Hey Bill, Perhaps my eyes are good for spotting 30" tannewitz's because I spend a lot of time each day looking at one
I have some rebuild pics somewhere- it was one of my earliest major overhauls- back in the days prior to digital cameras! I should definitely work up a write-up of that endeavor.
As to furniture, yes, I have found that since the first week of January, my email has been ringing. Quite a good feeling. Hopefully 2011 will be a turnaround year.
As to the Yazoo, my best advice is to stay away, they are problem laden hulks. I believe they are some of the earliest designed zero turn mowers. Unlike the modern machines, where you sit in the middle, you sit in a seat hanging far from the center of rotation. Turning on a dome is kinda like a roller-coaster ride. Of course they can be had for cheap, are fun to drive and cover a ton of ground. I have a large lawn and a 60" Yazoo, the PO of my property took the better part of a weekend to mow the grounds with a standard old 42" deck tractor. I can do it with the Yazoo in 1 hour.
Pete: Nice looking, spacious shop. Looks like you have room for more machinery! Having a mezzanine must be a joy. You have an impressive aircraft carrier parked behind your Tanny 30". Is it 24"?
I think the Yazoo would be overkill for my small lot. An interesting concept on how it works.
I am glad to hear that you are also seeing renewed interest in furniture. It has been long drought.
Below are three photos of the bandsaw. It is great to know someone who has been there before, if I run into trouble!
Nice looking saw, You will love it. Absolutely the perfect size unless you do completely insane work (like resawing over 17"). The casting will be quite rough underneath, but you know what to do. The Tannewitz disc wheels are superior creations and the saws are simply great machines. The resaw capacity is within inches of the 36" yet the 30" is 1000 lbs less and under 8' tall. Just the perfect small shop saw (by small shop I mean less than factory sized)
Unfortunately the studio no longer looks so clean and spacious. That photo was poached from my studio building thread http://machinejunkie.com/forum/viewtopi ... &start=260 and is three years old and shot prior to dust collection, tablesaw island and a now full pallet rack that covers that wall. But I guess it is nice to remember when! I guess it is also probably time for some updated pics.
The Oliver jointer is a measly 20". I truly could get by with a 16", but am damn happy to own the 20. One year it will get some paint, but don;t hold you breath. I am the third owner and it went right into use.
The Yazoo is insanity, but I guess that is a specialty of mine.
Pete: It took me awhile to get through the chronology of building your shop. What an adventure! I would love to be able to design and build a shop, but that will be in another lifetime. You are unique in that you also have a seperate metal working shop adjacent to your woodworking equipment. That ties in well with your furniture business, as I see from your website, that you combine metal with wood in your work. Very unique.
I'll let you know when I will be posting pictures of the Tanny PH rebuild.
Nice job on the rebuild! I have a question for you...
A while ago over on OWWM there was a discussion of Tanny versus Oliver table saws. The issue of a riving knife on the Tannys was broached but never cleared up as I recall. From your pics, it looks clear that there is no riving knife on the J250. Now that you are very intimate with the bowels of a J250, do you think there is a way to retrofit one? It would of course have to move in concert with the motor.
I was a participant on that thread on OWWM, so during the restoration process, I looked closely at the possibility of adding at riving knife. The only way I think it could be done on my saw would require that the mechanical brake be removed. This seems to be the only logical place you could attach something to the motor carriage. On further reflection, it is possible that Tannewitz had this as an option on the saw: a brake or riving knife. Interesting research if someone has access to old sales brochures. However, when I got to that point in my thought process, I did not want to pursue it further as I like the brake and did not want to remove it.
That being said, the brake is attached to the motor carriage by two 1/2" socket head screws. Removing the brake, would provide a possible mounting platform for a bracket to mount the riving knife by using the two mounting holes for the brake. I am pretty sure that you could fabricate a bracket that would be attached to the carriage at that point. It would have to be designed to run through the arbor opening in the trunion and down into the cavity for the saw blade, and then positioned at a point at the rear of the blade so it could be aligned to protrude up through the throat plate parallel with the blade. The space between the saw blade and the side of the saw cavity is very tight (About 5/16”), but I think with some modeling and trial and error, a design for a riving knife could be done.
This would be an interesting and informative post if a fellow junkie who would like to look into this possibility.
Last edited by chathamworkshop on Wed Jan 29, 2014 8:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks for the reply and info. Kind of what I thought. Seems way too tight to come out from under the arbor and then go all the way behind the blade. Not sure I'd trust a bracket that long and thin to be rigid enough with a big knife attached to it.
What do you think are the prospects of machining a slot in the flask aft of the blade arc?
Edit: I forgot to add that I have a brochure on the J250 line which has a price list from 1956 inserted. Neither document mentions a riving knife as an option. And the text is such that the brake seems to be standard equipment.
Looks like you answered the question on the option of a riving knife or mechanical brake. Your thought on cutting a slot at the rear end of the blade chamber is a possibility. However, I am not sure how much that would weaken the structural integrity of the trunion.
Any thoughts on the two options by other members?
Hi, Bill. I'm new at this but I think I can help you with the riving knife (splitter) question. I have a JS 250 that has the factory splitter with it. My table saw serial number is on the knife and the bolt threaded holes are behind the blade on the saw. I can send you pictures and make a pattern for you if you wish.
Hi Mickey. Thanks for posting a response. There has been a lot of interest on this site and OWWM in modifying Tannewitz saws so they can take a riving knife. You are the first person I have seen that has a J-250 that came with the riving knife, so I think it would be of interest to see how a stock saw is configured. So pictures would be great!
Unfortunately, I had to sell my saw last year to make room for a planer, but I am still curious about the knife.
Hey Bill, will send pics by weeks end, A true riving knife as you already know elevates with the blade, Technically this is just a splitter but its the first factory splitter I've seen. Did you by any chance keep the wrench ? Also did you take any pics of the factory table lifts that gave you a 20 in. capacity. 1 more thing. I propose you add on to your shop in the future instead of selling your machines, Lol. You did a great saw job on your 250, I know it must have been tough to see it go.
Micky: I think the interest has been on a riving knife since they weres not a stock item on many Tannewitz table saws. However, please show of the splitter, knife arrangement on your saw. I think there will be interest in seeing them.
Unfortunately,the wrenches went with the table saw when I sold it.
Regarding the 20" blade capacity. Take a look at the restoration photos in the section that shows the cleaning and painting the underside of the table (They were toward the end of the project). You will see that the two rails for mounting the table to the chassis stand well above the the rest of the table. I am guessing that if you were to compare this top to a standard table, you would notice that the rails are couple inches higher.
It was fun, Pete. I went back and reread the thread, and got a twinge of remorse on selling the saw, but I had a greater need for the planer and no room.
Hope the guy that bought it is enjoying it.
Business has really picked up since late spring. Hope it keeps up for the remainder of the year.
Hey Bill, got you some pics of the splitter. Can't seem to figure out how to post pics on this site though, can you give me a hand? If you need my email its janssonwoodworks@gmail.com. Thanks
