This is the saw made for them by Blue Star Products/Heston & Anderson of Fairfield, Iowa. The machines were also available separately and eventually sold only that way because of demand.ġ2" Bandsaw ♭elta began selling the No.385 12" bandsaw in 1924. The difference being they were separate tools on a common bench and powered by a jack shaft below connected to one motor, sometimes gasoline. There is a note in the text to vent the exhaust outside.ĭelta Woodshop #12 ¶Similar to the Handishop this was released in 1930.
So much so that there is a saw shown in one of the books that's powered by a small gasoline engine. Keep in mind, when these books were first released, electricity wasn't a common commodity. For all intents and purposes the books still hold up today as a rather good introductory manual. This three volume set took the reader through most of the basic machine set-ups and usage and ended with a project to build. "The Modern Motor-Driven Woodworking Shop" by Herbert Tautz and Clyde Fruits was released in 1930. These were not the Homecraft line that came about in the 40's but similar in appearance. There was also a nifty mortising attachment. At this time their address was 1661-1667 Holten Street, Milwaukee, Wis.Ĥ" Jointer and 8" Tilt Table Saw ¶These were released in 1929 and were separate machines on a common stand sharing the same motor. In 1929 the Delta Specialty name was dropped in favor of the Delta Manufacturing Company name. It's interesting that Delta's closets rivals, Boice-Crane and Walker-Turner, also had a similar early history to Delta's and sold a similar machine though I suspect that Boice-Crane's pre-dated those sold by Delta and Walker-Turner as Boice-Crane had an 18 year head start in the machinery business.įrom the beginning, the parent company was Delta Manufacturing Co., and Delta Specialty Co. Handishop ¶In 1928 Delta Specialty Company came out with this set of tools and it included table saw, lathe, disc sander and the American Boy scroll saw. These also show up on eBay from time to time. By the way, I have the instructions for this machine and the address on it is 858 Third St., Milwaukee, Wis. I've often wondered what would have happened had the sewing machine took off instead of the scroll saw. Actually, Tautz made many things and the American Boy/Girl were but two. :-) The original sold for $20 which is about what I paid for mine.Īmerican Girl Sewing Machine ¶When you have an American Boy it seems logical to have an American Girl. There are surviving examples and they show up on eBay quite a bit.
The scroll saw took off and the rest is history. It was a small hand crank and later was self-powered with the addition of a motor. The other co-owner was William Peters who left the company in 1923.Īmerican Boy Scroll Saw ¶This was released in 1923. One of the co-owners, Herbert Tautz, was a machinist. It was called the Delta Specialty Company until the early thirties. The Delta Specialty Company began business in 1919 in a one car garage at 969 Louis Avenue on Milwaukee's near northwest side. I also lack a number of catalogs making a drill press write up difficult. I have not paid much attention to the various Delta drill press lines as there were so many through the years it's darn near impossible to focus on one popular model. Of course a 1999 ain't holding a candle to the 1939 but it's still a fine saw none the less. It out to 1999 and the price should be around $1900. In fact I've taken the $168 (plus or minus) cost of a Unisaw in 1939 and calc'd You might find the cost of tools today to be a much better buy. Before you start salivating consider the buying power of a dollar in So, without further ado.ĭelta Brand & Model History ¶I've gone through and put this together in chronological order. Publications, i.e., periodicals, from the same time period. When possible I try to corroborate facts with coinciding *dated* Old art work was re-used and recycled for years, and in some cases, decades. I should also note, the Delta catalogs are not historicallyĪccurate in all ways.
To fill in the gaps and "devagarize", please feel free to contact me and I will update this article. Much of this information came about from my meager collection of old catalogs and Deltagrams. Please note, much of this consists of my own opinion but this opinion is somewhat based on fact. It was later re-edited and re-released onĪ couple of woodworking forums. Introduction ¶What follows was born from a request on rec.woodworking to put together a list of Delta's major machine release dates. 10" Bandsaw, Bench Top Drill Press and 24" Scroll sawīench Top Shaper and 10" Tilting Table SawĨ", 10", 12", 14", 16" & 20" Radial Arm SawsĨ" Jointer, 12"-14" Table Saw and 20" BandsawĢ0" Drill Press and Ram Type Radial Drill Press