This thing is amazing! It is a Foley Automatic Filer Model 61 from 1954-1958 made by the Foley Manufacturing Co. of Minneapolis, MN. It has the capability to sharpen and joint hand saws, band saws, and circular saws. These sold for around $250 USD in 1954, which is equivalent to $2300 USD in 2019. They were marketed as the all-in-one sharpening solution for running your own sharpening business. This specific unit was generously donated to me from a viewer.
This restoration ending up turning into a "rescue" as I decide to keep the original paint and not repaint the tool. Usually, if a tool has more than 90% of its original finish, then I will not repaint it, and that is what happened here. Even though, originally, the tool was not painted very well and painted almost fully assembled, it was still worth saving. I just gave all parts a semi-gloss clear coat to bring back the original luster and prevent future rusting.
The only parts that were missing were a set of thumbscrews, a lock nut, and the light attachment. I ended up making the light attachment and had the custom lock nuts remade at the machine shop.
The machine was also originally missing the hand saw carriage and bandsaw blade attachment, but luckily, I was able to source the saw carriage from a follower on instagram. The bandsaw blade attachment is still needed, so let me know if you ever find one.
Getting the machine set up properly is definitely time consuming, but once perfected the sharpening goes quickly. I would love to use this machine to sharpen some hand saws that I find during my antique tool searches. I know you can use it for jointing saw blades as well, but I did not show that in the video.
I would like to thank Evapo-Rust for sponsoring this video.
Wrenches are now for sale at www.handtoolrescue.com
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