Did your dads own a lathe?

mine has an atlas down in the basement. he and mom bought a beaver coat and the lathe, mom got bumped by a car (just knocked her down and ruined the coat) but dad still has his lathe. seems like the lathe was the better deal and the lathe is 50+ years old. did my final for my machine shop class on that lathe. had to set the change gears for feed rate on the cutting but learned alot from running the machine.

My dad didn't own a lathe. He was a chef, then he was the manager of the local food bank. Now he's retired. I'm the first one in my family that I know of that's been bitten by the machining bug. Among my close relations anyway. I've got a couple of second cousins who are machinists, and another couple of my second cousins are in my class now. My dad used to do things around the house, but the biggest power tool he has is a small table saw. Unless the snowblower counts? :)

chem

jt wrote:

I spent part of my growing-up time in Texas with my grandparents for health reasons. My (step)grandfather had quite a few tools around, (though not a lathe nor a drill press), and I got tools of my own while I was there.

When I came back up here (near Washington DC) to rejoin my parents, I started to do something, and spent some time looking for tools. All I could find were a couple of rusty screwdrivers (straight blade), and two tiny claw hammers -- each with at least one claw broken off. I spent the next few years getting my father some *real* tools. (And myself some as well. :-)

So -- no, he did *not* have a lathe in the cellar -- nor would he have known what to do with one.

Enjoy, DoN.

Mine got a 10" Logan, WW2 surplus, which I inheirited when Dad passed on. Sold it, moved to AZ, bought a 12X36" Enco complete with quick-change box. Power- matic wanted $1800 for quick-change parts, Enco wanted #2295 for the 12X36 gearhead with Q/C box-OK... Got it.

Paul in AJ AZ

Yes. He had a Logan (Wards) 10" lathe. Bought new in REAL early December, 1941, JUST before the war started. He also bought an Covel Excel power hacksaw, and an atlas drill press. He, and his dad, were building a 26' wooden cabin cruiser, and needed the lathe to machine parts for the reverse gear box and chain drive case. They made patterns, and had the parts cast at a foundry. Then my dad got drafted, and not much more came of the boat project until he got out of the Navy after the war. They finished it, and launched it in 1950. I can remember little of the construction, but I recall the launch day well ... I was seven years old at the time.

Once he had the lathe, and after the boat was done, he used it for all sorts of hobby projects. While I was little, I can still remember watching the change gears go round in the quick-change box (I was short enough then to look UP into it).

I still have, and use, that lathe, and a bunch of other shop things he had. As I got older and became interested in the shop, we added a Benchmaster vertical mill, a Logan shaper, a home-brew surface grinder (once an old horizontal mill), and a bunch of lesser things. He passed on in 1988.

All the machines are still in service. My dad took good care of it all, and I'm trying to do the same. It's well used, but in good shape. I've since enlarged the shop, and added a A1S vertical mill, converting the Benchmaster into it's horizontal format.

Dan Mitchell ==========

jt wrote:

My dad had a monkey wrench and two screw drivers. All three of which I still use. :-)

My granddad OTOH was a "gentleman woodworker" and had the finest collection of hand tools I have ever seen. All rosewood, lignum vitae, blued steel and brass. He taught me how to use most of them before I was ten. Unfortunately when he died my all thumbs uncles got them all and let them rust away.

I had to start over from scratch. :-(

jt wrote:

My dad didnt own a lathe..well..he did..but it would fit in a shoe box. Dad was an Elgin Watchmakers School graduate, whom drifted from watch repair/making, to road construction, then years later, back to watch making, after starting his own jewelry store which he operated for 30 yrs.

I remember more of him working on D8 Cats, in the snow, than of his working on watches when I was small. When you are 7..a D8 is a mountain. He later got into delicate woodworking, but never had much of a shop. He made a few wooden clocks and such, but mostly used hand tools.

Gunner

"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass." --Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

Then you must have learned to drive one, sitting (or standing?) on his lap. What a memory that must be.

My dad never did own a lathe, I think all the mechanical ability somehow skipped a generation in our family.

My recollections of his technical skills include the time he fixed the kitchen sink, and then left on a trip. The plumber was able to replace the washer that he mixed up, I knew enough to shut off the water to stop the flood. Then there was the time he neatly welded a screwdrive in place inside an outlet box in the basement. Impressive light show.

I think I probably do all the stuff I do as a sort of overcompensation. My two grandfathers were mechanically inclined, one was a dentist (I still use one of his air compressor motors to start my phase converter) and was an inverterant tinkerer, cars, houses, machinery.

