A customer moved her elderly father into a nursing home and is going through the process of selling off the stuff in his house getting it ready to sale.
The lathe is an old Craftsman. She believes it's from the 20's I would guess more late 30's or early 40's. Anyway it's all there and works. Has a bunch of extra gears and other stuff laying around. She has a standing offer of $200.
What would something like this be worth?
In reply to nicksta43:
Depends on the size (diameter x length of maximum part) and the wear, as well as if everything is included, extra cutters etc. 200-800 depending on that criteria.
Have any pics? Hell i would give more than $200 if its not a piece of crap.
Tooling seems to be where the money's at.
Buy it NOW!
Craftsman lathes were made by Atlas and they're very good quality, still perfectly useable for the guy at home.
Shawn
Wood lathe or metal?
I've got a Craftsman wood lathe of that vintage- they are pretty cheap, but they have a nice indexing head for fluting, etc.
If its a metal lathe of a decent size, I'd buy it.
That's probably a pretty good price unless it's worn out. Older lathes will get swaybacked like an old horse. You can scrape the ways to bring it back into shape, but that is a major job. At that price I'd probably chance it or take a known good straight edge and a feeler gauge and check it. The older Craftsman stuff is pretty good quality for a small lathe.
My South Bend 9" I paid $450 for in good shape. My South Bend 13" I paid $300 for good shape but nasty from sitting uncovered.
As was mentioned, tooling is where the money is. I don't even want to know what I've spend in tooling in the last 10 years.
I have an old atlas 618 - which is very similar - pretty much interchangeable with some of the old craftsman lathes. $200 is a good price - usually $400+ in good order - $600+ with some tools.
These guys have decent quality tools for it. Some of the sizes are small/not as common as on bigger lathes.
It's a metal lathe. I just don't know enough about them. I'll likely pass on it as I don't really have the cash to blow on something that is not needed for anything. Even though it would be nice to have.
Craftsman lathes were either a rebadged 7" Atlas or something worse. They're big enough to make bushings and little widgets, but they have flat ways - not V or dovetail - so they're neither accurate nor repeatable. Also, they're made of mild steel, iron and zinc, so they're generally worn out. If you need basic tooling, nothing you buy for the machine works with anything other than another Atlas/Craftsman.
I started w/ a 7" Atlas, so I know. Better than no lathe, but once you get a taste you'll want a real one.
Ask yourself "Would I buy this if it wasn't this cheap?" As in "Is this the lathe/car/whatever I'd buy at full price?"
I'd recommend against.
I inherited an old metal lathe. CJ Barnes co 1899 metal lathe I attached pictures. How much would this roughly be worth? If anything. 
Those old metal lathes are worth a fortune. Give her the 200 and make your money back 5-10x.
Grtechguy said:Those old metal lathes are worth a fortune. Give her the 200 and make your money back 5-10x.
Or, if you don't really want it, help her sell it for 5-10x. I'm sure she can use the funds if dad is going into a nursing home.
I think that lathe is long gone by now...
Interesting story with some old school GRM sad memories about this lathe.
I reached out to jhaas because I knew he was always into stuff and I thought he might be Interested. We had a couple conversations and I passed the contact information on to him. I was completely unaware that he was very sick at that time and it was a very short time later that I learned of his passing here on the forum.
I truly regret never getting to meet him in person. He was always doing amazing things.
woa. missed this was an 8 year old thread.. dang.
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