Oliver Lathe

[Curt Fuller]

I've been wanting to upgrade to a bigger and better lathe for some time now. I've looked at about every lathe you can find. But I had a chance to play for a minute on an old Oliver model 159 at a club meeting recently and it was the smoothest lathe I've ever seen. Does anyone know much about these lathes, where they can be found (I know they're out of business but I've been searching used equipment sites with no luck), and any pros and cons of a machine like this?
http://www.owwm.com/PhotoIndex/detail.asp?id=3263

[Chris Barton]

Curt,

Oliver is still in business but, I don't think its the same company. Dev Emch seems to know everything about Olivers, give him a PM, hes usually over on the General Woordworking page... But, best I can tell hes not a turner.

[Jim Becker]

The Oliver name is still in business but owned by someone else. Old iron is taken care of by another firm...Dev has posted the name in the General Woodworking forum recently, but I don't recall which thread. Use the "Advanced Search" feature of SMC and you should be able to come up with it.

As to smoothness, you can get there today, but you're talking on of the premium machines, such as OneWay, Stubby, Vicmark, etc.

[ROBERT SCHUMAN]

Hi Curt.

I have recently found a resource for Oliver lathes. Don @
www.vintageamerican.com/ (http://www.vintageamerican.com/) (253)-857-5088
It is located in Washington state ,this guy is amazing to say the least .He has hundreds of lathes, tools of every kind , he has been restoring machines for a long time,and is very easy to talk to.I am buying a oliver model 24 from him.he has an oliver that will extend to twenty feet.Is that big enough?:)

best of luck

[Jeff Singleton]

The Oliver 159 is still being made by Eagle Machinery in the old Oliver plant in Grand Rapids, MI. The owner is Rich Fink and he was a 25 year employee of OLiver and he has probably forgot more about Oliver then anyone else knows. The 159 is an outstanding lathe, very small by Oliver standards. I've turned on a Oliver 22, 26 and owned a 20B till a Zimmermann patternmakers lathe showed up at my door. Parts are still avaliable for just about anything Oliver as long as you really need it.

Jeff Singleton;)