Last week I found a box of my dad's old shop paperwork and inside was the original manual for his 1962 Craftsman table saw. I flipped to the blade alignment section and followed it step by step, even though I've done this a hundred times with YouTube videos. The saw ran smoother than it has in years, no wobble, no burn marks on the wood. It blew my mind that a 60 year old piece of paper had clearer diagrams than most modern guides. The week went downhill after that, my router manual from 1984 was missing page 6 and I spent two hours guessing the fence settings. Anyone else have a vintage manual that just clicked better than newer instructions? Or found one with missing pages that drove you nuts?
Did the 1962 manual use those exploded diagrams where every part is numbered and there's a key at the bottom? Curious if that's what made it click versus the videos, or if it was something about the order they had you do the steps in.