Photo Index - J. A. Fay & Egan Co. - No. 6-E Miter Trimmer

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
J. A. Fay & Egan Co.
Cincinnati, OH.

True Manufacturer:
Fox Machine Co., Grand Rapids, MI; Jackson, MI

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Universal Trimmer
Machine Size:	6"
Submitted By:	Keith Rucker

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	No. 6-E Miter Trimmer
Date of Manufacturer:	1915-1930's
Serial Number:
Last Updated	4/16/2005 6:50:20 PM

Comments:

Back in the spring of 2002, I got a lead on the whereabouts of a really big Fay and Egan miter trimmer. I have been wanting one of these handy tools for some time now but for some reason one had never crossed my path. In reality, visions of one of those huge Oliver models with the ships wheel on the back for moving the cutter had been what I was really wanting. Sure, I had seen a few Lion trimmers and similar clones out there but I did not want one of those wimpy machines, I wanted "heavy" iron.

When I first heard of the Fay and Egan trimmer, I had to admit that I was not even aware that they even made trimmers. A little investigation work immediately went into action. Of course, any time I want info on old woodworking machines, the first place I look is right here with the group of folks on this site. As usual, they did not let me down. My request for some scans of Fay and Egan catalog pages of trimmers was quickly answered with some digital pictures of the relative pages. After comparing the catalog pages with some digital pictures the owner of the trimmer had sent me, I quickly figured out that what I was dealing with was a model 6-E - a machine that was capable of trimming a 6" high piece of wood - enough to eat a lousy Lion trimmer up and spit it out the other side.

Along with the catalog pages, I also found out a little bit about the history of the relationship between miter trimmers and Fay and Egan. It seems that in 1915, J. A. Fay and Egan acquired the Fox Machine Company of Grand Rapids, MI. Along with some other tools, Fox made miter trimmers. I wont go into the entire history of Fox but if you would like, you can read more about their history in the Manufactures Index entry for Fox Machine Company (http://www.owwm.com/MfgIndex/detail.asp?ID=324). There are also some scans of some old ads showing the 6-E on the Manufacturers Index.

Well, back to how I acquired my trimmer....

The guy who I purchased the trimmer from a guy in New Orleans, LA who said that he found it in a wrecking yard in the early 1990's. It had been sitting in his shop every since and he was needing to make some room for some more machinery. He offered it to me at $300.00, which was more that I really wanted to pay (OK, so I am cheap) but it still sounded like a great deal. I said I would take it in late May 2002. Then came the shipping of this monster - catalogs list the weight of this trimmer at 550 lbs!
As it tuned out, the owner had a really good option for the shipping. It just so happened that this guy works for an architectural millwork company in New Orleans. They do work all over the country and have a truck that hauls their work. He knew that they had a job coming up that would be delivering work to Palm Beach, FL. This meant that the truck would be coming down I-10 - about 1 1/2 hours from me some time in the near future. The trimmer could be loaded up on the truck and I could just meet the driver in Tallahassee FL and pick it up myself.

This whole deal started in May 2002 but as it turned out the job in Palm Beach was not completed until late July - that meant that I had to be patient and wait a LONG time for my trimmer to arrive. It was tough wait, but the day finally came. Details were worked out and arrangements were made to pick up the trimmer early on a Saturday morning at a truck stop in Tallahassee FL. I got up early that Saturday morning and drove the hour and a half to Tallahassee for the much anticipated exchange. I meet the driver and in less than ten minuets, the trimmer was loaded on my truck and I was back on my way back home!

To make my being so impatient on the arrival day even worse, once I got home, I unloaded the trimmer and almost immediately had to leave again for a week long conference in Savannah GA. Would I ever get to be with my new trimmer?

The day finally arrived - one week after I picked up my new trimmer, I finally got to play with it. Overall, the trimmer was in pretty good condition. The only things wrong with it was the blade guard on the right side had been broken off at some point in time and the original handle was missing. Other than that, it was in pretty good shape. The paint was on the rough side so I decided to do a complete disassembly. While apart, I went ahead and de-greased the all of the parts and washed it off real good. Once cleaned up, I decided that there was not enough rust or otherwise bad areas on the trimmer to justify sand blasting so I just primed and painted. I ended up trying a new color on the trimmer - rather than the standard gray or black, I decided to go with an almond color. In retrospect, I am not sure that I really like the color all that much and kind of wished I had gone with gray or black. Oh-well.

Photo 1:

Comments: Front View.
Source: my digital camera

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Photo 2:

Comments: Angle View
Source: my digital camera

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Photo 3:

Comments: Rear View
Source: my digital camera

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