Oldie but goodie, or just oldie??
forestgirl
| Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on
forestgirl — you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can’t take the forest out of the girl 😉
Replies
I'll bite.......
?
... and what does the other side look like?
Pete
I would think oldie, but does it work? is it squared and flush?
Look ma, no jigs!!!
FG,
Are we going into the door hanging business? Or can you set it up to trim wooden horse shoes....
Best!
-nazard
I didn't know Porter Cable made jet skis.
Hi FG,
These old power hand planers were made by a few companies. The only real problem with them was getting the spiral cutter resharpened. I think there was a program where you sent the cutters back to the company for resharpening. They were well liked especially by trim carpenters for hanging doors.
I would purchase a modern one with quick to change carbide blades if I had a lot of use for one. Your's is probably worth more as a collector's item.
John White
"Your's [actually, on Craig's List] is probably worth more as a collector's item." Was wondering about that, John. I'm always cruising CL for items that can be sold at a profit, save for the next needed shop item. The style of this planer caught my eye. There are newer one's on eBay, but they have the stick-on plastic PC logo. Thanks for the heads-up on the blade difficulties.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
The Porter Cable 126, like the 348 worm drive saber saw and the 310 production trim router were all considered standards in their product fields. But the trim carpentry field has changed as well as the people who use the machines.
The 126 is an outstanding door trim planer - but how many folks hang doors anymore? Most doors are prehung and not too many people want to "tune" a door anymore - just throw a new prehung one in the hole! Some folks like myself who do work on historic homes/buildings still use a 126.
And you have a whole generation of workers who wonder why anybody would use a corded tool - that's your grandfather's machines. They are prefectly happy hefting a heavy, ackward, under powered machine instead of strectching a cord.
And you have the tool companies who have evolved from tool maker to mass marketer - Black & Decker is a good example. Specialtiy tools like the PC 548 and 310 that have small loyal followings have all been discontinued - B&D's chairman retires in a few years and he is not letting anything stand in the way of higher profits each year.
PC 126's, 548's 310's and others fetch good prices on ebay - in good condition they can bring $200 plus. And yes it's an oldie and a goodie.
"...not too many people want to "tune" a door anymore" Actually, we could stand to tune any door installed in our erratically settled house, but unfortunately the trimming needs to be angled!
I didn't see any of this vintage on eBay, they're all newer ones with plastic labels rather than the cast-in, raised red lettering. Style is just too cool. Thanks for the info, ET.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I'm going to say PC (Rockwell) started making these machines in the 50's. Originally they were really a plane attachment for a large router - Stanley made a great one. Under duress from Pentair, PC stopped making them in the early 90's. But there was sufficient pressure from trim carpenters to "retool" the machine and the model 126 became the 9118. FHB archives should have the article detailing how the new model evolved.
There were a few subtile changes between the older 126 and the new 9118 but most parts are interchangeable. Problem is B&D has brought their 10 year parts philosophy to PC so support for anything that has been discontinued over 10 years will be dependent upon local repair shops stocking parts (or internet sources). All the early DeWalt tools introduced in the early's 90's (aka B&D Industrial Tools) are now longer supported - parts usually unavailable. And Delta will be facing the same parts demise!
ET, you bring salient but depressing news! ROFL. I'd better rustle up some spare parts for the Delta planer and PC routers, eh??
The plane attachment for a router must have been interesting, would like to see one of those.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
FG,
Back in the early 70's when I was just starting out, my dad bought one for me at an auction. It was part of a "kit" used for door hanging, that included the router, plane, and a jig of rods and templates that could be assembled onto the edge of a door to guide the router in inletting the hinges. The router and plane use the same motor, it screws out of the base of one and into the housing of the other. The cutter for the plane screws into the collet threads after you remove the collet nut.
Ray
Aboslutely. There were 3 manufacturers who had special door/lock mortising equipment - Porter Cable, Stanley and Bosch. Porter Cable had a masterful setup for cutting lock mortises (a lot of folks don't even know what a full mortise deadbolt looks like now!). Most tof the jigs/fixtures used a router - not sure if anyone still makes the full door length hinge mortising jig anymore - PC and Bosch both had very good ones. Now most folks just buy the small, plastic single hine mortising guide but the big ones worked well and were very acccurate.
