DeWalt RAS Series

I bought Mr. Sawdust’s book over a year ago anticipating I would soon find an older DeWalt RAS for the right price. The recent blogs by Blake and Patron really fueled the fire and I renewed my efforts. I’ve been cruising CL for the past months and while there must be 25 RAS at the moment on CL for my area, they were just not what I was looking for. My big problem is I don’t have a truck so would need to rent a trailer and all of the RASs I wanted to look at were up to a 2 hour drive away. The logistics were not in my favor.

Last night I decided to settle on a couple of older Craftsman to negociate over. I even sent out some inquiring emails last night. I was ready to pull the trigger.

Then this morning, I was driving my daugher back from an errand and in our neighbor she saw a garage sale sign. I wasn’t going to turn down the block but my daughter would have none of that. So I turned and drove a few hundred yards to the line of cars by the curb. I looked out the car window while pulling up and almost bit my tongue off. There in the front yard I thought I saw the outline of a RAS amoung the clutter of toys and clothes. My daugher says I got real quite, flung the car door open and basically ran up the driveway. I don’t really remember. I felt dazed.

There it sat, on top of an old planer. It is a DeWalt 1400 RAS, 2.5.hp, wired for 110V. I’d say late 50s to 1960s vintage, but I’m not sure exactly. It had all the knobs and levers and the tracks and bearings were tight. Someone had tried to repaint it but it was beutiful as it sat. It had a tag for $75. I ask the guy would he take $50 and then the Dad came out and we settled at $60. I used his dolly to wheel it around the block to my house and took these photos. And yes, I eventually retreived my car.

I plan to build a Mr. Sawdust table and do some refurbishing, but it really doesn’t need a lot of work. Just mostly alignment, and a new blade. Any suggestions on what blade to use? Hope the pictures are not to small.

http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss330/davidroberts_01/EPhoto0583-.jpg

http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss330/davidroberts_01/EPhoto0585-Copy.jpg

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http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss330/davidroberts_01/EPhoto0595-Copy.jpg

-- david roberts, houston area, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but that has never been a problem for me."