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I checked out an estate sale for an older gentleman who used to make drums like the ones in fife and drum corps. Man did this place have a ton of stuff. I picked up a Porter Cable Omnijig 16 dovetail jig for $50 and man is this thing a beast of a tool. Will have to scare up some instructions as it came with nothing. Also picked up a 1920's drill press made by Goodell & Pratt Company of Greenfield Mass. that still works fine it is a hand crank model that clamps to your work bench and has a small vise attached to the bottom of it. That cost me $35.00. And I got a big work table for the wifes jewelry making area it is 80" X 32" and made of pine but the top is >1" thick for $20 I couldn't make one for that cheap. I also picked up some beautiful hardwood boards that are either mahoghany or ash not really sure but I will take some pics tomorrow so someone can tell me what I got. All I know is they are really heavy and thick like 2-3" and 6-7' long cost was $5 each accept for the bigger one which was $10. There was a ton of wood there but I just didn't know what I was looking at so I am going to go back this weekend with the wifey who knows wood better than i do. They had 2 Powermatic cabinet saws one was sold but the other bigger one was for sale for $700 and looked pristine. It was the older green colored saw but was virtually perfect from what I could see. I could have spent days in there I mean there was 50+ years of accumulated stuff. I just had to leave as I could have really gone crazy buying lots of stuff I really didn't need.

So how good is this Porter Cable Omnijig? From what little I read on the net it sounds like a pretty good dovetail jig and from the feel of it will be around long after I am gone it is like made of cast iron........... but looks like it was never used.

Sounds like you found some good deals. Here's the owner's manual -- http://www.portercable.com/jigs/omni/A2 ... -07-EN.pdf -- The site also has an instructional video you can watch.

I believe at one time the Porter Cable Omnijig was considered "The Jig" of dovetail makng. I think it reigned that way for years then Leigh jig booted it from the top of mountain.

I don't know what model you have but early omnijigs had fixed spacing of the dovetails and since then the thinking is random spacing looks more "craftsmanish"

Frankly if you are into dovetails I think you got a steal.

I've been looking for a used PC Omni jig or a Leigh DT jig for some time.

I think you should stop on the way back to the sale and get a Lottery Ticket!

Indeed your lucky day. And to find old wood at a decent price, regardless of type, pick it up and identify it later!
Enjoy

About all I can say is WOW!! You made some fantastic buys. The hand drill press from Goodell & Pratt is a precursor to later ones that Millers Falls Tools, also in Greenfield, Mass when they were still open usually goes for well over a hundred plus dollars on ebay. I have a small collection of old tools from Millers falls as I used to live within a hours drive of their factory and these tools were popular in Mass.

rkh2 wrote:About all I can say is WOW!! You made some fantastic buys. The hand drill press from Goodell & Pratt is a precursor to later ones that Millers Falls Tools, also in Greenfield, Mass when they were still open usually goes for well over a hundred plus dollars on ebay. I have a small collection of old tools from Millers falls as I used to live within a hours drive of their factory and these tools were popular in Mass.

Here is a whole history lesson on Goodell & Pratt Company it is fascinating to read about the history back in the old days and business was pretty cut throat back then.

http://oldtoolheaven.com/related/goodell-pratt-history.htm

I did notice when I got home and Googled the drill press that it commands some good prices on the auction sites. I didn't buy it because I wanted to make money. I bought it for the coolness factor and the history. When I bought my Mark VII the guy I bought it from had a wall mounted blacksmith drill press that ratcheted as you turned the handle to feed the bit and it was something to see the engineering that went to making it. I think it was a pre-1900 tool and my wife and I both were in love with that drill press. I would have bought that one in a second if it had been for sale.

The Omni Jig I saw laying on the floor and as I had seen them before I asked him how much for it? He said $50 I said sold knowing they sold for a heck of a lot more than that. I don't really know if it is complete or not but I will look at the PDF Art posted and see. It seems to be complete with a little rust here and there but it is only surface rust and should come off really easy. When they built these things they were for life as it damn near weighs 50 lbs. I would bet. I think the wife and I are going to go back on Saturday and see what wood there is to scavenge I would like to get some more of it and being they are almost giving it away it would be a sin not to go back.

pennview wrote:Sounds like you found some good deals. Here's the owner's manual -- http://www.portercable.com/jigs/omni/A2 ... -07-EN.pdf -- The site also has an instructional video you can watch.

Art,
Thanks for the link but that is for the newer jig and I have an older jig and have yet to scare up the owners manual online. It is the Omni Jig 16 Model: 5115 I believe. It only has one template and the template is not adjustable i.e. the fingers are a set distance and cannot be adjusted (spacing). I may call them and see what they can tell me about it.

rkh2 wrote:About all I can say is WOW!! You made some fantastic buys. The hand drill press from Goodell & Pratt is a precursor to later ones that Millers Falls Tools, also in Greenfield, Mass when they were still open usually goes for well over a hundred plus dollars on ebay. I have a small collection of old tools from Millers falls as I used to live within a hours drive of their factory and these tools were popular in Mass.

Miller's Falls is one of the most under rated tool manufacturers. I have 2 of their hand planes a block plane with a skewed iron that converts to a rabbet plane. and a smoother. Great Hand Planes! Better than the Stanley's of their same era.

Here's the model 5116 owner's manual -- http://servicenet.deltaportercable.com/ ... tail/5116# --

It cuts fixed-spaced dovetails, but there is an attachment for it to cut adjustable through dovetails.