Roy Underhill runs a screwcutting Barnes lathe

HMF

HMF

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Interesting video I ran across:

[video]http://m.video.pbs.org/video/2296983856/[/video]
 
Interesting video - I like Roy Underhill - pretty entertaining guy. Nice to see that old foot powered lathe in action. :))
 
That gives new meaning to a Manually operated Lathe. I want one.

"Billy G"
 
Actually that is a very good video for someone that has never seen or heard of a lathe before and wants to know what they can do.
 
Somebody commented that it made him nervous to watch Roy waving his hands around those open gears, and I agree, though perhaps they aren't as close as they appear.

I've been watching the show intermittently since before they raised that shop building, and what I should have done was videotape them since the early ones don't seem to be available any more. But I wasn't always home at the right times.
 
I saw that episode when it aired (in re-runs) and remember thinking about how crude it appeared compared to modern equipment. But then I thought about how advanced that machine was in its time. The guy in tow who owned one of those probably stayed pretty busy.
 
I love the way he laughs and chuckles each time he cuts metal off the rod. Funny thing... How many years have I been using a lathe? -And I still feel like laughing and chuckling when I cut metal...

Anyhow, way too many open gears on that machine. -Scares the pants off'a me (LOL: -not). Nifty old machine. Wish I had room for one.


Ray
 
It is clever how the cross slide can be turned to angles,and substitutes for a compound slide.
I saw a Barnes metal lathe in the Hampton junk yard for $100.00 years ago. It was not a treadle model. Anyhow,I posted it on a forum,and an old iron collector in Poquoson(very near by) went and got it. It had no change gears with it except those mounted on the lathe. Didn't seem in bad condition.
 
If you live in North Carolina or close by and can pick up PBS programming, Roy is the hoot to watch. Always has a band-aid or two on his hands/fingers, along with scratches, scrapes, burns and cuts all over. One will never catch him using modern tools either, I really don't believe he has any in his shop, even his screwdrivers have wooden handles. You can almost feel the warm blood flow whenever he picks up a handsaw.
 
I knew Roy well at Williamsburg. He has made his "boyish charm" his fortune.
 
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