I came across a Mall Saw circular saw today for a whopping $30 bucks. The picture was fuzzy so I couldn't tell the size but, judging by the sellers brief description, I set out thinking I had found my big 12", or even a 10". I was disappointed upon arrival to find a blade measuring 7-1/2", regardless, the drive was 20+ miles round trip in traffic so I took it home anyway. And that's when things started getting better. Closer inspection and a little research indicated I had bought a 8-1/2" model. It just had the wrong blade! Not bad at all. Nothing against blades in the 7" range but I have enough of those. Turns out this is a Model 86 with a whopping 1-1/2hp, 15amp motor... Do the Big Box TABLE SAWS even have 1.5hp motors anymore? The cord appears to be the original Baldor cord as well. It's a beefy 9/16" thick and 14'+ long. I probably got my 30 bucks in copper from the cord if nothing else. Man I love old tools... The retail price for this hog was $135 bucks in 1950. Can anyone translate that to 2013?

I'm including a few pictures from a 1950 catalog I found as well...

If that saw were purchased today, it would cost a whopping $1308.53.  A rather pricey saw back in the day!

Mike

I would put her to work tomorrow.  Very very nice find.  I'm also ISO a quality 12"

1.5 HP @ 4200 Rpm? yikes!. Put a carbide blade in that thing and slice up steel I beams...

(They stopped making 15 amp hand tools cause people keep plugging them into 15 amp circuits and blowing fuses and then blame the tool)

Just make certain the cord is good, alumnium tools with bad grounds can make for very...interesting experiences...;P

Quote from: mikeswrenches on September 10, 2013, 08:17:07 PM
If that saw were purchased today, it would cost a whopping $1308.53.  A rather pricey saw back in the day!

Mike

WOW... Couldn't imagine paying over $1400 (w/tax) for a handsaw today. But I can't picture one of today's saws being functional after a year of production framing, either... Let's see, $1400 divided by 63 years (and counting) is $22/yr. ..OR... $150 divided by 1 year.... Seriously, I've paid my dues and then some as a young production framer and I can tell you any circ saw that lasted over a year was either A) Barely functioning, or B) a Forman's "personal saw" (and still probably not functioning properly). The rest were usually fubar'ed in a year.

Quote from: rusty on September 10, 2013, 08:28:41 PM
1.5 HP @ 4200 Rpm? yikes!. Put a carbide blade in that thing and slice up steel I beams...

(They stopped making 15 amp hand tools cause people keep plugging them into 15 amp circuits and blowing fuses and then blame the tool)

Just make certain the cord is good, aluminum tools with bad grounds can make for very...interesting experiences...;P

Yeah, I can't wait to get her all cleaned up and fitted with a good carbide blade. Speaking of blades, I need to find a machinist to cut a square arbor hole in a few blades for me... Either that, or machine the arbor down to a circle so it takes modern blades...

Is the little cord at the end of the plug intended to plug into the outlet's ground separately?

>Is the little cord at the end of the plug intended to plug into the outlet's ground separately?

Yes, the theory , back when nobody had 3 prong outlets yet, was you screwed it to the cover screw on the metal box.

The flaw in that plan was that half the metal boxes on ungrounded outlets aren't wired to anything.....

Same deal as those little adaptors with the brass hickey sticking out that nobody ever screws into the cover screw...

GFCI 's fix a lot of evils in the shop.....

That cord can't be original, it's missing the 6 feet of tape about 16" from where it enters the saw itself because somebody used the saw in the middle of the night when nobody was around and sawed the damn cord off.

Rusty's not telling the whole story.

Romex didn't have a ground wire till 63, and when it came out nobody in the electrical trades knew what to do with the ground.  In many places the ground was snipped off just inside the box.  By 64 just about everybody agreed the ground got wrapped around a screw on the box and left there.
Then, along came plastic outlet boxes and inspectors decided the grounds needed to be attached to the outlet.

Moral of the story, NEVER trust the Safety Ground until after you test it!

Thanks for the info, Aunt Phil. And rusty, thanks for the GFCI tip.

Reading this thread made me think about my score in August.  I was rummaging around a junk shop in NE WI and ran across a Porter Cable BK12 12" circular saw from the 50's.  It was a little pricey at $90, but I plugged it in and fired it up.  It ran, but the bearings were trashed.  After pointing this out to the shop owner we agreed on $70.  Since then I tore it apart and have done a complete restoration of it.  New bearings, polished all the aluminum, new cord, stainless hardware, all new grease, and just waiting to get a blade bushing for the 3/4" arbor.  It's a beast at 38 pounds, but BOY what a beauty.  I'll try to post some before and after pics in a new thread.

woodland_hank, A lot of people probably walked away from that saw because of the problems. Nice job. I'm sure you put a lot of work into it but still well worth it. I'm patiently waiting for your thread with the pictures. :)