The machine that got me started in wooodworking

Rob Keeble

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GTA Ontario Canada
I think i posted something like this few years ago but today found a video of the machine on youtube.

What a walk down memory lane for me. I was around 12 when Dad bought one of these Emco Star machines. Man it don't look like much to us these days given the table saws band-saws etc we have but to a 12 year old kid and Dad that had little coin but wanted a workshop it was a dream come true.

Made in Austria was very well made and i notice many are still around today in the UK and SA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccaX39yF3G0

When i look at it now there were several safety issues but somehow we survived. I do remember regularly breaking the band-saw blades. Dad would get them welded at some of the companies he consulted to.

Turned my first lamp on the lathe on this machine and i still have the Marple turning tools that I purchased from the hardware store i worked at after school to do the turning with. You would have thought the machine manufacturer would have supplied a basic set.

It was a 6 in 1 unit. Had disc sander belt sander , band saw , scroll saw, circular saw, planner, jointer, lathe. So way more than the 6 in 1 they claimed. I guess some of the parts were considered add ons.

Only thing we never used was the scroll saw/ jig saw.

I come to realize though in hindsight that neither of us was very bright in the way we used this machine. I can distinctly remember us moving it out into the backyard something like this video shows and then using the circular saw to cut lumber that did nothing but stall the machine.
Dad used to freak out at me holding the one end on the out-feed side when this happened. Its a hobbyist model maker type machine not a job site saw, but that did not stop my Dad. LOL Oh how far we have come since those days and the info that is available today.

Of course motor was 220v some sort of 2 speed configuration. So that explains why it never made it to the USA.

I am so glad i was born when things like this were still a great adventure and fun. Used this saw to make all sorts of wood toys . Many great hours spent in the workshop back then. :thumb:
 
I learned on a tilting-TABLE 8" Craftsman table saw - circa about 1948, as I recall - and a 4" jointer with no guard (so dad could try to surface 8" lumber...:eek:). Saw never had a guard, either.

I guess we either learned care and safety early, or we didn't survive, eh?
 
WOW - I absolutely LOVE it.

There IS another woodworking world out there that we don't often see. Small Stuff.

http://www.micromark.com/

The people that are into Model RailRoading, Model Boats, RC stuff.
Maybe a little big for that, but still - nice and compact.

Also - people with tiny areas to work in. Maybe someone with an 8x8 shed as a workshop of a small basement shop.

To me - that looks like an awesome machine.

Oh YEAH - some SERIOUS safety issues.

I bet there is a market for a modern safety style machine like that.
 
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