Photo Index - Oliver Machinery Co. - 299-D w/ ITCH Cutterhead

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Oliver Machinery Co.
Grand Rapids, MI

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Planer, Wood
Machine Size:	24"
Submitted By:	Chuck Hess

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	299-D w/ ITCH Cutterhead
Date of Manufacturer:	1942
Serial Number:	55785 (View SN Registry Entry)
Last Updated	4/24/2006 3:02:43 AM

Comments:

Oliver 299-D 24" Planer w/ITCH head, 1942 vintage.
Aloha,
This planer was already on Maui in a shop right across the street from mine. The guy that had it let a friend of his plane down a sign. They hit about 50 screws and did not have a clue how to fix it. I did not have a clue either but I needed a planer and liked it. This was my first Oliver machine and started me down that slippery slope, if you're reading this then you know what I am talking about. I quickly found out who Rich Fink is and he encouraged me to buy it and that it would be easy to repair the damage to the teeth. He just warned me to make sure that the grinder was all there. The previous owner did not know how to grind it and had never done it himself but had a bunch of stuff in box. When I first looked at the grinder I could not even tell which was the business end, but I spent a little time and finally deduced that it looked fairly complete but I was still pretty bewildered. I also saw that there was large number of replacement teeth already with the grinder. The owner did not really want to sell it but he could not use it the way it was and did not seem interested in fixing it so I waited him out and finally one day he just brought it over to my shop on his forklift and said "give me 4 grand". I did not know if that was a good deal at the time, but I coughed it up, and wrote him a check on the spot. It's an interesting machine because according to Rich, it began life as a straight knife 5 HP machine. Rich told me "somebody had spent some money on this machine" because it had been factory retro fitted with the inserted tooth cutterhead sometime after 1972. The 84 tooth cutterhead consists of 6 rows of 14 1" x 1" solid carbide teeth spiraling around the head. The teeth have cutting bevels on all 4 sides and obviously have to be ground on the head. At that time it had also been rewound to a 7.5 HP motor and factory repainted. This is the machine that I later matched all my Oliver repaints to. This planer started life with a "Brass Chicken" badge but I think during the factory refit the washed out lookin' red tag was added. The brass chicken badge in the photo was one that Rich made for me and I installed it in the 4 original holes. The original brass tag was MIA. Anyway it wasn't a restoration and after I figured out that the diamond wheel was about 20 years overdue for replacement I got her up and running pretty quick. The bed rollers are a real trick to set on this vintage and that was the hardest part of the setup. We also set it up on "fork tubes"; these planers seem a little too low to be comfortable to me. This planer has been a real workhorse for me and does a great job on our dense tropical hardwoods with interlocked grain. Bring on the Koa. She runs quiet too, even when it the cut.
Aloha,
Chuck

Update 2/24/06
I removed the red badge and did a quick rattle can restro on the planer with Oliver green paint. The original paint was just wearing thin, so no apologies now. Looks pretty good for a WWII vet!

Update 4/23/06
I just won a birth certificate from this machine from Rich @ Eagle Machinery. I had always assumed this one was sold to Pearl Harbor. Now I know it was ordered by the U.S. Navy, thru A.L. Young Machinery Co. in San Fransico, for the submarine base at Midway Island with an order date of 10/21/1942 and a delivery date of 1/1/1943. It is a stunningly clear copy of that cool old document and a big mahalo to Rich Fink again. By the way the original price was $1765.00 with the Navy receiveing 10% discount off that for the Navy's price of $1588.50.

Photo 1:

Comments: rattle can restro.
Source: My beautiful wife's camera.

Direct Link
IMG Code

Photo 2:

Comments: Right next to my #12 jointer, what a pair!
Source: My beautiful wife's camera.

Direct Link
IMG Code

Photo 3:

Comments: Tail boy side.
Source: My beautiful wife's camera.

Direct Link
IMG Code