Foster Planer Restoration #3: Not quite done, but much better looking

It’s been a couple weeks but I have been working feverishly to get this beauty back in a form that would make the designer proud. I got everything painted, de-rusted and generally cleaned up. I got the cutter head bearings replaced, the bushings on the infeed and outfeed rollers were thankfully serviceable. I say thankfully because the cheapest machine shop wanted 1 hour plus material each. This equates to $70 per bushing x 4, yikes. To replace the MDF top that was on it, and had sank 4” I used 3/4” birch ply. After considering a couple different finishes I opted for plain old BLO. I figured this would be an easy finish to continue to add to over the years and should result in a nice patina over those years. While I still have a few things to finish up, Blade installation, a bolt in the head assembly, and ground the machine itself. Note: this machine was originally running 12/3 wire 220v single phase, I replaced the wiring with 10/4 in order to allow for gorunding of the circut and the machine.
I hope you enjoy,

BEFORE

INFEED – I still have to paint the access door and get a couple knobs for it

OUTFEED

-- The basis for optimism is shear terror