Possibly my dream lathe**

Those of you looking for a serious lathe, there is a fairly prominent turner in the southwestern US who is going to sell his custom made Nichols lathe. It is set up for left handed turners and all the accessories are for being threaded on in that manner. I don't know the price but only about 100 Nichols were produced.
 
If I had the space and the money, I would be looking at my ultimate upgrade. That is a great piece of machinery. With a VFD on it, it would be perfect. I guess I now know what I'll be looking for in my later years. Very cool.
 
Very cool lathe indeed. Looks like it's been well cared for. I think I'd need a bit more of an electrical upgrade than originally planned if I were to get that bad boy. (That, and I'd have to beef up the slab it'd be sitting on.) ;)
 
It seems to me many of you turners on here have a need for bigger and more capable machines, but of all the talent I see on here I see no need for you guys to spend 9 grand to get what you seek. Personally I can see many of you crafting these massive machines for yourselves. A lathe is a simple tool and the first real machine tool ever invented. As they said in machinist school, "every machine tool is derived from the basic lathe."

I have heard and seen pictures in woodworking magazines where woodworkers built their own massive machines out of parts and accessories they cobbled together. My point here is to encourage you guys to do the same. It would be so easy to adapt say an old non-working tool like my jointer and mount a set of ways, headstock and whatnot to that and basically create the perfect large lathe for well under 9 grand.

Good golly guys, quit dreaming about it and start thinking, then work outside the box and make it happen.
 
Good point Travis. At least you'd know where to get everything if you ever needed to fix it. Still, it is a really nice machine.
 
Final sale price....$16,900. :eek: :eek:

I think I like Travis's idea of building my own even more now! I have a feeling Stu is going build something soon...Seeing Vaughn, Ron, and Ken's new mustard has to be pushing him in that direction, right Stu? :dunno:
 
That is true Frank, but I'd bet that lathe, if well maintained, will out last both your New Grizzly and my DVR combined, I mean, it has lasted this long, and I assume that was at "WORK" the person who bought it now, if they are NOT going to use it in a "WORK" setting will most likely really take care of it.

:wave:
 
Its hard to say Stu.

I got an email from a guy on the OWWM website once. He owned a jointer identical to mine and yet he openly admitted he was not a woodworker, or even got into woodworking. He just thought the machine looked neat and he bought it on a whim. He said it just sits in his basement unused.

I was at a loss for why he contacted me. I was not sure if he was hinting at selling it or what. I just hope that it gets in the "right hands" sooner or later and is not sold for scrap or something by the estate when its his time to leave this world.

Here is a picture of my rather unique jointer for those that have not seen it. Built in the 1860's, its rather unique, and has too much history to be just left unattended.

Jointer-New_Paint-403x572.jpg
 
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