I think that PC still makes their hinge mortising kit. As a carpenter I find the lack of quality of the prehung doors that are for sale at the Borg to rather depressing. More then a few of my customers feel the same way and would rather pay me to do better. If a job has more then a few doors to hang I will buy the materials and case my own doors for hanging.
I would bet that the knives from the new Porta-Planer will fit the old 126. Heck of a nice find there FG.
I have made both exterior and interior doors and the biggest problem I have is finding decent, straight lumber for the stiles. I have to seek out a really reliable mill and the wood is not cheap.
I do have some empathy for door manufacturers like Stanley, Jeld-Wen and Masonite - mass producing doors without returns/call backs really means engineered or composite wood. That's the way of the the lumber world right now. I do get upset seeing vintage 40's and 50's door - particularly interior ones made of Doug fir - being trashed by yups who replace them with hollow core, pre-hung "synthetic" monsters - but, hey what goes around comes around!
I can't explain why, but don't seem to have many issues with getting decent quality parts for casing up doors. The last prehung door that I bought at Homer's the legs of the jamb must have been made from banana wood, the way that they curled up. Was a fight to hold them sort of straight while starting trim screws, then shim into position. Man was I pissed off after that fiasco.
In one of my numerous careers, I was a millwork supervisor at a Home Depot. What an experience - the wood, prehung doors, moulding, etc. were not great - didn't see anything different at Lowes either. I like to shop at mills that do custom planning/milling - they get good stock - a lot of paint grade work I do with poplar which I always enjoy using.
I used to love the fraternity guys coming in for new interior doors after they broke through a few of them during a drinking episode. Would love to see the do hanging they did!
ETG,
My very first moonlighting job was for a fraternity member--hanging a door! Come to think of it, they weren't the most picky customer I ever had, "Just get it done, before the RA gets back!" It was the night that Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs; I was watching it on tv while chopping hinge recesses. Funny what you remember.
Ray
In our architectural door shop, we use the PortaPlane every day. It's almost indispensable for re-sizing doors for continuous hinges or plastic laminated edges.
I just bought a cutter head last week and it's kinda pricey--$125ish.
When it's no longer supported by the B&D-Delta people, I guess we are on to the Virutex or Festool version.
Edited 4/18/2008 1:41 pm by doorboy
$125? Ouch! Better get one or two before they are gone though. Thanks for the heads up.
I've got one of the router/planer kits by Porter Cable. Consists of a 150-M motor, 150-B base, 150-P planer. Actually works quite nicely. The only problem with the unit is that I can't get a replacement for one of the plastic brush retainer caps, so duct tape to the rescue. Also included in the attached pictures is a 140 Router-jig. Takes a standard 1/4" router bit, cutting height is adjustable only by how far the bit shank is inserted into the collet. Seemed like a neat toy, got it at an auction for five dollars (and it works)
It's very cool, Hacker. If I had run across one of these in a box at an auction, I'd have been pretty clueless, but now I know! Love stuff like this, especially for $5, LOL!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
The 690 series, and thus 890 series motors fit into these older housings/bases. I found a plane base on ebay, and bought it for use with my 690 motors.
Also, as a replacement for the cutter, I found that a large diameter (1-1/4-inch) downshear, 1/2-inch shank router bit works well. I can't remember who I got mine from, but it has a 2-inch cut length, and works well in the plane attachment. I have been toying with using one of the carbide dual shear cutters made for plywood in the plane.
It's an oldie but goodie which is why I'm saving my pennies for a 126 at the moment. ETG has got it right. PC has discontinued many tools which were and imho still are standards in their field. The 126 planer, Model 310 and 100 routers, the 348 bayonet saw, 503/504 belt sanders. I own a 310 and two Model 100 routers and have used the 503/504 sanders and 126 planer in the past and imho they are better than most all of the newer tools on market which seem to have been mostly designed by marketing guys ............"if you can't dazzle the brilliance, baffle 'em with bs". I wouldn't feel too bad about your doors. I follow up guys "who throw doors in holes" and can tell you that some of the new construction I see is far worse than your doors.
I have the Rockwell version of that tool. I've renovated a few houses and it sure came in handy for doors. The side fence on mine is adjustable so you can put a bevel on the door edge. MY brother in law gave it to me over 20 years ago and it was probably 20 years old then! Still works like a champ.
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