Thread: Wood Lathe restoration

Hi Kiwi75,
I woodn't have much faith in the wire brush, but, what I wood use is, say 150 Grit Paper, & some Kerosene, should the trick, & of course a lot of Elbow Grease.
Know nothing about Painting, although the Lathe looks a bit like an Older Woodfast.
Measure inside the bed, between the Rails, Work out the Thread on the Spindle, & that will give you a start.
Have Fun.

How far you go depends on how thorough you want to be.
As to paint you could use a undercoat, if so get one with rust inhibitor in it. I would probably just go for top coat with the rust inhibitor. As Issatree mentioned you probably need to get more of the rust off before the top coat. Depending on where you live in NZ you might have an on going issue with rust due to the salt in the air . if your on the coast I would give it 2-3 coats and let them dry thoroughly before applying the next coat.

Cheers Bro, I'm in Kerikeri so yip, pretty humid rust growing weather up here. I think I'll ask about a top coat with a rust inhibitor at my local paint supplier. thanks mate.

I had an identical looking lathe until last year, sold under the Axminster PowerTools label (uk), bought it about mid nineties. The castings had been made abroad (Taiwan,china?) and it was outfitted in the uk, there will be many identical looking lathes around from that era.
the spindle thread on mine was 1"x12 and mt2 in headstock and tail stock.

Cam

Cool thanks for the info. So what's the procedure with the 150grit and Kerosene? Just sand it then rub it down with the kerosene and a rag?

Hi Again,
Sorry, as I did not explain myself.
The 150 & Kero are for the Bed of The Lathe, but making sure you do underneath The Bed as well, & I suppose in some places it could be used as well.
Bottoms of the Banjo & the Tailstock, Tool Rests, Turning Tools etc. then wipe down with a rag.

When I bought My " Tough " Lathe, every night I wood lather it with a 3 of kero & 1 of e/oil, & it was all gone next day, & I did this for quite a long time.
So being Cast Iron it just soaked it up. I think it made for a better Lathe, but that is only my opinion.

If you have an angle grinder try a medium duty cup brush (aobut $5). The stiffness of the cup bristles and the speed of the grinder will polish it up like a new dime in short order.
You should have a "rust converter" available at any automotive store (here Pepboys, AutoZone, Napa, etc). It is used for auto restoration and almost all carry it under various names (RustMort, Osphos, etc). It chemically changes rust (iron oxide) to iron phosphate and most do not require removal (other than 0000 steel wool) prior to painting/priming. It will get down into any pits or hidden areas and convert/kill the rust. About $14 a pint here but that would be enough for a half dozen projects the size of the lathe.

Originally Posted by Kiwi75

Cheers Bro, I'm in Kerikeri so yip, pretty humid rust growing weather up here. I think I'll ask about a top coat with a rust inhibitor at my local paint supplier. thanks mate.

Kerikeri, definitely three coats and will most likely be battling surface rust on all the unpainted areas as a matter of course, you might want to try a rust preventative in between uses if you dont get to use the lathe often. Mr Dad used to use a solvent based [ any solvent will do ie meths, petrol etc ] recipe with 10% lanolin but probably you can get away with WD40 or similar.

The lathe I restored I pretty much took the whole thing apart. I tried quite a few things to remove the rust and what worked the best for me was an item called Strip it disk(post 57) that attaches to an angle grinder.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...=134509&page=4

Thanks for the cool thread to read Cristos, very informative. I bought a bottle of Rust converter and some etching primer today, so I'll have a few pics to share by the end of the week hopefully.

If you are brave enough to do a full strip down nothing (for me) beats 8 parts water 1 part stock feed molasses for de rusting. It's cheap and very effective, if a bit messy. it takes up to a week to cure heavily rusted parts but much less for light rust.

Ive used it fre everything from small hardware to engine blocks and once did a ute chassis in the stuff in a tank made of timber and plastic sheet.

Im in for the ride here to follow your progress. I have a few lathes to restore myself.


Dave the turning cowboy

turning wood into art

Originally Posted by DaveTTC

Im in for the ride here to follow your progress. I have a few lathes to restore myself......

Where's your work in progress thread?

As soon as ì start working on even just one of them

Have one of the twins for next 12 months. Will be an interesting year


Dave TTC
Turning Wood Into Art