Photo Index - Crescent Machine Co. - Crescent 24" Scroll Saw

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Crescent Machine Co.
Leetonia, OH

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Jig or Scroll Saw
Machine Size:	24"
Submitted By:	Keith Rucker

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	Crescent 24" Scroll Saw
Date of Manufacturer:	1930's - 1940's?
Serial Number:	(View SN Registry Entry)
Last Updated	4/2/2003 8:41:19 PM

Comments:

In March of 2002, I was fortunate enough to find an old Crescent 24" Scroll Saw. It had been advertised in the Classified Ads section of the OWWM web site. Why was I so fortunate? Well, these machines are somewhat rare - I have never actually seen another one in the wild before. In fact, when I called J.E.S. Technologies about a parts list, they guy I talked to did not even know that Crescent ever made a scroll saw. (J.E.S. is the current owner of the old Crescent line and offers what little parts and information they have on Crescent Machines). I my fairly extensive collection of old Crescent catalogs and such, I have only found one reference to scroll saws - this was in a 1933 circular which showed a 12" and 24" model. However, the pictures of these machines are significantly different than the model I have.

The machine was located in Lawrence Kansas. Fortunately for me, the seller was able to make the shipping arrangements through his work and was able to ship the palleted machine to me via truck line for $60.00 - very reasonable considering the skid weighed in at 241 lbs! As a bonus, the seller had decided to also send the hardwood stand that had been custom built for the saw. When we first discussed the machine, the deal was that he would only ship the saw as the stand was not worth shipping. However, as he was getting the saw ready for shipping, he discovered that the stand had been built out of clear hardwood and had been very well built using mortise and tennon joinery. He was able to remove a few bolts, knock the frame down, and place it on the pallet to be shipped with the saw.

When the machine arrived at my office, I met the friendly driver in the parking lot. He was kind enough to actually help me offload the pallet to the back of my truck. Turns out he too is a woodworker - in fact, he even showed me some pictures of some of the things he had made in his shop after helping me!

The machine then spent about a week sitting in the shop before I had time to begin work on it. After looking the saw over, I discovered that it was in really good overall condition. It had been brush painted with green paint at some time - a really poor paint job. I also discovered after removing a few parts that covered areas of the machine that the original color was a dark gray. Judging from a label on the saw, I believe the machine came out of a school.

The following weekend, I had some woodworking that *really* needed to get finished so I went into the shop. Before walking into the shop, I told myself that I had to do the woodworking and had to ignore the scroll saw that was calling out to me to be restored. About 30 min later, it hit me that I was out in the driveway sandblasting the machine and beginning the restoration - I realized this as I briefly came out of the trance that the scroll saw had placed over me.

By dark that evening, I had managed to get the saw completely sandblasted and cleaned up. The next day, I put a coat of primer on the machine (Rustoleum from a spray can for those that care). The following day, I began to re-paint the saw using Rustoleum Smoke Gray paint. This shade of gray was a little lighter than the original paint but I decided to go ahead and use it since I just happened to have several cans of it in the shop. I did look at Lowes for a darker gray but they did not have anything darker anyway.

After a careful cleaning of the saw and re-painting, the saw is pretty much ready to go. I did remove the motor, which is a 1/4 HP Maytag motor (1735 RPM). It is currently at the motor shop getting checked out and new leads. Assuming it is salvageable, I will continue to use it. I am not sure if this is the original motor of it it came off of a washing machine at some point and time (probably the later). At any rate, the old motor will look much better on the machine than anything new so I will try to use it if I can - all of the other motors I have in the shop run *much* faster and would not work out.

The Serial Number on this machine is: 63006.

Photo 1:

Comments: The saw before restoration.
Source: My digital camera

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Photo 2:

Comments: The finished scroll saw
Source: My digital camera

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Photo 3:

Comments: The finished saw
Source:

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