16" wide.
Presumably the flat provides fixing for a grub screw like the one shown on the flange of the wheel
Is this how the drilling attachment was fitted? What did the drilling attachment look like?
I am looking forward to receiving my copy of the Hobbies book. I think the history of the company
as it has started to emerge from your contributions and the machines themselves is an excellent story of enterprise
successfully sustained over many years.
Attachments
Viking
Established Member
Apologies, that should have read: The flat is 3/16" wide!
loftyhermes
Established Member
AES
Established Member
@scrimper:
You wrote QUOTE: No problem drifting from the thread all threads do this, I think you and I feel the same about stupid pointless name changes ....... UNQUOTE:
Oh YES Sir, we do! As you say, many other examples too ..... But back to Hobbies:
As said I do definitely remember working with that Hobbies treadle saw, cutting plywood, and with minimal supervision (after the first explanations) and it was definitely in my last year at Primary School. Bearing in mind the thread elsewhere here about "craft training" for today's school kids, would I have been alone in this experience around that time? I should add that the Primary School concerned was a bog-standard local council Primary, not some special fee-paying establishment.
If not unusual then perhaps Hobbies got a lot of their business by supplying saws and blades, & bits & pieces, etc, to schools at that time? And perhaps that all dried up later on, hence (or part of the reason, along with daft name changes) for them becoming defunct?
Before that age I had already started cutting out and assembling cardboard cars & lorries off the back of Weetabix packets, and I think lots of kids were the same then too. As I remember it now, by that age all of us last-year Primary school kids were encouraged to do whatever sort of "handwork" we liked. It seems today's schools in UK (and in Switzerland too I think) aren't like that anymore.
I have a feeling that this may well be a reason why (apparently) so few school kids are involved with such stuff today.
Must make it difficult for companies such as Hobbies to keep going today.
The saw in the latest post above looks interesting. Let's hear more please.
AES
You wrote QUOTE: No problem drifting from the thread all threads do this, I think you and I feel the same about stupid pointless name changes ....... UNQUOTE:
Oh YES Sir, we do! As you say, many other examples too ..... But back to Hobbies:
As said I do definitely remember working with that Hobbies treadle saw, cutting plywood, and with minimal supervision (after the first explanations) and it was definitely in my last year at Primary School. Bearing in mind the thread elsewhere here about "craft training" for today's school kids, would I have been alone in this experience around that time? I should add that the Primary School concerned was a bog-standard local council Primary, not some special fee-paying establishment.
If not unusual then perhaps Hobbies got a lot of their business by supplying saws and blades, & bits & pieces, etc, to schools at that time? And perhaps that all dried up later on, hence (or part of the reason, along with daft name changes) for them becoming defunct?
Before that age I had already started cutting out and assembling cardboard cars & lorries off the back of Weetabix packets, and I think lots of kids were the same then too. As I remember it now, by that age all of us last-year Primary school kids were encouraged to do whatever sort of "handwork" we liked. It seems today's schools in UK (and in Switzerland too I think) aren't like that anymore.
I have a feeling that this may well be a reason why (apparently) so few school kids are involved with such stuff today.
Must make it difficult for companies such as Hobbies to keep going today.
The saw in the latest post above looks interesting. Let's hear more please.
AES
scrimper
Established Member
loftyhermes":3r24gf3z said:
My A1 is exactly the same as the your second image, it is also the earlier model with the spoked hand wheel while the later one is solid.
scrimper
Established Member
AES
You were lucky having a fretsaw at school we had no such thing around here, TBH after the 2nd world war actual fretwork was declining and Hobbies started to provide plans for more useful things around the house but I imagine it must have been difficult for them to stay in business at all especially when TV came along.
My late father came back from the 2nd world war after spending 6 years in the desert and finding it difficult to get work (they were Heroes during the war but afterwards no one wanted to know!) so he used his fretworking skills to make wooden toys and little brackets and stuff and 'peddle' them around the RAF camp where he worked, it supplemented our meagre income a little until all the cheap plastic stuff started to arrive and that was the end of that. I then took over the fretsaw as a youngish lad and made some toy farms and stuff which I sold to a toy shop near where I worked, that was about 50 yrs ago and I am lucky I kept the fretsaw.
