Photo Index - American Wood Working Machinery Co. - Six-roll Planer and Matcher,

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
American Wood Working Machinery Co.
Rochester, NY; Williamsport, PA; Montgomery, PA

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Planer, Wood
Machine Size:	26" x 8"
Submitted By:	Chuck Hess

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	Six-roll Planer and Matcher,
Date of Manufacturer:	1905 give or take,
Serial Number:	Shop # 99370 (View SN Registry Entry)
Last Updated	2/25/2006 3:25:07 AM

Comments:

American Planer Matcher vintage 1905 give or take.

Aloha, here is an American Wood Work Machinery Co. Six-roll Planer and Matcher. This one does not have a model # but the AWWMC ninth edition catalog has a similar one on pg. 104. It is titled the American Northwest Six-roll Planer and Matcher. This is the closest I have found in any catalogs. It is a flat belt driven machine with 26" slotted knives that are about 1/2" thick, the kind they call widow makers. The square heads hold up to 4 knives per head but this one still has 2 knives in each head. I came by this in the usual way. There are, or should I say were, two sugar companies on Maui; HC&S in the central valley and the Pioneer Mill on the west side. In 1998 the Pioneer mill closed and was going to have an auction. They called me because someone that I don't even know told them that I am nuts about old machinery. They informed me that they were going to auction off the machine shop but that the carpenter shop was not going to be in the sale. They wanted to know if I would make an offer on the whole carpenter shop. At the time I did not think I could afford to buy any equipment so I was not chomping at the bit, but I did go over and to have a look. I also did some rumor mill checking and found out that a couple of machines from there had already been removed, mainly a 24" Whitney # 600 planer so I was less than optimistic. When I saw the shop it was a mess; it had been flooded in 1996 and I could see the water marks on the bases of everything. The Main shop was not that big and had mostly old American Woodworking machinery; a 42" bandsaw with wood rimmed wheels and a small pit under it and a 12" American jointer w/ babbit bearings and a bunch of junk. My contact very proudly told me that the carpenter shop had been there since 1910 and all of the line shaft stuff was still there up top running right down the middle of the shop. Now this is the part of the story that I know all you bottom feeders are lookin' for. I went back to my shop since I did not really need any of the machines for myself and the fact that I am an Oliver junkie, I made some calls. Over the phone I sold the 42" Bandsaw and the Jointer, an amazing trick for Maui, and submitted my bid for that amount to the mill. They accepted and the day we were allowed to remove, the man that bought the bandsaw and jointer met us there and loaded his stuff which I did not touch but paid for the deal. I hope he never reads this. I also sold a Dewalt radial arm saw, big compressor, American mortiser & misc. items. There was a neat Baldwin, Tuthill & Bolton flat blade grinder which I blessed a friend of mine named Gilley with. The badge on that grinder is so cool, the only BTB I've ever seen. I kept a great Cincinatti grinder and the American planer matcher. In the meantime between the time I had looked at the stuff and we were there to pickup, some things like a drill press and small jointer had disappeared that I did not even realize but he told me he would refund $500 for those items. Am I blessed or what? Well back to the story about the planer matcher. It was in a shed roof annex to the shop and we were loaded to the gills. In addition to machines I picked up a ton of antiques which now decorate my shop and chains, chokers, shovels, vintage signage, hand tools including a complete Stanley #55, and anything else that did not get out of the way. We were in a 14' flatbed and trailer rig and both were completely full. Was that a great day or what? Cast Iron fever in full bloom. Anyway we left the planer matcher because it was too old and too big and the big motor that had been running her was already gone. We also left a couple of unmarked belt driven cast iron tilt table saws. But that week I thought about the planer and decided to go back. Everybody told me I was nuts but what do they know about addictions? So we got the truck & trailer & permission again and went back for her. The guy went and got someone who went and got someone who showed up in an articulated front loader; the kind that the tires are about 8' tall. The guy looks at the machine and says "eh bra, u like start 1 museum o wat"? The planer was up on a concrete pad about 4" high and had been bolted down. We got the nuts off but could not budge the bolts. So we had a cutting torch with us and blew them out best we could trying not to damage the casting. So the front loader guy hooked on to her in 1 spot with a huge chain and single hook and gave it jolt. Now the catalog puts this thing's weight about 7,700 pounds without all the guarding that had been added later, and that was quite a site to behold when this thing sort of shot out of the narrow, low roofed, shed and skidded to a halt in cloud of antique dust. That's right he just jerked it right off the pad in 1 shot and didn't crack or break anything. This was a very scary ride back to the other side of the island. So after that it was huge forklifts borrowed; my lift is only 6000 lbs and wouldn't even push this beast let alone pick her up. So its been sitting out in back of my shop ever since then and I have tried to donate it to the sugar cane museum here on Maui. They say they are interested but it is a low priority. This planer has 3 sets of drive rollers, all about 6" in diameter. The first and second sets have a corugated roller on top and smooth on the bottom; the last set are smooth top & bottom. The first 2 sets of rollers are close together and ahead of the 26" wide cutting heads, then the top head then the 2 side heads and lastly the bottom head and then the final set of feed rollers. There is about 4 feet in between the 2nd feed roller and the last feed roller. My guess is that running short pieces on this machine would have been about as much fun as an all night dentist. But this is a very cool machine, when I look at it I am just amazed at all the casting and iron and threading and hardware. It is of course all babbit bearings and flat belt and gear driven works. We found some slotted blades that had apparently been sent out for sharpening and they were wrapped in Honolulu advertiser paper. The date on the paper, 1951.
Aloha,
Chuck

Photo 1:

Comments: will get better shot when we clean up.
Source: My beautiful wife's camera

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Photo 2:

Comments: Tag but no model # on machine.
Source: My beautiful wife's camera

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Photo 3:

Comments: Name in casting.
Source: My beautiful wife's camera

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