Advice on ornamental lathes

[GouletPens]

A cabinet maker I know has a couple of legacy ornamental lathes that he inherited that he never uses. because he knows I turn he said he'd probably let them go for $1000 or so, with a whole ton of gears and whatnot. i've never used an ornamental lathe and I'm really not sure that I would have a need for one, but at a price like this I'm tempted to at least check them out and look at buying them. I don't know anything about the models or anything like that, he just made kind of a passing comment about them. Is this something I should get excited about or is it not worth the hassle? I've really only messed with pens and I might be out of my league with these things....

 

[marcruby]

I'd get excited to the point of finding out which lathes and what he's got with them. A $1000 could be a tremendous price -- IF you are going to use them. Heck, if you did it right you could probably sell one lathe and recoup the cost of the purchase!!

Marc

 

[GouletPens]

Yeah, I really need to find out exactly what I'm pursuing here. But from the research I've done, I don't know how practical these things are since I'm almost exclusively doing pens and bottle stoppers. I have always been fascinated by ornamental lathes and especially rose engine lathes. I just don't really know what these legacy's are capable of...

 

[Ligget]

I have a Legacy 200 which they do not make anymore, it was the smallest unit that they sold and I really should play with it more often. I made this one piece pencil with the 200.

 

[low_48]

You could spend another $1000 on router bits. Look at a company called Magnate for the bits. They have worked with Legacy for years. I had a Legacy for a while, but didn't come close to using it enough to pay for it. Sold it to a couple in Colorado. The Legacies are impressive machines. I think the best business plan for them is to buy stock stair parts and then decorate them for resale. Have a display board at the lumber yard, etc....Well, that was a good business plan when people were building houses. It takes a fair amount of time to take a piece of square stock into a finished part. I was also not that impressed with the surface finish off the router bit. You don't come close to the same finish that you can get by turning by hand, and you can't sand it quickly unless you put the spindle in another lathe. Sanding the spirals really takes the time.

 

[amosfella]

You could always mail it to me if you don't want it......

 

[wolftat]

Mark, how comfortable is that to hold and write with? I have the setup to make them, but wasn't sure if they would be usable.

 

[jackrichington]

I have a 900..I use it for canes, pens, bowls, boxes, etc..if you are only turning pens, save your $...pens like in the above pic do not sell in my market..people find them interesting but do not buy..I suspect it is the comfort factor..

 

[Ligget]

Mark, how comfortable is that to hold and write with? I have the setup to make them, but wasn't sure if they would be usable.

Neil it quite comfortable, however, you could always leave a section near the nib without the spiral if you wished.

That click pen in the picture was a practice piece only, when I turn a spiral pen now it is usually a Baron or Jr Gent where the nib is seperate and untouched.

 

[wolftat]

Neil it quite comfortable, however, you could always leave a section near the nib without the spiral if you wished.

That click pen in the picture was a practice piece only, when I turn a spiral pen now it is usually a Baron or Jr Gent where the nib is seperate and untouched.

Thanks Mark, I like the look and will have to give it a shot when I get some time. They really need to start making days with 30 or more hours in them.