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vintage metal shaper - 16" model in running condition, $1,750, Morriston, ON

YYCHM

(Craig)
Premium Member

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OK, I've been outed. That is my machine. I posted that ad the same weekend I tried again to re-join this forum. I didn't bother to rush straight to the classified section...I guess I am old-fashioned and chose instead to spend time on the foreplay. ;)

So far, Ive got 5 quasi-serious guys that I am in emailed discourse with on the machine as a result of that ad. One is from Manitoba, and he is contemplating building a trip here in the spring around picking this up.

So I guess there is perhaps some tell there as to desire for these larger machines and also the pricing of same.

If anyone here is genuinely interested, please PM me and we can exchange contact details and go at it via email. Otherwise, I'll undertake to come back to this thread with an update later on as to the outcome here.
 
Yes, I swim around in most of the forum seas (mostly lurking) but have been likely most visible on that one over the years. If a site loses it's civility and becomes a parade of dancing bananas emojis then I'll typically distance myself more. They all offer different strokes to different folks.

Although the OWWM members are mostly American, I have met many of them and moved lots of iron over the border (we have a vacation place in NY state south of Buffalo). I brought a motor back over a few years ago for Gerry in Belle River who is on this forum and recognize a lot of folks from elsewhere too (including yourself Craig). It's good to finally get the tech glitch sorted out so as to be here too.
 
Yeah, the vise and rotary table is a big component in this overall IMO. A fellow acquaintance that I know from the PM forum wanted that for his machine and offered me $ 350 USD for it alone a few years back.

The school of hard knocks has shown me that a machine without it's associated tooling only gets you 1/2 way there.
 
I don't know for sure John - but it is a hefty fella and I don't have the means to do that anyway.

What do you think, looking at it purely from a sum of the parts approach ?

It weighs just enough to separate the men from the boys IMO. I can move the main body around as it sits on it's own skid with a pallet-jack in my garage. The knee, vise, countershaft assembly & motor are all on another skid. Don't come with a 1/2 ton pick-up expecting to load it up and into the bed however. Keep it low and go slow is what I've learned in the 3 times I've had to move it so far.
 
In this picture, it looks identical to my John Steptoe 16" shaper. I'm wondering about the history of the design and any documentation them.
 
No connection between the 2 companies that I am aware of...one from Cincinnati and one from Galt (Cambridge).

John Steptoe: http://www.vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=2177

R. McDougall: http://www.vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=370&tab=0

Of course, there are lots examples of good research showing undocumented ties from the past when records for these sorts of things were not well preserved. An example of that is over on the woodworking side, where there has long been speculation and decent evidence presented of a connection between Walker-Turner out of the U.S. and Beaver Tools out of Guelph back in the WW2 era.

I am not aware of any other McDougall shaper in the flesh today besides the one I have, and I have been watching and looking for the past decade now. I know of several of their lathes near me...in fact a buddy of mine has one. Hence my suggestion in the ad that it is "historically significant". Notice there are no examples posted up on the Vintage Machinery site. I will let the new owner decide as how to document it there with pictures, etc. and discuss that with them. And if they don't want to do that, then I will see to that.

Although I see considerable materials showing John Steptoe to be very active in the early days of the metal shaper space it is noteworthy to me that there are few examples of actual machines showing on the Vintage Machinery database. I am personally a big advocate for posting up machines there for the betterment of posterity and mutual learning and knowledge transfer, especially on the companies and models that are not otherwise well represented. These resources are invaluable to folks like me researching these machines and their associated accessories and tooling as we refurb/restore them. Please consider posting up your shaper and paying it all forward...
 
This machine is now provisionally sold to the buyer from Manitoba at full asking price. A decent hold deposit has been paid, with pick-up to be mutually arranged before the end of May.

Although I do not expect this to fall through, I am accumulating interested parties so as to be able to circle-back again if I have to. PM me if you would like to be included.
 
This machine is now provisionally sold to the buyer from Manitoba at full asking price. A decent hold deposit has been paid, with pick-up to be mutually arranged before the end of May.

Although I do not expect this to fall through, I am accumulating interested parties so as to be able to circle-back again if I have to. PM me if you would like to be included.

Congrats. As I said, price was good even for ON. For AB it was a steal. I am sure for SK it was very cheap as well. No shock in it selling so fast.
 
No connection between the 2 companies that I am aware of...one from Cincinnati and one from Galt (Cambridge).

John Steptoe: http://www.vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=2177

R. McDougall: http://www.vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=370&tab=0

Of course, there are lots examples of good research showing undocumented ties from the past when records for these sorts of things were not well preserved. An example of that is over on the woodworking side, where there has long been speculation and decent evidence presented of a connection between Walker-Turner out of the U.S. and Beaver Tools out of Guelph back in the WW2 era.

I am not aware of any other McDougall shaper in the flesh today besides the one I have, and I have been watching and looking for the past decade now. I know of several of their lathes near me...in fact a buddy of mine has one. Hence my suggestion in the ad that it is "historically significant". Notice there are no examples posted up on the Vintage Machinery site. I will let the new owner decide as how to document it there with pictures, etc. and discuss that with them. And if they don't want to do that, then I will see to that.

Although I see considerable materials showing John Steptoe to be very active in the early days of the metal shaper space it is noteworthy to me that there are few examples of actual machines showing on the Vintage Machinery database. I am personally a big advocate for posting up machines there for the betterment of posterity and mutual learning and knowledge transfer, especially on the companies and models that are not otherwise well represented. These resources are invaluable to folks like me researching these machines and their associated accessories and tooling as we refurb/restore them. Please consider posting up your shaper and paying it all forward...
Thanks for the reminder. It is done :)
 
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