Stenner BL mortiser chain chisel help Pic Heavy Update Nov 1

[tool613]

Hi boys its jack from Canada looking for your expertise. got a few question on some English kits.

How many mortiser can you fit in your trailer and not be over loaded? in my case 2.

I picked these up a few days ago.Got the wadkin MF (lots of information on that one at Wadkin), the grand daddy king of all mortisers. The Stenner BL that i also picked up has heads that swap out from chain to chisel so it a combo machine too. I have never to date not found a machines i could not find any information on(Stenner that is ) before this .
can you boys help with this maker(Stenner) . I know they make pit re saws, but what other machines?
I can not even find a pic of the stenner BL motiser. Are there any owners? I need a manual or anything. Waiting with bated breath.

.

sorry that i do not have many of the STENNER .

jack

 

[beech1948]

Hi Jack,
Nice haul of Wadkin and Stenner. I saw your post on OWWM.

First off you will find that Stenner is still in business. They are mostly known for large bandsaws usually found in timber yards or sawmills...and I mean large. Much less well known for morticers or other stuff.

You could contact Stenner at:-
http://www.stenner.co.uk/home/

There used to be a well recognised expert on old machines here under the name of SCRIT. Not seen him around for a while but he had an amazing collection of old catalogues and brochures. I wouldn't be surprised if he was a member of OWWM. Maybe search for "Scrit" as a member there and try a PM or email.

good luck
Alan
PS I'm UK based so if there is anyway to help from this end then please ask.

 

[beech1948]

Hi Jack...again,
Just noticed that Stenner have a US distributor....its a long shot.
DISTRIBUTORS IN NORTH AMERICA

HMC

Contact:
Peter Taylor/Kevin Reeves

284 Maple Street
Hopkinton
NH 03229
USA

Tel: 001 603 746 4691
Fax: 001 603 746 4819
Email: [email protected]

If you can get me more details about your morticer eg model number, S/N, etc then I can do a search here in the UK.
regards
Alan

 

[tool613]

The Stenners I picked up last month is an interesting machine. Stenner is a big industrial saw mill manufacturer from 1875 England that is still in business. They are best know for there re saws. I still have not found any information at all. did the rebuild with out a manual or a pic or anything.
This Stenner chain a Chisel mortiser is 4HP and 600 volts

unloading

in the shop ready to play with. wired it up to 600 volts

I cut a mortise with the chains and all i can tell you is Oh boy. have a look on YouTube. if you watch the video you will see that as soon as i pull down on the handle the machines start automatically , and when I lift it up to the top it shuts down again.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wiq3wfS9Ulw




Jackafide

the head move in and out on dovetail ways and the table is fixed.the chain turns a thread in the head/motor

there are plenty of bronzes castings that i just cleaned up and left unpainted like the vacuum fan/blower

Other parts where cast aluminium and i took the importunity be polish the letters this time instead of paint.

The Stenner name tag was arn and so I painted it to match

the electrics are all solid cast brass that got cleaned up.

built in chain sharpener

and the cutting stone at the back of the motor

it has a great depth stop for quick set

you can see the bronzes stops for adjusting the mortise lengths

hand stitched leather to the handle to protect the paint from chipping and to give a soft sound when dropping the crank leaver . i also added leather to the pull down handle for comfort.

wooden tables with a two position adjustable stop.

the entire unit side out of the way when not in use.

you have to have the right plug for 600 volts

rebuilt the chisel head

cleaned all the chain tooling

Hope that was not too many pics? thanks for looking boys.


jack

 

[adidat]

incredible!!!!!!!!

sooo beautiful!!!!!!!


i love it!!!!!!

adidat

 

[lanemaux]

Ye gods and little fishes lad! That is the sort of refurb that makes us Canucks look good. I have seldom seen a neater job of restoration , nor a more drool worthy bit of kit. congrats mi amigo. As Ottawa is a mere hop and skip from Lake Huron , you tempt me mightily to take a drive out to see it in corpus. Could not be more than 6 or 7 hours from here. Well done!

 

[houtslager]

wow what a machine, enough for me, to want to get on plane and visit you.

Love the shop too

Karl

 

[tool613]

Thanks for the comments boys .

As I have said before this is a chisel mortiser as well. I had rebuilt the head and had to make bushing to fit my tooling. I like the flat botom sets that are not as pointed as the new styles are so it takes a bit more effort to drive a 1" chesel but they tend not to burn. I find the english kits augers are a lot tighter interface to the chisel and run better than the cheep sets from you know where. It takes about 1 minute to change over from chain to chisel.

Made a video of it punching a 1" chisel at the link below. My RPC took more time than normal to start as i just turned it off minutes before the video and the start caps are getting old. you can see the lights dim a little :shock:


http://www.youtube.com/user/tool613

jack

 

[AndyT]

Good grief! Not only is that an amazingly thorough and detailed restoration to better than original condition, you deserve some sort of award for being the first woodworker to have ENOUGH CLAMPS!

 

[Henning]

Maybe an award for being an accomplished metalworker as well as woodworker and a master restorer of old English cast iron as well...

Nice work on this restoration to former glory as well!
Keep up the good work!

 

[houtslager]

well seems like a few have come onto the market at the same/like time.

