it deserves to be read and disussed and homage paid.








Rare woodworking machine restored in Kalispell heads to Smithsonian museum


by Vanessa Perez
Thursday, May 27th 2021




KALISPELL, Mont. — A rare Greenlee woodworking machine used in a Montana copper shop is now headed to a Smithsonian museum.

Steve Williams runs his Kalispell woodworking shop where he restores vintage machines to factory new conditions.
Williams says he’s had an ad on Craigslist for vintage woodworking machines wanted.
Three years ago, he got a phone call from a man in Chester, who had the 16-inch jointer machine. It had been sitting in a crate at his brother-in-law’s commercial farm near the Canadian border.


The machine does a variety of woodworking functions in an industrial environment.
Williams bought the machine and brought it back to Kalispell. He says he did research and found that the machine was originally purchased new by the Anaconda Copper Company in Great Falls in 1910.
Williams says he’s a part of a 20,000-member worldwide organization that's fascinated with woodworking machinery. He says the organization is confident that the machine is the last one in the world.
“There has been no mention of an existing machine, and one of us would know -- absolutely one of us would know,” Williams said.
Williams says he put in about 1,500 hours to restore the machine.
He says he notified the machine’s company, now owned by Emerson, about his plans to restore it.
“I just wanted them to know that this machine was still in existence, and it was going to have a new future,” Williams said.
He says the Smithsonian found out about the rare machine and showed interest a few weeks later.
Emerson provided the funding for the restoration, and the Smithsonian agreed to add it to their permanent collection at the National Museum of Industrial History Museum.
“They liked the idea of this machine because it was so unique, so rare, and had a great history -- great Montana history,” Williams said.






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The 1910 Greenlee Variety Woodworker

I am Steve Williams. I’m a 72 year old Vietnam Vet who lives in Kalispell Montana. I operate a wood shop specializing in the reproduction of woodwork for historic buildings. I’ve also been restoring vintage woodworking machinery for 30 years. My machinery, like me is vintage… It’s restored to factory new condition and I use it every day.......more




please add any thoughts/comments.? Supposedly this 16" jointer weighs in at 3 tons?