Many people like to engage in woodworking in their home or shop as a pass time or hobbie, building or tinkering. It's a great feeling to make or build something with your own hands that you can then look back and say, "I built that myself".

  Have you ever wondered how the old timers built those antique woodworking projects that we see here and there and marval at the craftsmanship and quality put into those projects? Look at some of the buildings in your home town and how nice they look when they are restored to their  original condition. Antique woodworking I think is a fasinating art that is sometimes lost or passed by in our fast paced world of today.

  I recently visited a working museum, in my home town, where woodworking is done using antique woodworking machines and tools. Some of these machines were built around 1870 and into the early 1900's. These machines are belt driven from what is called a line shaft which is mounted on the ceiling and each individual machine will have a belt running to it from the main line shaft or maybe another line shaft which is belt driven from the main line shaft. The main line shaft today is powered by an electric motor, but originally was steam driven. These antique woodworking machines resemble most machines found in shops today, everything from table saws to shapers to band saws to planers to wood lathes, and many antique woodworking tools needed to do the job of a quality craftsman.

  Many of you are familiar with the Shopsmith 5-tools-in-one woodworking system. This is a very useful combination machine which is loved by many and has been around for many years. At the museum I visited they have a similar antique woodworking machine which is a combination of 4 or 5 machines all using the same frame and working off the same dedicated drive line for all machine operations all running off one belt from the main line shaft mounted on the ceiling. This machine was built somewhere in the early 1900's and is used today in many antique woodworking projects as well as many modern projects. This may have been one of the first of these useful combination woodworking machines.

  I really admire the quality and workmanship put into these antique woodworking machines and what can be produced using these machines and antique woodworking tools.

  Antique woodworking tools are very interesting collector items as well as antique woodworking machines for the very serious collector. As with the owner of the working museum mentioned above, he searches the country for antique woodworking machines and tools and then has to restore many to their original condition.