Although your machines knocks the spots of both of these.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Morticer-...ies_Carpentry_Woodwork_ET&hash=item2313bb35b1

and

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WADKIN-MF...ies_Carpentry_Woodwork_ET&hash=item2c5edb199c

 

[Allylearm]

Worked the Wadkin chain/chisel morticer at College and Joinery company I worked for, only ever used the chain mortiser on Sashed and Cased windows (mortice for pulley wheels) we made a lot of windows only worth setting up a quick raker and you needed to flaff about with a chipbreaker. It had the auto cut off fitted to the handles by a releasing and closing a pressure switch on handle base. It was also fully adjustable to accomadate deeper timber so you could get the full depth right for plunging. The one I used then and the college came with lights that were adjustable. They also came with grinders at the rear for sharpening the hollow chisels. I came across other Wadkin but they added Bursgreen to there name and were mostly hollow chisels.

I did not know Stenner made Morticers, I have a Stenner Eagle Resaw in my workshop (second machine I have purchased for two different workshops), good robust kit only drawbacks I see is the enclosed motor (overheating and setting fire to dust trapped there, had this happen not good access to clean out easily) and the system feeding the lubrication to wheel pads can air lock (did this on both machines). The Wakin PBR can be a quieter in operation (had one before my first Eagle) as to having rubber wheels and can angle the fence (handy), the Stenner can be a bit loud due to no noise dampening (plain steel wheels). The Wadkin drawback is the wheels rubber wearing and needing retreading (every two years in my case) and cuts slower than a Stenner Eagle.

Now if I had the need and monies the Waco would be the resaw of choice I been lucky to try a lot of different Resaw makes over 34 years in the trade. but I get of topic.

Allylearm

 

[Guggs]

Now THATS what you call a machine ! Total class ,solid reliable . You're one very lucky woodworker . Having the chain next to the chisel is a boom ,having a chain morticer is a boom in itself but have the a combo ...even bigger bigger boom . Very nice project . Congratulations .

 

[tool613]

At first i thought it may be a different Stenner company, but the tag is clear. Stenner made and supplied whole sawmills and I was wondering if this was a custom built machines for a purpose built mill. The stenner BL that i got came from a mill that built the lock gates for the canals in and around me here in Ont Canada. It is my understanding that Stenner will build to suit. Can any one verifie this? The casting marks/numbers suggests that the machines was made in 1959.

any thoughts?

jack

 

[tool613]

Just an update on the stenner. She is in place and i have to make a tool box for the the tooling but i think i have it done.

The fence that came with the Stener is a great fence ,but it does not tilt and I had some rat hole parts that i thought would work to make hold downs and a table. So the cost of the fixtures was in total about $30.

here is a part of something i am not sure but its got a built in stop and I just need to make bolts to hold it to the Stenner.
Could be a fence off a boring machine?

The hold downs are off an SCMI shaper(spindle moulder) and did not need much modification to get them to work. Bushing were made and brass clamp plates with rose wood made to replace a press steel ones they had. I do not have any before pics of those parts.

The Stenner table bolts on the vertical sliding table that has ways that square head bolts 5/8" will slide into. This is what I use to anchor all my fixtures in place. The first hold down I made was to hold may wood at any postion.

It's just a peace of Ash and the stand off was turned on the lathe. The black hold down with the rosewood/brass clamping plate was the parts of the old shaper (SCMI). It can be placed any where on the ways of the Stenner table.



The Stenner had a spot for a bar that made a great spot for a hold down when i am doing large flat plates and will hold the wood down on the table for case work pieces. So if I want to put square pegs in the end on a flat board I can hold them down.

To make the tilting table I wanted a pivet point to rotate the table by,and a gauge to tell me the angle the table was at. I came up with a protractor that will support the table when adjusting the angles and give me pivots every 2" in height to maintain my Z axis. The bolts on the table take all the stress when mortising so this did not need to be super strong.

only one hold was drill and taped into the stenner

Here is the table with bolts that I just drop on top of the tilt gauge and bolt to the angle I want up to 45 degs.

the hold will slide along the T slot and rotate to any position

the built in stop and material support.

I really like to make the jigs that make my work easier . when I do Ii like to make them nice to use and so the pleasure of woodworking is that mush better. It also reminds me that not all tools can be order over the phone or on the web, some times you just have to make them on your own. BTW I do not have any metal working machines and am just a wood worker. there is nothing here that any of you could not do/make.

jack

 

[Henning]

Absolutely beautiful, Jack!

Nice work again.

 

[Tony Spear]

Thanks for the comments boys .

As I have said before this is a chisel mortiser as well. I had rebuilt the head and had to make bushing to fit my tooling. I like the flat botom sets that are not as pointed as the new styles are so it takes a bit more effort to drive a 1" chesel but they tend not to burn. I find the english kits augers are a lot tighter interface to the chisel and run better than the cheep sets from you know where. It takes about 1 minute to change over from chain to chisel.

Made a video of it punching a 1" chisel at the link below. My RPC took more time than normal to start as i just turned it off minutes before the video and the start caps are getting old. you can see the lights dim a little :shock:


http://www.youtube.com/user/tool613

jack

I just lurrve those helical cut pinions! Quality always shows. =D>

 

[tool613]

Tony
the helical cut pinions are nice. Do you think Stenner used them because they are dry most of there life. and would be less noisy.

when is this type pinions use in machinery as apposed to straight cut?

jack

 

[kirkpoore1]

Nice, Jack. I missed the video first time around. Looks like using that 1" chisel is real work, even with the power assist. Does the head have an integral fan? I noticed your chips are just sitting there.

Kirk

 

[MickCheese]

I did see this first time around but have just looked again. Absolutely stunning work.

This must have been seriously expensive when in 1959 (a good year by the way) it was first bought.

Mick