Old Blacksmith Lathe Saved

[middle.road]

My got, that is very awesome, to put it mild terms. -WOW.

Was it sitting outside for a long time?

 

[The Liberal Arts Garage]

Here's to larger shops, with overhead shafts; get the full experience of
1850 ! .........BLJHB

 

[Brain Coral]

My got, that is very awesome, to put it mild terms. -WOW.

Was it sitting outside for a long time?

Yes, the lathe was sitting out in the weather for at least two years, when the last owner bought it. Surprisingly, none of the nuts and bolts were frozen, whatsoever and any of the rust is only surface rust. A testament to the old "pure" iron that was made back in those days. There is an old steam boiler in the woods nearby, from about the same time period, that has been out in the weather for 50 or 60 years and you can still clearly see the lathe tooling marks on the tapered shafts for the wheels. This old stuff just doesn't rust the same as our "modern" steels.








Well, maybe you can't see the marks by the photo, but in person they are well defined and, other than a darkening, look like they were turned yesterday.
Brian

 

[middle.road]

you know that somewhere, someone would dearly love to have that boiler for his/hers project.

 

[core-oil]

That old machine certainly deserves saving , I also would guess circa 1840 era for its build period, I rally like the design of the headstock, with its peculiar arched construction,most elegant remember in its day it was built for tools which pre-dated high speed steel by many years , Old carbon steel tools were the "in thing "then , Thus we would have slow cutting speeds, & tools with a steep rake angle, steels by and large would be softer (certainly no E N Exotic steels in those days !) The form of the gear teeth intrigue me also , almost square in form, certainly pre dates the involute gear pattern, In those far off days calculating your tooth numbers was by circular pitch, not Diametrical pitch, (a method still used for large gears on occasions,
The production of those old gears would be by casting the tooth form, By the use of green sand moulding , a lovely gear could be obtained, this required a lot of skill on the part of the moulder , now by and large sadly vanished , by the advent of the dreadful resin bonded modern chemical sands The pattern maker also would have a high degree of hand skills in the pattern production for this old girl

I wonder what equally ancient old machine tools were used in her production, & the nature of the old fitters & turners who built her & where ? She certainly ain't for saying

 

[f350ca]

There certainly was something different about the steel used in old equipment. A friend had a thrashing machine sitting in the field, he remembered it working when he was a kid, then sat for at least 50 years. I wanted the square link chain for a conveyor. A Cresent wrench easily loosened all the bolts needed to get to the chain, then the sprockets slid off the shafts. Try disassembling modern equipment thats been in the weather for a year or two .

Greg

 

[Brain Coral]

Well, the lathe has been shipped and has arrived in Washington State.

Here it is on my trailer, ready for the ride to the shipping terminal...



Brian

 

[middle.road]

Brrrrrrr... Hehe, picts start out with decent weather in August and now this latest has all that funny white stuff everywhere.

 

[MrFixIt]

Wow, nice save! That's a cool old machine; hopefully the new owner is a member here and will keep us posted on the restore!