Kris Koenig
11-22-2006, 3:31 PM
A little backstory.
Not quite a year and a half ago, THAT storm put my house in Slidell, La under 6 1/2 feet of swamp water. Needless to say, I lost all of my tools in my garage workshop. We had insurance, so we weren't completely ruined, but it never covers everything.
Present day.
A friend of mine had a lathe he wasn't using, probably had never used, and he asked me if I wanted it. I said sure, not knowing anything about it, but surely it had to be better than the one I had, which is to say, none. I picked it up this weekend, and now I am not so sure. It is a Craftsman wood lathe with the tubular runner for the tailstock. It is very rusty, not fatally, but would involve a lot of cleaning. About what you would expect from any tool neglected in Southern Louisiana for very long. The worst was that when I picked it up (his wife brought it to a gathering we were attending, he wasn't there), I realized that there was no motor with it.
My question is this: Is it worth the rehab? Would I be better off getting a newer lathe? Or maybe a good used one?
Here is a picture of a similar lathe. Not mine, but this is the model I have.
http://dallas.craigslist.org/tls/237687170.html
Let me say that I have never had a lathe, never used a lathe, but have always wanted one. I will be the newest of the new turners. Just in case that becomes a consideration.
Thank you,
Kris
Not quite a year and a half ago, THAT storm put my house in Slidell, La under 6 1/2 feet of swamp water. Needless to say, I lost all of my tools in my garage workshop. We had insurance, so we weren't completely ruined, but it never covers everything.
Present day.
A friend of mine had a lathe he wasn't using, probably had never used, and he asked me if I wanted it. I said sure, not knowing anything about it, but surely it had to be better than the one I had, which is to say, none. I picked it up this weekend, and now I am not so sure. It is a Craftsman wood lathe with the tubular runner for the tailstock. It is very rusty, not fatally, but would involve a lot of cleaning. About what you would expect from any tool neglected in Southern Louisiana for very long. The worst was that when I picked it up (his wife brought it to a gathering we were attending, he wasn't there), I realized that there was no motor with it.
My question is this: Is it worth the rehab? Would I be better off getting a newer lathe? Or maybe a good used one?
Here is a picture of a similar lathe. Not mine, but this is the model I have.
http://dallas.craigslist.org/tls/237687170.html
Let me say that I have never had a lathe, never used a lathe, but have always wanted one. I will be the newest of the new turners. Just in case that becomes a consideration.
Thank you,
Kris