Since I was about 10 I have always had an interest in the Hobbies company and that fascination has never waned, every week we took Hobbies weekly magazine and once a year the Hobbies handbook, by 1965 Hobbies were finding it difficult and they started to diversify more by retailing stuff made by others rather than manufacturing so much themselves which is sort of what the present company who use the Hobbies name do.
Both of my grandsons can do fretwork, both use my Hegner and the youngest one is only 8yrs old but it is unusual; most youngsters today are not interested in woodwork of any kind let alone fretwork such is the draw of computers and the WWW.
You were lucky having a fretsaw at school we had no such thing around here, TBH after the 2nd world war actual fretwork was declining and Hobbies started to provide plans for more useful things around the house but I imagine it must have been difficult for them to stay in business at all especially when TV came along.
My late father came back from the 2nd world war after spending 6 years in the desert and finding it difficult to get work (they were Heroes during the war but afterwards no one wanted to know!) so he used his fretworking skills to make wooden toys and little brackets and stuff and 'peddle' them around the RAF camp where he worked, it supplemented our meagre income a little until all the cheap plastic stuff started to arrive and that was the end of that. I then took over the fretsaw as a youngish lad and made some toy farms and stuff which I sold to a toy shop near where I worked, that was about 50 yrs ago and I am lucky I kept the fretsaw.
Since I was about 10 I have always had an interest in the Hobbies company and that fascination has never waned, every week we took Hobbies weekly magazine and once a year the Hobbies handbook, by 1965 Hobbies were finding it difficult and they started to diversify more by retailing stuff made by others rather than manufacturing so much themselves which is sort of what the present company who use the Hobbies name do.
Both of my grandsons can do fretwork, both use my Hegner and the youngest one is only 8yrs old but it is unusual; most youngsters today are not interested in woodwork of any kind let alone fretwork such is the draw of computers and the WWW.
Viking
Established Member
Here is the green "Imperial" as assembled earlier today.
This is virtually identical to the blue one shown in my first post.
Could these be prototypes for the A1 at a time when the Imperial bases were still available?
They are both essentially an imperial base with an A1 saw head, however the
green one is missing some parts and other parts appear to be home made replacements.
The sawing head is in poor condition and requires a complete re-make.
The threadle mechanism works satisfyingly well, it seems to have a gentle rythm of its own
which makes it pleasant to pedal.
This is virtually identical to the blue one shown in my first post.
Could these be prototypes for the A1 at a time when the Imperial bases were still available?
They are both essentially an imperial base with an A1 saw head, however the
green one is missing some parts and other parts appear to be home made replacements.
The sawing head is in poor condition and requires a complete re-make.
The threadle mechanism works satisfyingly well, it seems to have a gentle rythm of its own
which makes it pleasant to pedal.
Attachments
Hello Everybody,
I have a incomplete Hobbies fretsaw, of the same model (The Imperial). I was trying to find other owners of this model, that could be so kind to provide me with pictures of the missing parts, because it is my intention to restore/rebuild it.
I apologize for my English, since I'm not a native speaker, and I thank you in advance for all the help you can give me.
DNN
I have a incomplete Hobbies fretsaw, of the same model (The Imperial). I was trying to find other owners of this model, that could be so kind to provide me with pictures of the missing parts, because it is my intention to restore/rebuild it.
I apologize for my English, since I'm not a native speaker, and I thank you in advance for all the help you can give me.
DNN
have you tried using Bing search engine with the name/model and select images? I have found Bing comes up with lots of different images compared to the other search engines.......you might be able to spot the missing parts.
Cheers
Brian
ps Your english is MUCH better than my Portuguese
Cheers
Brian
ps Your english is MUCH better than my Portuguese
scrimper
Established Member
Thank you for your replies!
