Wilson woodworking machines

[Tim Britton]

I found this picture yesterday. It's not exactly the same machine but it's very similar, still on sale in 1940. The picture is from a catalogue of tools from Gardiner of Bristol. For a tool to stay in production that long the original design must have been sound.

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But clearly there was change in the wind. If you were feeling flush with the cash and wanted to go all modern, you could get what looks like the same basic machine but with a big electric motor bolted on the top:

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(Though tbh, by then you probably had to have a chit from the Ministry of Supply to say it was needed for the war effort . Just liking rugged old machinery probably wasn't enough to get the right permissions. :| )

Hi Andy, just catching up on the forum replies... the electric powered one you show looks rather like the old one in the workshop where I served my apprenticeship circa 1976,

 

[clogs]

thanks for the video link.....will go back there very soon.....
just brilliant.....

 

[Tim Britton]

well, my obsession with Wilson mortise machines continues and there are now three in the workshop... the first one inherited from my father and in regular use to make mortises, the second one acquired when I chased some chisels on eBay and found I'd bought a machine as well... the third - last week - when I went to look at a machine in the hope it had chisels and the auger attachment (it had neither) but somehow it ended in the back of my van and is now in the workshop. Still looking for the auger attachment and the tenoning tool too. The Wilson catalogue shows a drawing of the auger box but it would be nice to see one in real life.