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View Full Version : A woodturner and his lathe..circa 1902



Ruddy
15th April 2009, 06:55 PM
This is one for the darksiders…….
<O:p</O:p
I got this wonderful picture from a friend of mine and I thought you may enjoy it.
The lad in the picture was his grandfather and it was taken in 1902. He would have been either seventeen or eighteen. Have a good look at his pride and joy.........just a beautiful lathe.
More features than you get today, infinitely variable speed, solid wooden construction, available in natural wood colour, can be operated when you have not paid your electricity bill and had a zero carbon footprint. It also looks to be dual purpose and could be used for both woodturning and a metal turning.
Here we are, 107 years later and there is nothing on the market that comes within cooee of these features.
I love the picture, the facial expression, the hands holding the callipers, the 6” steel rule in his waistcoat pocket, sleeves rolled up and wearing a cloth cap.
Have a close look at the flywheel………It probably took about five minutes to get it up to speed and twenty minutes to come to a halt after you had it going at 1500rpm! All that stored energy ….and free. Luxury.

It appears to have back gears but there is no sign of a lead screw. Anybody care to suggest how the head stock worked. I was thinking it may have been a headstock from an older lathe.


Enjoy the picture

Ruddy
<O:p</O:p</O:p

artme
15th April 2009, 07:56 PM
Fabulous photo!!:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

And to think we whinge if we don't have a hollow headstock, or tailstock or whatever.

new_guy90
15th April 2009, 08:57 PM
This is one for the darksiders…….
<o>:p</o>:p
I got this wonderful picture from a friend of mine and I thought you may enjoy it.
The lad in the picture was his grandfather and it was taken in 1902. He would have been either seventeen or eighteen. Have a good look at his pride and joy.........just a beautiful lathe.
More features than you get today, infinitely variable speed, solid wooden construction, available in natural wood colour, can be operated when you have not paid your electricity bill and had a zero carbon footprint. It also looks to be dual purpose and could be used for both woodturning and a metal turning.
Here we are, 107 years later and there is nothing on the market that comes within cooee of these features.
I love the picture, the facial expression, the hands holding the callipers, the 6” steel rule in his waistcoat pocket, sleeves rolled up and wearing a cloth cap.
Have a close look at the flywheel………It probably took about five minutes to get it up to speed and twenty minutes to come to a halt after you had it going at 1500rpm! All that stored energy ….and free. Luxury.

It appears to have back gears but there is no sign of a lead screw. Anybody care to suggest how the head stock worked. I was thinking it may have been a headstock from an older lathe.


Enjoy the picture

Ruddy
<o>:p</o>:p:p
YES I DID ENJOY THE PIC'S :p LOL it looks like a great machine!!!!!!!! i love this stuff old machines they dont make them like they used to. it looks like a 3 speed flat belt drive and if you look close it has back gears to slow it down just like a metal lathe. i think your right i think the little compound slide was used to turn some soft metals as well as wood and the fly wheel gets up to speed very quickly, with the back gears it stops fast to. in those days most of the wood lathes were made of wood and there were companies who made the headstocks, tailstocks and the tool rests in metal and put them on the wood stands or you could make your own stand. i love the way hes looking in the pic, looks like a rolling pin betweeen centers lol very cool pic thanks for showing it

as for new treadly lathes a company in america made the headstocks and tailstocks for wood beds, not sure but it wasnt to long ago when they were made. and a french company made an all fabricated treadle lathe for some rehabilitation places. they are very cool heres a link http://www.lathes.co.uk/larvic/ there very cool

thanks for showing its made my night i love these old tools :2tsup:

Patrick

robyn2839
15th April 2009, 09:37 PM
dont you just love those mc1000s.......bob

orificiam
15th April 2009, 09:44 PM
Thanks for the photo Ruddy. Love those old lathes.
Cheers Tony.:2tsup:

Ed Reiss
16th April 2009, 01:05 AM
neat !!!!:2tsup:

Skew ChiDAMN!!
16th April 2009, 03:44 AM
back-gears to slow it down? Isn't that what steel-capped boots are for? :p

les88
16th April 2009, 07:32 AM
a gem of a photo. thanks for showing
les

Sawdust Maker
16th April 2009, 09:04 AM
Great photo
thanks for sharing

You forgot one great side benefit from such a machine - free workout everytime you used it, none of this just standing around with a chisel in your hand :doh:

dr4g0nfly
16th April 2009, 09:13 AM
Not so sure about the Carbon Free, reckon I'd be making my share with all the huffing & puffing I'd do generated operating it.