My dad's father was also a tinkerer by hobby, he actually had gotten a patent on some mechanical item, and always liked to work on machinery. He asked for, and received, the carcass of an old mechanical adding machine that I had taken apart once. His profession was that of a commercial artist, he painted for slicks and pulp magazines, his most notable works were covers done for "Shadow" magazine.

Still I don't regret my upbringing. My dad insisted that I go to college, and I still have his AO binocular microscope here. I think his dad bought it for him.

Jim

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My dad was a machinist after WWII at Phil Wood Ind. (dump bodies) and then got into sales, so I've been around heavy equipment since I was born and sell equipment today. My maternal grandfather was a blacksmith/metalworker, my mum has beautiful wrought iron pieces around the house, I'm sure I got my love of metal from him, although not from being around him, because he died before I showed up.

Neat thread

Kai St-Louis

I can vaguely remember that Dad had a rather large lathe in the basement, but remember even more that we were not allowed outside when he was running it. Reason: it was powered by an old Fairbanks-Morse one lunger through a flat belt that he would pass out the window when he wanted to run the lathe. I do remember someone breaking a hole in the basement wall and digging a ramp to get it out, but it was there before I was born. NO idea how he got it down there.

I was fortunate to grow up with a dad that was a patternmaker. His shop was connected to the house so I spent every spare moment under his feet. He had three wood lathes - including a faceplate lathe that had a 6 foot swing. I still have all his tools in my shop as he passed away in 1982. Jim

My mom was a lathe operator in WW2, but my dad couldn't change a lightbulb.

My Grandfather had an SB and my Great Grandfather was a farrier. My father was an engineer for Lockheed. Karl

Funny how they do that. I had one of those cast iron claw hammers with only one claw, too, when I was a kid.

This happens when you hit a metal part with a (cheap) claw hammer - a shock wave travels down the head and seems to focus at a point about 1/3 of the way down the claw - and the end simply falls off, even though it did not contact anything, or have any external force applied to it.

I was quite old before realizing that there were special hammers used for hitting metal.

Jim

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My dad built my first work bench complete w/tools when I was 7 or 8, he was a mechanic all his life and had a lathe that he used to rebuild car parts with when he couldn't buy new or used parts ( foreign car mechanic ), helped build me a hot rod when I was 16 and taught me basic welding until I took 3 yrs of metal shop in high school (Amphitheater Hi ) I haven't inherited a single tool yet (Thank God). I have bought all my own machines.

Mike in Tucson

My father was into wood working, but had a 6" Atlas. He used it as a wood lathe. When he was not around, my brother and I would use it as a metal lathe and built a small brass cannon.

I decided when I grew up I would have a metal shop. I reasoned that metal working was cheaper then wood working. There were only 2 machines that you needed (lathe and mill) and with those you could make everything else. And no expensive wood to buy. The funny thing is, I figure that I have spent easily

Vince

My dad had a lathe ,drill press, gas and electric welder before I was born.He retired from Vickers-Omaha plant after 41 years mostly in the jig and fixture dept. He rode a harly and flew Taylor Crafts. When I was young , he always had interesting projects going in his basement shop. My mom taught me how to read before I started school and my dad's bed time stories were always explaning how some thing worked. From the time I was little, He would take me on Saturday morning junk yard rounds. On Sunday visits to his parents I spent a lot of time reading granpa's old Popular Mechanics collection dating back to 1942. When I was in 6th grade He ordered an aluminum foundry kit from Kansas City Specialties. Today I run a small shop of my own. My mom was in the hospital for a month with cancer, she died 7 days ago. I have been trying to keep my dad busy helping me in the shop every day. Larry Reiss Omaha NE

Mine did, in fact he still has it although lately he doesn't have good enough eyesight to use it. He was an A&P for about 25 years(he would say A&E) then he went back to school and got a degree at age 53. At 75, he added a room on to the house by himself (I helped pour the slab)

ff

My father never did own a lathe. But he is the one who encouraged me to take machine shop in trade school. I did have an uncle who was a tool and die maker and a cousin who was a CNC machinist/programmer. Plus my grandfather was the Plant Engineer for a company. He brought home all kinds of drills, HSS lathe bits, grinding wheels, etc. from the company. He was a crafty individual too. Very frugal. According to my dad, he was downright cheap at times. Anyways, he built a small wood lathe once. He could also convert it into a pedestal grinder. It was kinda interesting.