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Or, "How I finally found a use for the stock BT3k Stand" 
This has been a relatively long project!
A local craigslist ad got me interested in small old jointers. I picked up this Delta 4" jointer on ebay for 50 bucks, plus 30 shipping. Added a 1/3 hp motor (20 bucks from local university of iowa surplus...go hawks!), dust hood (5 bucks), powertwist v belt (20 bucks) and appropriate pulleys (10 bucks), so I have 135 bucks into it, plus new blades for 25ish.
The jointer is from the period delta did not keep serial number records for, 1938 to 1941, but I'm told the serial number suggests a 1940 manufacture date.
It arrived in good shape and really cut a pretty decent edge, straight out of the box. Didn't take a lot of clean up either...this appears to have been well cared for for the last 67 years. The tables and fence were fairly clean, and it took just a few minutes of scrubbing and waxing to get the finish you see in the photos. I also figured it'd be a good idear to get new blades in and set them correctly, as well as build the nice little stand, including dust collection, for it to sit on. I've ran oak and hard maple over it, including face jointing a 2 1/2" hard maple board and 3.5" cedar on it, no problems at all (and that was before the new blades!).
I had the stand done a while ago (maybe a month or more?). It's scrap oak that I bought from someone (selling it as firewood GASP!) and 1/2" BB ply scraps. Pretty crude joinery...all dado and rabbet style construction. It's actually 2 separate boxes glued together in the middle. The side opposite the dust hood is open...I was/am hoping that the air movement thru the box will pick up the dust chips. Dosen't work with my shop vac...hopefully a real DC will work better. Finished with Watco Fruit colored danish oil then spray on poly. Note the cutout I had to do after the fact for the belt to clear the box (big WHOOPS moment when I realized I had to do that...freehanded it with a router, turned out better looking then I expected).
So last night I set the new blades...twice. I got it done once, broke the jointer apart to clean the internals of the infeed table, put it back together, tried to turn the cutterhead, and DOH the knifes were set too high and interefered with the outfeed table. So I got to set them again, a little lower this time
It was 11 30 last night when I finally finished reassembling everything and figured I'd snap the pics below. I ran some 4/4 oak (edge jointed) over it this morning to see how the new blades cut. Worked absolutely great!! I tried to snap a picture that showed how clean the edge was...the pic isn't great but I can tell you its a really smooth edge. I used to think I got clean edges right of the BT3k (never seen a jointer used before)...but those edges don't hold a candle to what a jointer produces. Sanding optional on these...
Right now it sits on my leftover BT3k metal base (saw is on a mobile stand) and is at the perfect height for me to use! The jointer assembly probably weighs somewhere between 80 and 100 lbs...so it's sort of kinda portable...
This has been a relatively long project!
A local craigslist ad got me interested in small old jointers. I picked up this Delta 4" jointer on ebay for 50 bucks, plus 30 shipping. Added a 1/3 hp motor (20 bucks from local university of iowa surplus...go hawks!), dust hood (5 bucks), powertwist v belt (20 bucks) and appropriate pulleys (10 bucks), so I have 135 bucks into it, plus new blades for 25ish.
The jointer is from the period delta did not keep serial number records for, 1938 to 1941, but I'm told the serial number suggests a 1940 manufacture date.
It arrived in good shape and really cut a pretty decent edge, straight out of the box. Didn't take a lot of clean up either...this appears to have been well cared for for the last 67 years. The tables and fence were fairly clean, and it took just a few minutes of scrubbing and waxing to get the finish you see in the photos. I also figured it'd be a good idear to get new blades in and set them correctly, as well as build the nice little stand, including dust collection, for it to sit on. I've ran oak and hard maple over it, including face jointing a 2 1/2" hard maple board and 3.5" cedar on it, no problems at all (and that was before the new blades!).
I had the stand done a while ago (maybe a month or more?). It's scrap oak that I bought from someone (selling it as firewood GASP!) and 1/2" BB ply scraps. Pretty crude joinery...all dado and rabbet style construction. It's actually 2 separate boxes glued together in the middle. The side opposite the dust hood is open...I was/am hoping that the air movement thru the box will pick up the dust chips. Dosen't work with my shop vac...hopefully a real DC will work better. Finished with Watco Fruit colored danish oil then spray on poly. Note the cutout I had to do after the fact for the belt to clear the box (big WHOOPS moment when I realized I had to do that...freehanded it with a router, turned out better looking then I expected).
So last night I set the new blades...twice. I got it done once, broke the jointer apart to clean the internals of the infeed table, put it back together, tried to turn the cutterhead, and DOH the knifes were set too high and interefered with the outfeed table. So I got to set them again, a little lower this time
It was 11 30 last night when I finally finished reassembling everything and figured I'd snap the pics below. I ran some 4/4 oak (edge jointed) over it this morning to see how the new blades cut. Worked absolutely great!! I tried to snap a picture that showed how clean the edge was...the pic isn't great but I can tell you its a really smooth edge. I used to think I got clean edges right of the BT3k (never seen a jointer used before)...but those edges don't hold a candle to what a jointer produces. Sanding optional on these...
Right now it sits on my leftover BT3k metal base (saw is on a mobile stand) and is at the perfect height for me to use! The jointer assembly probably weighs somewhere between 80 and 100 lbs...so it's sort of kinda portable...
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