Any advice on a legacy ornamental mill venture?

[Brian Goulet]

I know a cabinet maker that has a couple of legacy ornamental mills that he might be willing to let go at a good price. I turn almost exclusively pens and bottle stoppers, but I'm intrigued with rose engine lathes and some of the ornamental aspects of turning. I don't know a whole lot about these things, so I don't know if I should pursue it or let it go...I would be interested in ornamentation on bottle stoppers and maybe small platters and bowls.....any advice?

[Jeff Nicol]

Brian, If the price is right, a rose engine is an incredible tool! My dad built a simple one and it is so fun to watch as it cuts the intricate patterns! I would just love to have one of the old ones with all the attachments and pattern discs etc. You will learn how it all works in time so go for it!! Is it a very old or one of the ones that use the router to cut the patterns and things? If it is a true rose engine better (IMHO) but the new Legacy lathes have a place too, great for spindles and columns and things. Lot of info on them out there. Do you have any pics of the one you are thinking of?

Jeff

[Brian Goulet]

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures or even models as this point. The guy had mentioned the mills kind of in passing, sort of a "y'know what you might appreciate..." kinda thing. I'm going to give him a call today to try to find out more about them and see if I can set up a time to actually see them. I know he said he had two of them, one was a legacy and the other was another name I had never heard of, so I don't remember it. I agree that rose engines are the bomb diggity, I hope he has one of those. I'll have to update as I get more information.

[Paul Atkins]

I got a used one from a shop I do a lot of work for and the first job paid for it. He needed a bunch of spiral legs custom made from claro walnut. I turned the legs on my lathe first and then milled the grooves. Tops and bottoms were tennoned on. This machine is the smallest/first one they made and is somewhat limiting in that it has plastic gears and no reversing gears. I'm now making a system to reverse the carriage and raise the bed. If you have a lathe. 'turning' on this seems a bit strange. Slotting, indexing, beading, twists are all stuff your 'normal' lathe probably won't do. Since I do custom turning for a living, this just added another ability my shop has.

[Brodie Brickey]

If the legacy mill you are referring to is the one I think it is, its really good for architectural turnings (columns, posts, with rope details). Rose Engine lathes are quite different.

I recommend the rose lathe over the other. There are directions for building a rose engine over at the AAW.

A legacy ornamental lathe (http://legacywoodworking.com/products.cfm?product=3) would not be in my interest because its only column work.

[Ryan Baker]

I agree with Brodie. The legacy mills are very cool devices for certain architectural and ornamental jobs (the new ones are essentially CNC machines for what that's worth), but I have never seen them do anything like what I think of from a rose engine lathe. Depends on what you want to do with it. Still, if you can get a good deal on the legacy, it would be worth snatching up anyway if you have the space for it.

[Jim Becker]

Legacy setups are nice, but not for tiny work. Ryan has it right using the word "architectural". Remember, the cutting engine on these is a router.

[Dave Bureau]

I have a Legacy 1200. there is a bit of a learning curve involved and you need a ton of bits. good for tapered spirals and fluting. you can do pattern work and they have a rotary table. you can also do flat mouldings and spiral pens on it although I have not tried it yet.