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First lathe
- Thread starter Webb Willmott
- Start date
My Dad's 1948 10ER Shop Smith that I inherited.
I did a lot of "scrape and sand" turnings on that rig.
Photo taken in 1973
I did a lot of "scrape and sand" turnings on that rig.
Photo taken in 1973
The old Harbor Freight mini lathe with the genuine HF "Professional" HSS gouges (still use them). A decent chuck, grinder, and wolverine jig probably cost more than the lathe and tools combined. I still think it is a good enough machine to start with but wish the minimum speed was slower. It would have helped with multi axis turning.
Don't have a picture of it but my first one was my dad's and it was a craftsman two pipe with the nail point for a live center, you had to oil the center to make it live. He had the 5 piece set of tools from craftsman with it which were tool steel and I still use them. Lathe is long gone.
Same, an old Taiwanese lathe with 6" throw all cast iron, no chucks in those days, just a face plate. It was sold about 40 years ago
Dave Landers
Beta Tester
My first lathe was home-made. Plans were in the April 1987 issue of Wood magazine. Used it for like 20 years. Don't have a pic of it setup, but here's me working on it.
Baltic Birch plywood bed ways, laminated hard maple head/tail stock, particle board base. Wrote away to somewhere for the spindles (listed in the back of the magazine). Motor and pulleys from a surplus catalog...
Don't have it anymore, but some of the pieces have been repurposed and so some of it's still around.
Actually technically this was my second lathe - I inherited a small bench-top metal lathe (Delta or Rockwell or Craftsman - can't remember). Had to sell it to get the money to build the wooden wood lathe.
Baltic Birch plywood bed ways, laminated hard maple head/tail stock, particle board base. Wrote away to somewhere for the spindles (listed in the back of the magazine). Motor and pulleys from a surplus catalog...
Don't have it anymore, but some of the pieces have been repurposed and so some of it's still around.
Actually technically this was my second lathe - I inherited a small bench-top metal lathe (Delta or Rockwell or Craftsman - can't remember). Had to sell it to get the money to build the wooden wood lathe.
Can’t remember the maker but my dad had bought a whole garage set of tools. Sight unseen. In in was a lathe he had no use for. It went to storage under the porch. Out of the rain but exposed to the elements. Years later I decide I want to make my own turkey calls. If only I had a lathe! Drag it out and plug it up and it worked until I sold it. It was Cast bed with a 3/4” spindle. Replaced with a craftsman garage find.