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Christmas - a good time for a steady rest

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Christmas - a good time for a steady rest

Postby AndyT » 29 Dec 2021, 20:46

For several years now, I have been the happy owner of a lovely old lathe. It's a Barnes 4½, treadle powered, made in Illinois at least a century ago.

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Although I am very happy with the lathe, which came with almost all the bits I needed, it has always lacked a steady rest. Although I have not often needed one, there has been the occasional project where I was trying to turn something relatively long and thin, which would have been easier if the work could be supported along its length. Barnes did make a rest which they supplied with the lathe or could be bought as an extra, but as you can imagine, accessories like this are a bit rare these days, especially on this side of the Atlantic.

Imagine how nice it was then, to open a present from my wife on Christmas day and find this little beauty nestling inside!

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I think she might have had some help with her eBay searches, as it's exactly what I wanted, even though the seller didn't know what lathe it was for!

Today I was able to give it a bit of TLC and get it ready for use. It was fairly clean but neglected, with some old dirt clogging up the threads on the adjuster bolts and some very minor surface rust spots. Here it is on my decorative bench protector cloth.

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To remove the rather stiff screws, I thought this old Footprint spanner was the ideal choice.

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The design was registered in 1889, but this one must be later than 1918 as it has an Air Ministry crown

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Does anybody know when they stopped using that mark?

This was the smallest of seven sizes offered, and was described in the T.R. Ellin catalogue as being suitable "to carry in the waistcoat pocket" so is ideal for my purposes. ;)

The screws were a little bit bent

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but responded to gentle tapping with a soft hammer. I also cleaned up the threads a little with a tap and die. I gave the main casting a gentle brushing with a brass wire brush, then wiped over some reviver mixture, to clean off the rest of the dirt and leave a thin coat of linseed oil, to match the rest of the lathe.

And so, here it is, carefully posed in what is not a real action shot just yet, but to show how it fits on and might be used.

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Re: Christmas - a good time for a steady rest

Postby Tiresias » 29 Dec 2021, 21:09

AndyT.

You are a total lunatic (and so, apparently, is your wife). Good on you.

If you are ever in Tweedsmuir or the ‘burgh I will happily stand you more Burgundy or Claret than mortals can survive. Just, well, just because...
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Re: Christmas - a good time for a steady rest

Postby AndyT » 29 Dec 2021, 21:12

Er... Thanks!

:obscene-drinkingcheers:

And if you are ever all this way down south, you'd be very welcome to pop in for a VIP tour. I shan't let you tidy up though!
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Re: Christmas - a good time for a steady rest

Postby Mike G » 29 Dec 2021, 21:39

Nice find, Andy. How does it work with the tools rest? Do you have to shift it if the toolrest moves past the midpoint of the work?
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Re: Christmas - a good time for a steady rest

Postby toolsntat » 29 Dec 2021, 21:59

Well done there Mrs AndyT, some very astute sleuthing going on.... :eusa-clap: :
Cheers Andy
Last edited by toolsntat on 30 Dec 2021, 00:03, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Christmas - a good time for a steady rest

Postby Lons » 29 Dec 2021, 22:07

I loved seeing that Andy, thanks for showing. The steady must have taken some work to find, my missus wouldn't have a clue where to start.
I have a degree in faffing about (It must be true, my wife says so)
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Re: Christmas - a good time for a steady rest

Postby AndyT » 29 Dec 2021, 22:58

Mike G wrote:Nice find, Andy. How does it work with the tools rest? Do you have to shift it if the toolrest moves past the midpoint of the work?


I suspect that most of the time, it will be fighting the toolrest for space, but I hope that in some cases it will be useful.

I hope it will be the answer if I need to make most of a long thin thing between centres but then want to slide the tail stock out of the way so I can do something to the right hand end of the work, such as rounding it off or knurling it.

And Mrs T was happy to accept some help when it was offered!
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Re: Christmas - a good time for a steady rest

Postby Trevanion » 30 Dec 2021, 00:03

I'm amazed that your wife managed to find what I would imagine is a very rare part, especially when it wasn't listed as a part for the particular machine. Certainly beats new socks!
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Re: Christmas - a good time for a steady rest

Postby Dr.Al » 30 Dec 2021, 08:24

That lathe is a thing of beauty. I'm not sure I'd want to do much treadle-powered turning, but it's lovely to see. I think I'll stick with my Harrison :lol:

Fixed steadies are very useful things. I use mine quite often, mainly for the purposes of preserving big bits of material: if I need a large diameter (too big to go through the headstock) but thin part, it's wasteful to cut a bit off that's long enough to hold in the chuck. It's less wasteful to stick a long piece in the chuck, support the end with the fixed steady and effectively move the working point further to the right with the fixed steady to the left of the tool. Example here. I doubt you're going to be parting off many bits of 50 mm steel on a treadle lathe though...

I've also got a travelling steady for turning long thing bits, but that almost never gets used.
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Re: Christmas - a good time for a steady rest

Postby AndyT » 30 Dec 2021, 08:40

Thanks for that, Al. I have some chunky bits of brass in stock, where I wouldn't want to waste anything by leaving stub ends - you've shown me a clever way round the problem.
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Re: Christmas - a good time for a steady rest

Postby Alf » 30 Dec 2021, 12:07

Sheesh, you're a lucky blighter. Does Mrs AndyT have a brother? :D
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Re: Christmas - a good time for a steady rest

Postby AndyT » 30 Dec 2021, 12:45

Alf wrote:Sheesh, you're a lucky blighter. Does Mrs AndyT have a brother? :D


Definitely. You'll not find another like her. :)
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Re: Christmas - a good time for a steady rest

Postby Dalboy » 04 Jan 2022, 11:02

Who is a luck boy with a great wife who understands what you like.
I must confess not having used my new lathe much so the steady rest is still on the shelf unused I am OK with long stock under 26mm as that will fit in the headstock.
As you may guess I am totally new to playing with metal and treated myself to a lathe and milling machine with a DRO normally find me playing with wood which I will not be giving up on
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