Delta's First Scroll Saw

[DRugerH]

Good morning all.  I just wanted to post this as I thought you all would get a kick out of it.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I restore and use mostly American-Made woodworking machinery, as much as I can.  Heck, the machine in my avatar is a 1935 Delta 700 24" scroll saw that I restored and used for many years before purchasing my Hawk G4 last year.

Anyhow, I recently picked up Delta's first machine, which they patented in 1923.  Mine is not the earliest, but still in the first few years of manufacture.  It is a Delta 8" American Boy scroll saw.  I just finished restoring it over the weekend.  It's a simple machine, and can be hand-cranked or run by a small motor.  I picked it up for display purposes, and will make a crank handle for it, once I figure out the mounting hardware, and will even mount a blade, but I will not motorize it as it's just going to be a show-piece, but I doubt I'll be able to resist trying it out once I mount the crank handle to it. 

Anyhow, just thought you all would enjoy this, especially those of you using a Delta machine to see where they started.

Dan

 

[Bill WIlson]

Pretty cool!  Nice job on the restoration.

[Norm Fengstad]

wow , I would have loved to have one those instead of the coping saw I used during my kid time

[WayneMahler]

Great job on the restoration. Thanks for sharing.

[redwine]

Do you have a photo of this first Delta scroll saw before you started the restoration? It's great to see what the P 20 that I have that I bought back in 2005 just before Delta was bought out by Black and Decker, evolved from!                                                      Thanks for sharing!                                                                                                                                                                                                 Erv

 

 

 

[DRugerH]

20 hours ago, redwine said:

Do you have a photo of this first Delta scroll saw before you started the restoration?

As a matter of fact, I do.  I didn't actually take a before picture myself, but the PO reached out to me, on another forum, and sent it to me.  An after-market attachment was used on the saw to use coping saw blades.  It was gone before I purchased the saw, but that's fine as I would have removed it myself.

Dan

P.S.  I just realized how small this little saw looks on my table saw. 

Edited October 12, 2022 by DRugerH

[redwine]

Wow, after seeing the saw in the condition that you purchased, you did a super job on the recondition! Great job! Thanks for the before and after photos!

Erv 

[OCtoolguy]

Excellent restoration. Thanks for showing it and also for saving it from the scrap heap. I love old stuff. Probably because I am old stuff.

[kmmcrafts]

That's a really neat saw, and what a great job you've done to restore it. I like to see old machinery in both original and restored form.. 

[DRugerH]

Thanks all.  I have a few more machines to restore, but I felt like working on an easier one before I dive into others. 

Dan

[CharleyL]

Have you tried cutting with it yet? Would be good to hear and see the results.

My first scroll saw was a Dunlap (Sears Brand) given to me in the early 1950's. After using it, I have no idea why I still liked scroll sawing. The blade clamps were terrible, used pinned blades, and spring return in the up direction, so broke blades rapidly. It would have been totally impossible to use blades as small as I do now. It became my shop door stop and it it's second job very well for many years.

Charley

[OCtoolguy]

My first scroll saw was basically nothing more than a big transformer that created a vibration and the blade was stretched between 2 points on spring arm. Absolutely useless. And to think I traded a Benjamin pellet pistol for it. The worst deal I ever made.

 

[DRugerH]

13 hours ago, CharleyL said:

Have you tried cutting with it yet? Would be good to hear and see the results.

No, not yet.  I still have to make the crank handle for it, and I haven't had the gumption to do it yet.  I did mount a pinned blade to it, and it holds the blade nice and tight.  I don't see why it wouldn't cut.  It'll be awkward to use one hand on the crank and one holding the piece, but I'll do something simple with some thin pine or something, just for fun.  I'll post back when I finally make the crank and get it cutting.

Dan