After months of watching the Indianapolis craigslist tools postings, I came across a rather bland posting about a 10″ contractors table saw. I contacted the poster to find out it was a Rockwell 34-440, from the late 70′s or early 80′s. I asked for photos, and my jaw dropped. It was in pristine shape. Hardly a speck of rust on it and still sported the original paint. This is a Rockwell saw from the days before Delta & Rockwell were owned by the same company — and it acts like a Rockwell when you put the power to to. Without a link-belt and using the standard cast V-belt pulleys and an old belt, this thing will pass the nickel test.

Turns out the guy selling bought it used 12 years ago (1996), without a fence or fence rails. He added a used set of rails and fence — from a Unisaw! He happened to be a bit of a metalworker, and machined his own spacers to extend the rear fence off the back of the table to support the longer fence.

This manual for the 1979 model pictures a more modern base (enclosed, and squared), the stock rails, fence, blade guard, and miter gauge.

At the time of purchase, the fence is missing the small triangle that points to the center of the measurements marked on the fence rails and the fine-adjustment knob. Both of these I should be able to find or fabricate replacements for. It’s nice having a machinist in the family.

In late August 2008, I built a mobile base for the saw using the plans from a PBS series called The Woodsmith Shop. Don’t confuse this with the Roy Underhill series the Woodwrights shop. That guy is insane with old-school hand-tools. Woodsmith shop actually looks like a good series, and it won’t surprise me if it fills the gap that I’m sure will be left by The New Yankee Workshop the day Norm decides to retire. That will be a sad, sad day for me. I grew up watching Norm while channel-surfing, and my TiVo gets a weekly workout on Saturday morning thanks to him.

Zero-clearance inserts, sacrificial fence, stop-blocks, and a cross-cut sled are next on the list of table-saw jigs / fixtures.

I use an Osbourne EB-3 miter gauge, like you’ll often see Norm handling on the New Yankee Workshop series. It is a fantastic gauge.