ole' arn,.....the finest kind !. I love old wood working machinery, I wish I could fill my shop with machinery from the 40's and 50's. there's no better wood working machinery made. that's when wood working was still considered a serious and worthwhile trade.
I have a Craftsman 12"x36 metal lathe bought new in 1943 by a friend who seldom
used it and I bought it in 1958 for $250. Also an old (1934) Altas 10x36 with babbit bearings
that still works fine. Bought it in 1974 for $50+cost of new motor and reversing switch.
One Craftsman 6x18 metal lathe bought new by a friend in 1965 from "Searsnroebuck"
and little used. He died of a heart attack in 1993 and his son gave it to me about 8 years ago.
One Atlas 6x18 metal lathe bought new in 1964 from Industrial Supply in Columbus,Ohio
with the only $500 bill I ever saw or had for $300.Made it over into a multi use machine,
mostly screws and the small bearing on lock tumblers.Delta heavy drill press bought new
in 1964 from Cook Hardware and a CT&E (Chicago Tool&Engineering) rotary table with a
small vise. $264 total price.That rotary table today is nearly $1000 today.Two Rockwell 6"
bench grinders,one new in 1975 and the other was a gift.Clausing Vertical milling machine
bought new in April of 1967 and used a lot with heavy duty vise.One horizontal/vertical
bandsaw bought new this year when the old American Willis Tool saw gave up after 54
years of use and abuse.The new one is Chinese (what else) but I must give those people
credit because this is or seems to be a serious tool with fine blade guides and three speeds.
Time will tell.
Very large assortment of files and woodworking tools accumulated over the last 60 years
but still used.
That's my rant and inventory for now.
Bob Roller