Back gear is the term for engaging the rear gears of a lathe that create a slower spindle with good power. Like low 4 or pulling gear : )
Terminology for Hi and Low, not Forward and Reverse.......Thanks!
My ole 1937 Southbend does well in High, Low speed. I may look at Low, High speed....one less thing to change.
Thanks for the tip, Low in High is very doable on the ole girl, just a little more noise. Not too fast!
But anyway, you need to get the tooling to feed away from the chuck when threading.
Not only safer, but it can be faster.