Opinions sought-old lathe restoration

I think in machinery restoration to look as much as possible like originally new AND fully functional is the way to go with parts manufactured to match originals as needed.

I think the leave it alone mentality is from the gun and antique crowd were often a batter item with original historic finish often has higher value than an item that has been painstakingly restored.

Ultimately it is your lathe and your decision. Do what you want, and let the judgmental asses go F&^K themselves. You are the only one who has to be happy with your piece of machinery.

A new lathe, 100 years ago, would have had a scraped surface on the bedways. That's probably gone. The look is very distinctive:

Re-scraping it would cost more than it's worth. But you may be able to somewhat restore the *appearance* of the original scraping, depending on the lathe's condition and what you intend to do with it.

Let us know if this it just for looks, or if you want to restore its function as much as possible.

"Bob La Londe" <

I say restore it back to original operating condition and appearance. It shows respect for the machine as it was in its youth. Wouldn't you like to be restored to

-your- youth? ;>)} pdk

Go for it and make it look the way you like personally, it is just an old little lathe. It is not a ancient Egyptian mummy.

If you ever want to revert back to that "patina", you can always leave it outside for 3 weeks and slop some dirty oil on it (I can supply that) and then add some dust on top of that oil for authenticity.

i

Ha. This is good point.

The lathe is now and will be fully functional. I will be making parts on it. These parts will be just for my own enjoyment, not for paying customers. The bed ways look as if they were made on a planer or a shaper. Even under the headstock there are no scraping marks. I am not sure how straight or worn the ways are but I can still see longitudinal marks that run the length of both the carriage and tailstock ways. Eric

If the lathe is yours, you should do whatever you damned well please to it.

If you're trying to maximize its value when you get too old for it or pass away, then you're guessing at what the fashion will be in antique machinery in the (hopefully distant) future, and that's not a useful occupation in my opinion.

If it were mine I'd do whatever is best for it as a piece of working machinery, and let my heirs decide what to do with it after I no longer care.

Some lathes were left just as the planer left them, but most from 100 years ago were scraped. Much later, they were often planed or ground and then "frosted" with a scraping tool, mostly for appearance but ostensibly to hold oil.

Longitudinal marks can be wear from grit, or maybe evidence of the original planing.

The first thing I'd do is to lay a precision straight edge on the ways

-- the bevelled-edge type, if you have it -- and put a light behind the straight edge. See how much "dip" there is from the front of the spindle nose to the next 18" or so towards the tailstock end.

If there's a lot, just clean it up and use it as-is. If it's less than

0.001, it's worth considering running an Arkansas stone along the bed to knock down any burrs. If you don't have a good stone, you can use a really flat block of metal with some 600-grit wet/dry wrapped around it.

This will horrify the purists, but it isn't going to make anything worse on a 100-year-old lathe with a lot of "patina."

Getting the patina off is possible, but it depends. I'd start with phosphoric acid (Naval Jelly) and coarse steel wool. But that stuff is problematic on cast iron. Sometimes it leaves a layer of black oxide that's really tenacious.

It may require hydrochloric (muriatic). If you use that -- outdoors -- I hope you're aware of the dangers. I haven't used it on cast iron but I'm told that you really have to neutralize it carefully with baking soda or washing soda, because of the surface porosity of gray iron.

On steel, it leaves a silvery but frosty finish. I think it's the same on cast iron.

Good luck!

Greetings Ed, The ways are remarkably flat and straight. The marks that look like artifacts from planing are too regular to be waer marks. Especially since the same marks are under the headstock. Any patina removal will be done with oil and steel wool or something similar. I have decided that since this machine is for my enjoyment and is not something that only one exists of I will be making it look as close to the original factory finish as possible. The thing was originally painted black on the cast surfaces but I don't know if it was Japanning. I can buy the stuff but it needs to be baked and costs way too much. Some nice black lead based paint would probably be good too but there is no way I can find any of that. Eric

It sounds like you have a good idea about what you want to do, Eric, so good luck and go for it.

Any gloss black alkyd enamel should do it.