The DeWalt Museum — Leo Flannery’s Radial Arm Saw Collection

May 26

I've always wondered where so many of the truly interesting, vintage DeWalt machines ended up.

Surely countless of them are still hiding all across America – in old workshops, dusty basements, under tarps behind garages – just waiting to be found by the right person who can appreciate what they’ve stumbled on. In my opinion, some of the most pristine, classic DeWalt machines can be found at the new Mr. Sawdust School in New Jersey, restored and on-display or in-use by Wally Kunkel. Other truly remarkable saws are in the workshops of individual woodworkers, each one of them taking the time to turn them into real showpieces, running like they just came off the factory floor — most of them sharing their progress along the way over on the forum.

That brings us to one of those fellows, Leo Flannery — more than 150 of these wonderful machines have found a home in his southern New Jersey shop – or as he and others call it – the Museum.

As Leo told me…

The shop/museum is packed to the walls with saws. Not much room to get around. Most of all the saws are on wheels so I can play "musical saws" and move them around.

Not only does he have the largest collection I’ve come across, but he has some of the most interesting, unique machines as well, spanning the entire timespan of their production – including more than one of the original WonderWorker machines, dating back around 1928.

I haven’t been there to visit just yet, but very much look forward to it. On that note, there’s been some coordination going on to organize a get-together at Leo’s place in fall of 2022 — you can see what’s happening with that in this thread over on the forum: Fall gathering at the Museum

Leo also shares a lot of short videos & progress on YouTube – I’ve added a handful of those videos here, just below the photos.

Quite a collection by someone who clearly appreciates these timeless machines. I can only imagine what Mr. Sawdust, Wally Sr. would think seeing “all these beauts” under one roof. I certainly can hear one phrase in his voice — “How ‘bout that!?”

Enough talk… on to a few photos…

Here’s a sampling of photos from around Leo’s shop. Many of these were shot by Dale Sexton during a visit where he’d stopped by to trade a 7790 Type 7 for a 1956 GWI from Leo. Some additional photos I’ve pulled from various forum posts. I’d love to have some higher-resolution shots, but these are what I’ve got for now…