Woohoo!!
I think that I am going to start out using this lantern post tool holder.
Several reasons...
It must have worked well enough for almost 60 years.
It is available, and I am frugal.
I do not yet know enough to purchase the correct quick change tool post.
I think this lathe with a 1.290" center to top of the compound will be best served by an AXA that uses the same 1/2" tools that this post holds.
A flawed plan in your opinion???
No. Not a flawed plan at all. I still use the lantern that came with my lathe. I kinda prefer that. I'm not in production, not making a living, and generally enjoy the journey of building
crap things just as much as I enjoy the end result.
I look at the lantern post like this- It's kind of like driving a car with an automatic versus a manual transmission. Yes, you're going to do a face plant into the learning curve, as it's a little steep. But it's not that bad. Once you get it though, when stuff starts to come together in your mind, not only is it not a challenge, and not a handicap, it's just natural enough to not even be an inconvenience.
With that said... You might (and probably will) run into some materials or circumstances where you want and/or need more modern cutters for more modern materials that did not exist when rocker tool posts built America. (At least the round parts of America.
) I actually built a tool post and tool holders to present more modern tools in the "modern way". I needed carbide (and one ceramic) tool, so that I could do one specific thing- Peeling the chrome and hardened layer off of scrapped hydraulic cylinder rods. I built the tool post, AND the holders, AND an endmill holder on the lathe, using that rocker tool post. If you're willing to take on a kind of short (albeit a little steep) learning curve, that tool post will work great for you.
Now that I've said that..... Let's talk about cost. What have you got for tool holders? If you've got a small selection of useful tool holders, you're golden. If you don't have the tool holders to go with that..... Well, like most obsolete things that are still in demand "somewhat", and especially to a collector/hobby market, the price for those is not bad, but it is real. If you have no holders, and/or if it's already been cherry picked and you've only got the "less used" ones included, you can make those work.... But you're gonna want a useful selection very soon. If you've got to get acquire handfull of holders, a boring bar holder, a cutoff tool...... Your cost is gonna put a significant ding into the cost of switching to a reasonably priced quick change tool post. I would advise you to consider a plan moving forward before you make any significant investment. Any pictures you could get of any tool holders you have would allow this forum to give you some more solid advice as to what capabilities you have, and what you're "probably" going to want in the near future.