Bargain Jointer - or Boat anchor

[woodyork]

Today I purchased a 6" jointer at a garage sale. It is an Accra macine tool co. model 02006. It looks to be about 20 years old, came on a stand, has a 46' span, all cast iron and a thee blade cutter head. No Manual. It has a light coating of rust on all the bare metal parts but I believe I can clean that all up.
I'd like to know what became of this company, where might I find a manual, are cutter head blades available and is it worth fixing up. I'll tell what I gave for it after I fnd out if it's a bargain or a bomb.

[Ken Weaver]

Go for it - 3 blade cutter sounds more recent than some doesn't it? Never heard of the company - dust off the Google bookmark. I did find a ref to a Craftsman-Accra RAS

-Wood, Plastic And Metalworking Know-How With Your Craftsman Accra-Arm Radial Saw, revised 1959 Ed., 192 pp. $20
http://www.owwm.com/PhotoIndex/detail.asp?id=42

Nothing about a joiner.

[scorrpio]

Does it run well? Are tables flat and parallel? What about fence?

Take out the blades, measure them, and compare to other 6" jointer blades out there. I mean, these blades are just strips of metal with one side sharpened, how different can they be from whats on the market? I am sure you'll be able to find blades for it if needed.

[mschrank]

Are you sure it "Accra" with 2 c's? There is an http://www.acramachinery.com/ but looks like they make machinery more suited to metalworking.

[agent511]

It looks to be about 20 years old, came on a stand, has a 46' span, all cast iron and a thee blade cutter head.

I'd have to build a special building to hold it! LOL

[onedash]

maybe its to flatten the bottom of a boat.

[woodyork]

Wish I had that garage!! My proofreader was asleep.

I cleaned it up with navel jelly and waxed the tables and it's working good as far as I can tell. I've never run a jointer before. The tables are flat and the fence is straight. I squared up a 2X4 and it came out perfect. The belt is old and it vibrates a little when I start it up and shut it down. The tables are very stiff when adjusting the height. I'm sure there is old dryed up grease on the slide mechanism. Haven't tried takeing them apart yet. Not sure how and a little worried about getting calibration screwed up. I think I can see the adjustments for making them square to each other but ----

Anyway I'm pretty happy so far. I bought it for $60 which is about 30 cents a pound and worst case I could get two boat anchors out of it.

Yes it does say Accura. It's made in Taiwan. Using Google I found a 12" Accura Jointer for $2000 bucks at Hamilton Tools. I may call them to see if I can get any more information. I'd really like to be able to get the manual for mine.

[Ken Weaver]

Sounds like a gloat to me - good on ya!