Photo Index - Other Maker - Benson Polytechnic High School

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Other Maker
*

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Band Saw
Machine Size:	14”
Submitted By:	Reuben Deumling

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	Benson Polytechnic High School
Date of Manufacturer:	ca. 1936
Serial Number:
Last Updated	10/2/2024 3:00:06 PM

Comments:

It has taken me a few weeks to solve the riddle of this bandsaw which showed up recently in a local store shop window. The C-frame I could tell was very close (I would eventually determine an exact copy of) the saw made by Elmer Knight which I own. From Elmer Knight’s son I learned back in 2011 that his father made exactly two copies of this saw. The other one he had given to his good friend Gus (August) Crabtree. So how to explain this third saw, which featured an all but identical frame but differed in a bunch of other respects? Notably this saw has a pair of cast snowflake guards, a five-spoke lower wheel, and the various machined accessories, notably the guides and knobs were made with far less care and attention than the one on Knight’s own saw. Furthermore, the words BAND SAW are cast into the frame, a spoke on the upper wheel, and the underside of the table. And finally a name was stamped into the top edge of the upper guide. I only discovered this name from a photo I took in the store, and my attempt to return to the store to retake that photo to learn the full name did not succeed as yet.
Anyway, the mystery is resolved because I remembered that Elmer Knight returned to his alma mater Benson Polytechnic High School as a teacher. It strikes me as almost certain that he supplied the pattern he had made for his own bandsaw to the students, one of whom made this bandsaw. Elmer Knight I have now learned taught at Benson in 1935 and 1936.

Photo 1:

Comments: snowflake guards, front view
Source: seller

Direct Link
IMG Code

Photo 2:

Comments: rear view in shop window
Source: me

Direct Link
IMG Code

Photo 3:

Comments: upper half of saw from left rear
Source: me

Direct Link
IMG Code

Photo 4:

Comments: upper guide with name stamped
Source: me

Direct Link
IMG Code

Photo 5:

Comments: six spoke upper wheel & five spoke lower wheel
Source: me

Direct Link
IMG Code

Photo 6:

Comments: closeup lower guard
Source: me

Direct Link
IMG Code