As you can see below, my machine is a bit incomplete.
![url]](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/1c7/1c7973e025fdf4c55b206dc6ee8ee5ea)
Any help you can give me identifying the missing parts, either with photos, drawings, etc, will be highly appreciated. My goal is to buy the missing parts but, if not possible, i will try to manufacture them.
Best regards,
Duarte
As you can see below, my machine is a bit incomplete.
Any help you can give me identifying the missing parts, either with photos, drawings, etc, will be highly appreciated. My goal is to buy the missing parts but, if not possible, i will try to manufacture them.
Best regards,
Duarte
Stanleymonkey
Established Member
The back of the saw - where the wooden arms should be looks like the standard shape on most cast iron Hobbies saws.
Iw ill try and post a picture over the weekend for you to look at.
If it is a match - then you should be able to find / make replacement wooden arms easily.
Iw ill try and post a picture over the weekend for you to look at.
If it is a match - then you should be able to find / make replacement wooden arms easily.
Thank you Stanleymonkey,
I will be looking forward to see that picture.
I also would like to rebuild the drill attachment, if anyone can help me with that...
VIking, can you send me some photos of the saw clamps and wooden arms on your machine?
Thanks in advance.
Duarte
I will be looking forward to see that picture.
I also would like to rebuild the drill attachment, if anyone can help me with that...
VIking, can you send me some photos of the saw clamps and wooden arms on your machine?
Thanks in advance.
Duarte
Viking
Established Member
Hello Duarte,
Your english is great and so is your saw!
I have located the wooden arms and the parts that go with it. I will get some photographs of these for you.
Please let me know what dimensions you need.
Im also making a set of arms, the originals appear to be a good quality pine or perhaps cedar, tight straight grain.
Best Regards,
Viking
Your english is great and so is your saw!
I have located the wooden arms and the parts that go with it. I will get some photographs of these for you.
Please let me know what dimensions you need.
Im also making a set of arms, the originals appear to be a good quality pine or perhaps cedar, tight straight grain.
Best Regards,
Viking
Wildman
Established Member
there are numerous copies on Ebay under the names of "Hobbies Annual", Hobbies handbook"AES":2bfbgzmo said:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hobbies-Handb ... SwyLlXpIAC
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1940-Vintage- ... SwgHZYCz93
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-Hobbys-A ... SwhOVXc8ox
etc
I would love one of those classic treadle saws but would need to employ a street urchin to peddle it for me lol too much hard work for me but they look lovely and its great that people are still using them.
Brian
Brian
AES
Established Member
Thanks for the links Wildman.
Since the post of mine to which you have replied I've bought the Hobbies history book (direct from Hobbies themselves). Very interesting, but as you'd expect as it was written by a local historian from the town where Hobbies were based (Thetford in Norfolk), although it does mention quite a lot of detail about the various machines it does tend to focus more on the company itself and it's staff.
Nothing wrong with any of that, on the contrary, but I shall certainly follow up on those links and look for one or two of those old Handbooks. The 1940's one looks interesting but I thought it a bit pricey - I dunno, perhaps it's more of a collector's item, which I'm not, but at nearly 30 quid + postage I thought it a bit steep - but anyway thanks for posting, I'm sure I'll find something suitable via those links and other searches.
Cheers
AES
AES
Since the post of mine to which you have replied I've bought the Hobbies history book (direct from Hobbies themselves). Very interesting, but as you'd expect as it was written by a local historian from the town where Hobbies were based (Thetford in Norfolk), although it does mention quite a lot of detail about the various machines it does tend to focus more on the company itself and it's staff.
Nothing wrong with any of that, on the contrary, but I shall certainly follow up on those links and look for one or two of those old Handbooks. The 1940's one looks interesting but I thought it a bit pricey - I dunno, perhaps it's more of a collector's item, which I'm not, but at nearly 30 quid + postage I thought it a bit steep - but anyway thanks for posting, I'm sure I'll find something suitable via those links and other searches.
Cheers
AES
AES
