Older Woodfast lathe - a few questions

[homey]

Our Men's Shed has been given an older Woodfast lathe. It seems a simple enough beast - motor in cabinet under the lathe, nothing fancy but very sturdy.

We're missing a faceplate and a chuck so I'm hoping the turning wizards can help me identify what the originals (or suitable replacements) look like.

Here's the machine. Colour is Hammertone grey and green. It has no model number or ID on it other than the characters LS 13 40 stamped into the lathe bed. I believe the spindle thread is 1" 8tpi or 10tpi. Would 10tpi sound more like a Woodfast 'standard'?

509909
509910

Any help identifying the model, year and appropriate faceplate/chuck would be greatly appreciated :) We're complete newbies to these older machines......

Many thanks,

Brian

[auscab]

10 tpi Brian .
Someone loaded a lot of Woodfast brochures in vintage machinery section some time back and I copied them. I don't remember who it was to thank here though. Ill go have another look .

509911 509912 509913

Rob

[homey]

Rob - you are a STAR. I'll go and look in that section.

Really appreciate your help.

Brian

[Tonyz]

I sincerly hope those flimsy castors are for moving it around your shed and once in place they will be removed....say YES THEY WILL please :C

[powderpost]

Check on the tailstock bed end to see if there are any numbers stamped into the bed. The numbers, if they are there, will indicate the year of manufacture and model.
Jim

[homey]

Jim - thanks. The numbers on the bed are LS 13 40 so I'm guessing it's a 1940's model. I'll follow up further on Auscab's suggestion re manuals to see if I can discover more.

Tonyz - agree about the wheels - thanks :-

Best regards,

Brian

[auscab]

There was only one lathe brochure. The one I put here. The rest were all types of other Woodfast machines. I cant find what thread it was.

[homey]

Rob (auscab) - Found the post with the original photos of the brochures. It was posted by Bueller from brochures he was sent by Clear Out. Thanks to both of them and again to you!

Best regards,

Brian

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f299/woodfast-manuals-brochures-etc-211198/2?highlight=woodfast+brochures

[auscab]

Rob (auscab) - Found the post with the original photos of the brochures. It was posted by Bueller from brochures he was sent by Clear Out. Thanks to both of them and again to you!

Best regards,

Brian

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f299/woodfast-manuals-brochures-etc-211198/2?highlight=woodfast+brochures

Thanks Brian . Good to know .
Rob

[NeilS]

Jim - thanks. The numbers on the bed are LS 13 40 so I'm guessing it's a 1940's model. I'll follow up further on Auscab's suggestion re manuals to see if I can discover more.

Tonyz - agree about the wheels - thanks :-

Best regards,

Brian

If we are reading the stamp details in the bed correctly, I think that's a 1940 Woodfast lathe, so one of their earliest. All of the early ones (I think pre-80s) had a 1" x 10tpi thread.

Love that early Art Deco design of the tailstock!

Almost all chucks nowadays need a separate insert to match the thread on your lathe, so you wont' need a special chuck, just the correct insert.

Few of us use dedicated faceplates now... replaced with face rings or scrap wooden disks held in the chuck.

[powderpost]

Hi Homey,

My memory faculty is not was it used to be, so i had a look at my old files. I have a letter written by Charles Hagan written in 1989. He states that He and a partner founded, P & H Tools S.A., in 1941, that was to later become Woodfast. The first machine marketed under the name "Woodfast" was a belt and disc sander, and that was in 1944 followed by a 14" bandsaw in 1945 then a "6" buzzer" in 1946.

So that tells me that the lathe was not built in 1940 but could be even later than 1946. Even so it is still a very sound machine well worth the effort. It would be interesting if some one knew what the numbers meant.

Jim

[homey]

Thanks, Neil. Yes, it’s a handsome machine in a chunky kind of way. I like this one so much more than our modern Asian-built lathe even if it means arm-wrestling the drive belt :)

I’ve found a supplier of 1x10 faceplates and chucks but you make an interesting point about faceplate rings or wooden discs held in the chuck. More to investigate!

