St. Roy's pedal powered metal lathe

[Paul Saffold]

On the Woodwright's Shop with Roy Underhill today was a foot pedal powered Barnes 4 1/2 metal lathe. Sold for $50 in 18??. He was showing making a brass screw and a tapered brass pin for a bow saw. Thought it was interesting and hope some of you had seen it. Paul

[Larry Frank]

I saw this show and was amazed. The interesting part is that Roy was having the time of his life with it and was grinning the entire episode.

[george wilson]

Many years ago I saw an article somewhere about a guy with a treadle Barnes screw cutting lathe. He made copies of early microscopes from boxwood,and he liked the variable speed he could get with the treadle,and the control it gave him with delicate turnings.

[Bill Houghton]

The interesting part is that Roy was having the time of his life with it and was grinning the entire episode.
I think that's standard operating procedure for Roy.

[Mark Wyatt]

The lathe was still available in the circa 1903-1905 Vonnegut Hardware catalog. The Lathe cost $65. Interestingly, it is listed as foot powered or belt powered, so this is likely the period in time of the switch over. Please note that the compound rest ($10) and raising blocks ($8) are upgrades for which you must pay extra :p. Some photos (hope they turn out!):

[Bruce Page]

I saw the video not long ago. Very cool lathe, but there’s just too much going on for a novice, IMO. That little guy will take your finger off just as fast as my 5hp engine lathe.

[george wilson]

I'd like to see someone cut 5 threads per inch on that lathe!! They would have to be putting some real power into the pedals!! A human can only put out 1/10 H.P. for any extended time. Perhaps 1/2 H.P. for a burst. You could cut 5 tpi. WOOD threads,possibly brass,but I'm not so sure about steel. Perhaps with VERY properly ground,very sharp cutters,and VERY light feeds??

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

FWIW - the episodes from this season of the Woodwright's Shop have started showing up online on the PBS website. The metal-cutting lathe episode mentioned in this thread is online here:

http://video.pbs.org/video/2296983856

There was some problems with the videos when they first uploaded this years episodes, but they're working now, or at least the first few I watched were. There's another neat episode from this season where Roy shows some other treadle-powered Barnes tools.

[Trevor Walsh]

Ironically I would give my right leg for a Barnes 4 1/2 with all the fixin's.

[george wilson]

Don't get too excited,Trevor!! Anyone who doesn't know an electric motor is better hasn't exhausted himself treading a lathe.

[ray hampton]

the steel shaft had a light coat of rust and each pass were just removing about [my guess] 2 thousand

[Trevor Walsh]

I know, and no I haven't had the chance to exhaust myself with a treadle, I did cobble a pole lathe together but my centering/drive situation wasn't that great so I didn't use it much. Biking/walking to work is just a lot of fun for me, and I have an infatuation with old technology. So you can see why I'm in love with the idea.

[george wilson]

I'm on the other side of the fence!! We were forced to use old tech in the museum. A lot can be learned from it,don't mistake me. I use what I learned very frequently. And,as you may have seen,most of the things I make are old style designs.(except for the electric guitars).

[Jim R Campbell]

In 1905, $20 was equal to one troy ounce of gold. So $65 was 3.25 ounces of gold. It's interesting to think of that same gold today costing $5575. Quite an expensive machine at the time!

[george wilson]

It is not surprising that things cost more in a day when there were no automatic machines cutting gears,making other parts,etc.,and a lot of hand labor and fitting was still done. Even automobiles were first assembled and fitted on a stand by a skilled fitter who assembled the whole car. When I was young,it was a BIG wish just to have an entry grade Atlas lathe or a table saw. My Clausing 10" saw cost $600.00 in 1963. I think I was making $2.50 per hour before taxes at that time,my first year of teaching shop. That's the wage equivalent of about $9000.00 today. These days we get everything nearly for free from China,though we're ruining our own country's manufacturing base doing it.

[David Weaver]

We actually have things, as middle class people, too. My grandparents grew up middle class, and other than purchasing a few pieces of furniture from a local furniture maker they didn't have hobbies that cost anything. They were too afraid they'd need the money to live. They'd roll in their graves if they knew we had hobbies that didn't generate income greater than their costs.

(the average wage, btw, in 1905 was 22 cents an hour, so someone could've bought the thing with about 3 weeks' pay after taxes. Consider what a small lathe costs now, if you even need to buy a new one - two days' wages?)

[george wilson]

My Mother was totally consumed by living through the depression. Their family had been rich,and lost everything. My grandfather had invested all of his money in the stock market. He got sick and never recovered. Died when I was 2. I can't remember him.

My mother and sisters would rub bricks together to make rouge to try to sell.

[Mark Wyatt]

Got an auction flyer in the mail yesterday which featured a pedal powered lathe. If your in Illinois, this may be your chance to own one! Listing is here:

http://www.jimclingan.com/11.10.12%20JCAC/public_auction.htm

[David Weaver]

>>set of 5 1880’s Holtzappffel ornamental turning books<<

From that listing. That's pretty awesome!