Day 32, Jet Bandsaw, with a bonus gem
Back on May 13, my garage gem was the 10" Sears bandsaw
that I got for $20. The same week I ran across this gem at another estate sale. I think I paid about $80 for it.
It's a relatively modern Jet bandsaw, a JWBS-14 Wood cutting bandsaw.
When I first got it, it had some mild surface rust on the table, but a little scrubbing with a green pad and some WD-40 got rid of it. Much worse was the damage that was done to it underneath the table. The trunion that allows the table to tilt had evidently broken, and the previous owner had roughly cut a chunk of pipe to serve as the trunion, with some tabs welded on to allow it to be bolted to it. No two of the bolts were the same type. The welds look like they might have been done by someone who closed their eyes rather than bothering to put on a welding mask.
I spent another $40 to order the right part, and got it fixed.
I also spent some money getting a WEN mobile base for it, so I could wheel the bandsaw around the shop. I don't actually like it all that much, but it does work, and it allows me to keep the bandsaw up against the wall when I'm not using it, and then move it out onto my driveway when I need to make cuts.
The serial number does not seem to have any obvious mapping to the date of manufacture. I suppose I could call Jet and ask them, but my best guess is that this one is probably no more than 25-30 years old.
What's kind of astounding is that the total cost of this bandsaw was less than the cost of a can of this:
It seems that since Johnson Paste Wax has been stop being manufactured, the prices have skyrocketed.
The price for this on Amazon is now about $14/ounce, which means that I have about $50 worth of paste wax in this can.
It's absurd of course. It's paste wax. I know some people attribute magical properties to it, but it's just paste wax. It has an odor which I don't particularly care for, having a distinctly petroleum scent. It was cheap, and I used it to cover my old steel tools, but given the smell, I didn't much care for it in woodworking applications. I now use Minwax, or some mineral oil/beeswax combo that I melt together myself, and is basically food safe.
Anyway, back to the bandsaw. I still think that I could do some work on the fence, and/or making a better fence for it, and I'm not the best at ensuring its setup properly. But there are times when it vastly simplifies some cuts that I'd normally result to a jig saw, and I hate jigsaws.
Hope your week is going well.