Still it looks easier than a bodgers lathe.

Has he still got anything his Grandfather made?

Ruddy
16th April 2009, 10:11 AM
Not sure if he has anything he made. There are some later pictures taken in 1906 that show he has made it into a metal lathe, still treadle operated and he is showing a magnificent minature steam engine he hade made. let me know if you want to see the pictures.The new lathe has the same headstock.

Skew.... boots...couldnt afford boots.....


ruddy

Skew ChiDAMN!!
16th April 2009, 07:17 PM
Nice lathe, just the same. That flywheel looks like a timber frame around concrete or a millstone, yeah?

Ruddy
16th April 2009, 08:41 PM
I agree Skew....it is a fair lump of concrete and maybe when he has increased the diameter for the steel hoop ring he was able to adjust the balance with those wooden spacers.

Ruddy

new_guy90
16th April 2009, 09:33 PM
Not sure if he has anything he made. There are some later pictures taken in 1906 that show he has made it into a metal lathe, still treadle operated and he is showing a magnificent minature steam engine he hade made. let me know if you want to see the pictures.The new lathe has the same headstock.

Skew.... boots...couldnt afford boots.....


ruddy
YES YES YES LOL ............please :p

Patrick

China
16th April 2009, 10:43 PM
Of course we want to see the pictures

Ruddy
16th April 2009, 11:27 PM
Here are the other two pictures. These are dated Feb 1906 and the head stock and the tail stock are the same as the earlier lathe.
He made the minature steam engine in these photographs and later became an engineer working in Sydney. Love the waistcoat and the gold chain, the pocket handkerchief and the flower in the lapel. Can just imagine that the fob watch and chain were his Sunday best pride and joy!...
He apparently made this lathe and looking at all the parts from the 1902 model they are the samebits. amazing pictures..
Enjoy

Ruddy

new_guy90
30th April 2009, 05:58 PM
the worlds getting smaller and now the net is to :p a member of the "practical machinist" forum noticed this thread and i just found there thread on what they found on an Australian site. you see practical machinist is well to my knowledge is the biggest forum for the metal working trade with so much information about everything to do with metal machining and more i suppose oh yeah and they liked our forum lol. anyway they had some better ideas about the lathe so heres a line for anyone who wants to see (to be honest i think they should have put a link here for us but ill put it in)

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php?t=179571

Paul39
1st May 2009, 03:20 AM
I'm the guilty party, and use Paul39 on both sites.

There is an antique machinery and history section that is most fascinating and has several UK and AU members. The poster Asquith has many tales and photographs.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=19

I didn't think to post on this site as I rarely see a reference to wood turning on PM.

The PM site is a wonderful reference for any metalworking, along with economy, business practices, and occasional raging political discussion.

Ray50
6th May 2009, 07:58 PM
I am the grandson of the man with his lathe in the photos that Ruddy published. The lathe is still going strong with a few more modifications. It now has an electric motor, of course. My leg might not be strong enough to pedal it anymore! Here are a few photos of what it looks like today.

orificiam
6th May 2009, 09:07 PM
Congatulation Ray your Grandfather Would be very proud.
Cheers Tony:2tsup::2tsup:

TTIT
7th May 2009, 09:52 AM
Must be the tinkerer in me :shrug: - I have an overwhelming urge to strip that old baby down and restore it to it's former glory after reading through this thread. Wish I had some of my grandfathers tools around - your a lucky man Ray :U

Is that Como - WA, NSW or QLD ??????

Ruddy
7th May 2009, 01:08 PM
Thanks for posting those pictures Ray.......
Just amazing to see a machine that is over a 100 years old still being used and the fact that it was your grandfathers makes it all so special. It is a bit like the farmers axe.......it was over a 100 years old and had had 6 new handles and three new heads.


rgds
Ruddy

new_guy90
8th May 2009, 07:48 PM
its really good to see that such a machine is still in use :2tsup: what else have ya made on it?