Photo Index - Silver Manufacturing Co. - 26-inch, model 820

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Silver Manufacturing Co.
Salem, OH

True Manufacturer:
Silver Manufacturing Co., Salem, OH

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Band Saw
Machine Size:	26.5"
Submitted By:	John K

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	26-inch, model 820
Date of Manufacturer:	1907 - 1920
Serial Number:	unknown/ no markings
Last Updated	9/4/2022 4:51:34 PM

Comments:

Purchased off Craigslist near Waukegan, IL for $500 in 2019 in full working condition. It was missing the auxiliary table, all parts for the line-shaft belt drive system, the table slot pin, and the table tilt lever. Came with a homemade wooden blade guard, a Browning dual-belt drive wheel, and a 5-HP single-phase motor that are not original. The babbitt bearings on the drive were poured recently before my purchase and in good shape. The upper wheel has a bronze sleeve that came with a grease Zerk fitting. I replaced the Zerk with a vintage brass grease cup.

Stripped down and re-painted. Most smaller cast parts treated with a baked on oil finish. Larger parts painted. Many of the tiny parts like fasteners were treated with a gun blue and oil finish. I did not expose the tensioner spring to any heat, nor did I finish this part with paint. The auxiliary table was reproduced with quarter-sawn solid oak. I added a vintage Allen-Bradley starter switch with a custom u-bolt clamp. I upgraded the motor sheave to dual belt so I could add a pair of new Browning matched belts. I also mounted a vintage work lamp over the table and poured an authentic babbitt throat plate. A metal blade guard was added over the left side very similar to the original and another over the right side that was never part of the saw.

I was lucky enough to find a replacement tilt-lever handle, original part number 1105. This is a very rare and hard to find part; only the second Silver Mfg band saw found on this website that shows an original tilt lever handle.

The machine was painted satin black with satin metallic copper knobs and hand cranks. The drive wheels were painted red. I intentionally painted the motor and junction boxes with a 1950's color since it's not original to the era of this machine and any electric parts would have been retrofitted decades after manufacture.

The patent date on the table-tilt locking wheel is 1907 so the machine was made in/after 1907; the earliest advertisement with this rectangular style base I could find is from American Blacksmith volume 7 in October 1907. The machine casting did not have any motor mounting holes for motor support brackets so it was made sometime before they started including electric motors. The earliest advertisement I could find mentioning an electric motor option is from Industrial Arts Magazine volume 10 from 1921. None of the advertisements from 1907 to 1920 show or mention electric motors. There is also an advertisement from Industrial Education Magazine volume 27 in July 1925 showing the motor mounted on an angle plate off the rear. I am guessing that sometime between 1920 and 1925, they drilled and tapped the casting for the angle iron motor brackets to mount off the side. It's obvious that is a factory option since all photographic examples have the angle iron screwed into the machine at the same location.

The saw takes a 13'9" (165") long blade. Mine came with 159" blades that also work. However, these 159" blades lower the upper wheel by 3" and thereby reduce the total sawing height by 3" on wider materials. With the proper blade installed, the overall height of the machine is 78".

According to original catalogs (1911-1920), the net weight of the saw as shipped was somewhere between 590 and 625 lbs. It sold for $80 in the 1911-1916 catalogs, including an optional "ripping gauge" for $8 that is not shown. In all catalogs, machine is described as "26-inch" and/or "model 820". However, it technically would be a 26.5" bandsaw since this is the wheel diameter. On this saw, the cutting width capacity (throat) is exactly the same as the wheel diameter, as there are no stock guards or parts that reduce this clearance.

Photo 1:

Comments: Finished up in 2022
Source: John K. - 2022

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Photo 2:

Comments: "Before"
Source: Craigslist Ad - 2019

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Photo 3:

Comments: Original brass nameplate
Source: John K. - 2022

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Photo 4:

Comments: Motor drive and custom wheel base
Source: John K. - 2022

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Photo 5:

Comments: Oak reproduction of auxiliary table
Source: John K. - 2022

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Photo 6:

Comments: Original tilt lever part #1105
Source: John K. - 2022

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