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What Is The Best Tool Score You Ever Got?
- Thread starter alloy
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2014
- Messages
- 851
Iam real happy with a $600 1925 South Bend 9" x48" lathe I bought off Craigslist last year. I paid the guy a couple of hundred below asking, mostly because the lathe still has the original scraping along the bed and is in nearly perfect condition - having been stored in a warm garage for the past 50 or 60 years by the family of the original owner. The one and only owner/operator used it mostly for wood turning. Also it came with the original paper work when purchased new - for three installments of $50/ plus interest, and the factory inspection card, specifying tolerances before it was shipped.
Still shows the original japaning finish on all the cast surfaces, and original paint of the SB speeds and feeds plate on the QCTP. When I brought it home, the bed was still covered with sawdust and machine oil - makes a great preservative incidentally. The chuck spins around two and a half times with a flick of the wrist. Amazing.
I was looking for a new lathe, with minimum wear, but couldn't afford the price of a NEW one. So this is right up there as my best tool deal, and is only 97 or so years old.
Still shows the original japaning finish on all the cast surfaces, and original paint of the SB speeds and feeds plate on the QCTP. When I brought it home, the bed was still covered with sawdust and machine oil - makes a great preservative incidentally. The chuck spins around two and a half times with a flick of the wrist. Amazing.
I was looking for a new lathe, with minimum wear, but couldn't afford the price of a NEW one. So this is right up there as my best tool deal, and is only 97 or so years old.
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2015
- Messages
- 145
That is simply beautiful ,I would be afraid to use it that I might scratch it or take some paint off,once in a life time find ,good luck with it.
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2014
- Messages
- 1,386
Can't beat anything here but I've scored quite a few nice tools over the last few years. Before and after photos of a Nice Mitutoyo mic stand for $30.
It's the older Made In Japan model. It was very dirty in the listing but I knew it was just oil and grease and that there was a shiny new stand underneath.
It's the older Made In Japan model. It was very dirty in the listing but I knew it was just oil and grease and that there was a shiny new stand underneath.
- Joined
- May 10, 2012
- Messages
- 995
I suppose I may have a different definition of a tool score than some. I have bought a number of tools at what I consider "below market" prices. I've also bought plenty more that I will loose money on if I ever sell them. But the most memorable ones have been the tools that I bought that I got a good deal on and that I use way more than I thought I would. I got a HF 12" disc sander that had been a display model for 75 (I think at the time it was normally about 125) and I've use it extensively. Another one that stands out is an antique Craftsman/King Sealy 3 wheel bandsaw I picked up at an antique shop for $45. It had been slowed down for metal use, but I had to re-do the drive on it because it was so poorly done to begin with. Including several Lenox Die-Master bi-metal blades I bought for it, I have about $250 in it and I use it nearly every time I go into the shop. Those are the kinds of tools that you think "How did I ever manage before I got this?".
Probably my best score was the 1967 Series 1, 9 x 42 with a 12in knee, J-head Bridgeport below. Found it in a Pawn Shop in Ypsilanti, Michigan. They didn't have a 3-phase hook up so I couldn't run it. They wanted $1200, I talked them down to $900.
The power down feed was non-functional and it was missing some clutch parts, all easily remedied. Had minimal backlash and chrome ways. I cleaned it up and put a DRO on it and it's been a good machine.
Have no idea how it came to be in a Pawn shop.
The power down feed was non-functional and it was missing some clutch parts, all easily remedied. Had minimal backlash and chrome ways. I cleaned it up and put a DRO on it and it's been a good machine.
Have no idea how it came to be in a Pawn shop.
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- Joined
- Aug 22, 2012
- Messages
- 4,115
Nowhere in the category of previous posters but still a nice surprise.
I was away for three days down South to escape some of the heat and drought and when I came back I found this posted under the door of the shop.
It was a bit damp as there had been a torrential rain storm (been waiting on these for weeks)
and when I opened it up there was this inside
No note, nothing, they look brand new never been used.
After much thought as to who may have owned them previously I called and found I was correct. Thank you very much John.
Now to a question, they feel a little can I use the word "ratchety" when compressing the ends.
Would they benefit from some thin oil such as sewing machine oil??
I was away for three days down South to escape some of the heat and drought and when I came back I found this posted under the door of the shop.
It was a bit damp as there had been a torrential rain storm (been waiting on these for weeks)
and when I opened it up there was this inside
No note, nothing, they look brand new never been used.
After much thought as to who may have owned them previously I called and found I was correct. Thank you very much John.
Now to a question, they feel a little can I use the word "ratchety" when compressing the ends.
Would they benefit from some thin oil such as sewing machine oil??
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2013
- Messages
- 1,050
I got a set of those and noticed the same thing. I disassembled, cleaned, deburred, and oiled them. They work more smoothly now.
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2015
- Messages
- 64
I guess it pays to have older friends. One friend passed away a few years ago and his wife gave me a SB 9A 54" Lathe with all his tooling. It's in fair shape and undergoing a rebuild. Another friend passed and his daughter didn't want any of his metal working stuff so she gave me a Jet 10x24 Lathe like new and an Araboga-Mastener round column mill drill along with a Kennedy box full of Starrett stuff. The last one to go was an old friend who left me in his will a 1917 15" SB 8' lathe in amazing condition for it's age. There are a lot of things I've bought as well but don't come close to these. I dearly miss all of them we had many good times. These things will always remind me of some great friends.
George
George