Delta Craftsheets book

[quattro_sinko]

I am a fan of older (and some not-so-old) Delta equipment and machinery. While digging through an estate sale today I found (and bought) this Delta Craftsheets book. It is a solid binder that is filled with tips and information about both using tools and materials, and selecting hardware.

So far, information online that I've found has been pretty scant. I think that Delta regularly printed and sent out/offered new pages to add between 1939(ish) to 1943.


Does anyone remember/Is anyone familiar with these? Some of the pages could pass for Industrial Age shop-art.

I'd be happy to toss up more pages if anyone is interested.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Neat book! Have you looked at the vintage machinery website? They may have something about it. http://vintagemachinery.org

 

[Empty Pockets]

Nice pickup

 

[quattro_sinko]

Thanks guys.

Searching "Deltagrams" (as seen in the upper right corner of each page) led to the discovery that Delta (pre-Rockwell) periodically released mini magazines with DIY projects using their machinery. (Projects that would qualify as semi-complex today). Here is a link to a woodworking website that hosts Deltagrams as PDF's with Delta's blessing: http://thisoldworkshop.com/menu-deltagrams
I guess this book is an early, simpler part of those magazines.

A search of Deltagram on eBay tuned up a lot of different copies of the magazines, a 1946 volume had a surprisingly racy cover. I had to buy it.

I have some more pictures of pages from the Craftsheets book, but seem to be having trouble directly uploading them. Hopefully I'll get that figured out and post them shortly

 

[bczygan]

I've got one of those binders somewhere...

 

[quattro_sinko]

Here's 2 more pages. The back sides of each of these pages are left blank save for a header reading "Notes"

edit: I'll work on getting the pictures to appear properly.

 

[leehael]

These look like illustrations from the old " Getting The Most Out Of Your ...." books. Fill in the blank with Shaper, Tablesaw, and others. L

 

[quattro_sinko]

To me, they almost have a comic book quality to them. Here are 2 more: "Pulley Speeds" and "The Dado Head". The pages are dated in the upper right corner, I am guessing those are the dates of the Deltagram issues that these pages are excerpted from.

(pre-edit edit: I have no idea why the pics continue to upload sideways, just spent a very frustrating hour trying to sort this and post, sorry. When I get it figured, I'll fix them)

 

[quattro_sinko]

Off on a tangent-

In trying to track the origins of my Delta Craftsheet Binder, I fell down the rabbit hole searching for information on Deltagrams, a magazine Delta used to publish filled with projects for home woodworkers. My search led me to ebay, where I got to see a ton of issues whose covers typically featured either machinery, or a woodworker, busy in his shop, (or both.) The January/February 1946 Issue was... different.

Of course I had to buy it (just preserving history!)

Aside from the cover, there was a letter from a Delta tool user from Holland. He wrote of hiding all of his machinery from his Germans during the war. As the occupation had just ended, he was happy to start woodworking again, and grateful the tools had remained safe in hiding.

Pre-edit: These pictures were both upright when attached.

 

[Cruzan80]

Here is a Popular Science ad from Dec '43, referencing them. Only mentions batch one, maybe the later were subscriptions?

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