Thanks again,

Brian

[homey]

Jim,

Thanks for the extra helpful information about the manufacture date. I’ll keep investigating but I’m not overly optimistic given that there’s no plate on the lathe just the stamping in the tailstock end of the bed “LS 12 40”. Whatever the date it’s a very sturdy piece of kit and I think it will become a favourite at the Shed.

One thing I haven’t yet done is check out the motor plate which is buried in one of the cupboards under the lathe. It may have one or more new motors over the years, of course, but it will be interesting to see what we find.

Thanks again,

Brian

[China]

I can't put my hands on the relevant documents ( I have them somewhere ) I am 99% sure that style is 1960's manufacture.

[LanceC]

I don't actually think this unit is anywhere near that old, unless the bed and head/tailstock are from different machines. Has anyone else seen a two toned machine like that before? The older ones had unsealed bearings, while later ones moved to sealed bearings. The older ones can be identified by the grease nipples atop the bearings, which you're doesn't have.

NCArcher had one from '77, with grease nipples. Does that mean your headstock is later than that? Mine is from '81 with sealed bearings, which is also the year the new shape came out, so probably the end of the line. One could surmise that yours headstock then would have been made between '77 and '81.

Of course we could all be wrong and are reading the stamp incorrectly.

Here are a couple of threads you may find interesting which cover some aspects of these lathes:
- Value of old woodfast lathes (https://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/value-woodfast-lathes-230442)
- Restoring an early 80’s Woodfast Lathe (woodworkforums.com) (https://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/restoring-80-woodfast-lathe-234911)

[delbs]

I have an original face plate that’s 1’10 TPI to suit this lathe. I owned the same lathe as this but recently sold it with a number of accessories and I could find this plate at the time.

Happy for you to have it if you wish to cover postage to you

Cheers
Nathan

[homey]

Delbs - Thanks so much for that! We’d love to take you uo on that kind offer. I’ll send you a PM.

Thanks again!

Brian

[NeilS]

I don't actually think this unit is anywhere near that old, unless the bed and head/tailstock are from different machines. Has anyone else seen a two toned machine like that before? The older ones had unsealed bearings, while later ones moved to sealed bearings. The older ones can be identified by the grease nipples atop the bearings, which you're doesn't have.

NCArcher had one from '77, with grease nipples. Does that mean your headstock is later than that? Mine is from '81 with sealed bearings, which is also the year the new shape came out, so probably the end of the line. One could surmise that yours headstock then would have been made between '77 and '81.

Of course we could all be wrong and are reading the stamp incorrectly.

Here are a couple of threads you may find interesting which cover some aspects of these lathes:
- Value of old woodfast lathes (https://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/value-woodfast-lathes-230442)
- Restoring an early 80’s Woodfast Lathe (woodworkforums.com) (https://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/restoring-80-woodfast-lathe-234911)

Lance

I've never seen a two tone Woodfast like that, so you could be onto something there... old 1940s bed and cabinet with later head and tailstock.

As you say, the old Woodfasts had grease nipples, so without those it is definitely not a 1940s headstock.

As Jim has pointed out, Woodfast didn't start manufacture until 1941, so the '40' stamped into the bed cannot mean 1940 unless this was a prototype before they went into production, so not sure how to interpret the LS 13 40 stamped into the bed.

[homey]

Lance,

Thanks for the link to those two threads - they will be invaluable. Lots better reading than a manual, too :D

Something does seem strange with the two colours. I’ll take a pic of the letter/number combination stamped on the bed and double check there are no other markings hidden away. Will report back!

Regards,

Brian

[China]

That model was around pre 1971 ( don't know about grease nipples ) when I did my post trade course in in early 1971 that is type they had, as for the two tone think that may be after market.