1906 Crescent Band Saw

Tom was the proud owner of a 1906 Crescent band saw until one of the other "makers" in his shop bought a bigger one. The Crescent allowed a 26" wide piece of wood to be cut. The new Neighborhood Wood Shop band saw allows a 36" piece wide piece of wood to be cut. Because of the thinness of the blade, a band saw can cut curves and a radius in a wide piece of wood. For this reason, it is indispensable in making arched-top windows and doors.

The 1906 Crescent was adopted by one of Tom's friends who owns a painting business. The Crescent Machine Company manufactured band saws like this from at least 1902 until 1940 when the company was sold to Rockwell, a division of Rockler Companies. This particular 26" band saw was manufactured 21 of the 38 years under the control of the Crescent Machine Company and are still highly prized as valuable vintage machines. Today Rockwell no longer makes band saws this large; the new manufacturers of larger sized band saws are Silver Manufacturing Company and Northfield Woodworking Machinery.

This saw excels at cutting curves (making a radius), resawing very thick lumber, and cutting logs into lumber.


The photo below shows Philipp, one of the other makers in the wood shop, and Phillip's nephew, using the 1906 Crescent band saw.