The Crescent Machine Company was founded in 1894 as a general machine shop by founders Elmer Harrold and Clint Wilderson of Leetonia, Ohio. In 1897, the company designed and built a small band saw for a local cabinet maker and was launched into the business of manufacturing woodworking machinery.
Advertisement from 1897 showing the first model band saw made by Crescent
Over the next few years, the company began focusing solely on woodworking machinery and adding new machines to their line. Best known for their line of band saws and jointers, Crescent made a complete line of woodworking machinery during their 60 year history, including table saws, planers, shapers, sanders, mortisers, tenoners, swing saws, radial arm saws, boring machines, and combination machines.
1925 advertisement showing some of Crescent's line of machinery.
In 1945, Crescent was sold to the Pittsburgh Equitable Meter and Manufacturing Company, which later became the Rockwell Manufacturing Company and the Crescent line was merged into the lines of other Rockwell owned woodworking machinery manufacturers, including Delta and Red Star. Production at the Leetonia plant continued until 1953, when Rockwell decided to close the factory and sell off most of the Crescent brand due to a long unresolved employee strike. At that time, Rockwell sold off the Crescent name and the rights to manufacture all of the machines made by Crescent —except for the 8" jointer, 12/14" tilting-arbor saw, and 20" wood-cutting bandsaw—to the William K. Stamets Co. under the Enterprise Division.
Detailed History of the Crescent Machine Company
For a detailed history of the Crescent Machine Company, please see the following publications as they appeared in The Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc.:
Other Crescent Sources:
Sources for Parts and Manuals:
Crescent has gone through many hands since being sold to Stamets in 1953. Since then, the franchise has passed through The Jeffco Company and J.E.S. Technologies of Columbiana Ohio. Sometime in 2005, the company once again changed names and/or merged with Alloy Machining. Jeffco, J.E.S. and Alloy Machining all have had the same address in Columbiana, OH indicating that they only changed names.
Alloy Machining has had some limited parts and manuals for Crescent machinery. They can be contacted at:
Alloy Machining
1028 Lower Elkton Road
Columbiana, OH 44408
Phone: 330-482-5543
Information Sources
- The information in this section was collected by Keith Rucker. Thanks to the many people who have contributed manuals, serial numbers, and other information.
- Some people have difficulty with the spelling of "Crescent". It's not Cresent or Crecent or Crecsent. But now that those incorrect spellings are listed here, a search using those spellings will find this entry.