Decisions Decisions...

[adsm08 2,573]

So every year I get a bonus from Ford for putting up with their crap instead of getting smart and leaving the dealership. This year it was about $2900. I usually have planned out what I'm going to do with it months before I actually have the money in my hands (I can "claim" the money around Thanksgiving, but don't physically have it in my hands until February).

 

I know with some of it I'm buying a locker for the end of my tool box. That will leave about $1500. With the rest I was originally going to go buy myself a new deer rifle. I'd settled on a Henry 30-30, but as I've been thinking about it I'm having a hard time dropping +$1200 on a gun I'm probably only going to shoot three or four times a year once it's sighted in. Especially when I already have so many other great deer rifles at my disposal. I have my dad's Marlin that I used this year, my wife's .327 that I used the two years before that, and my own Ruger 7mm-08 that I didn't like as a kid because of the weight, but which will probably be less of an issue now.

 

So I got to looking around at other things I might like to do with that money, and I ran across this: https://www.harborfreight.com/7-inch-x-12-inch-precision-mini-lathe-93799.html

 

I don't need a lathe often, but I do run across parts that I need, mostly for the tractor, from time to time that I just can't find, but could probably reproduce if I had one and a good bench grinder (Mine is old and has something horribly off balance in the motor).

 

 

So now I have a choice to make...

[Blasterdad 3,005]

Personally, if I had $1500.00 burning a hole in my pocket I'd buy a plane ticket to somewhere WARM. Phil just saw his shadow, I'm over it! 

[ebinmaine 70,396]

I have an appreciation for guns as the machines that they are. I do own a few. I enjoy shooting them on occasion. 

I don't hunt other than occasional rodent population reduction efforts. Nothing for or against it. I just don't take the time to do go through the safety and licensing processes.  

 

You already have multiple tools for gathering meat. 

You don't have a usable lathe. 

 

IMHO there's no decision to be made. 

 

 ✔️   Lathe.  

 

 

 

 

[adsm08 2,573]

19 minutes ago, Blasterdad said:

Personally, if I had $1500.00 burning a hole in my pocket I'd buy a plane ticket to somewhere WARM. Phil just saw his shadow, I'm over it! 

 

Being from PA I don't put a lot of stock in Phil. He's a cheap knock-off of the original.

 

The Germans who originally settled the area had a tradition of some sort involving Badger Lodges (not sure how that compares to a Possum Lodge) but there are no badgers native to PA, so they went with the closest thing they could find and that was a groundhog, and none of this has anything to do with lathes or deer rifles....

[adsm08 2,573]

2 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

You already have multiple tools for gathering meat. 

You don't have a usable lathe. 

 

IMHO there's no decision to be made. 

 

 ✔️   Lathe.  

 

 

 

I am tending towards this thought as well. The remaining funds (around $600) can then be put back for the Big Show. I'm still looking for a mid-60s square hood with hydro.

[ri702bill 8,925]

38 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

IMHO there's no decision to be made. 

 

 ✔️   Lathe.  

 

 

BUT - not that one. Too small, not enough power. My son bought a Grizzly 9 x 14 clone used for $600. Nice machine for most jobs.

You need to look at the pass-thru diameter in the headstock - the 9 x 14 is 20mm. Do NOT buy a mill / lathe combo machine. That is neither a good milling machine nor a useful lathe.

Best bet - look for a used single phase South Bend 9 or 10 inch lathe - parts are still available, unlike Atlas lathes.

Look at the tools from Precision Matthews, right in PA.

Edited February 2 by ri702bill

[ebinmaine 70,396]

52 minutes ago, adsm08 said:

Badger Lodges (not sure how that compares to a Possum Lodge)

 

Likely a different type or quantity of duct tape.  

[Darb1964 1,093]

I know very little about lathes although two of my brothers are life long machinist, I also have thought about a Henry rifle. When I first became of age my father gave me his model 99 300 savage deer rifle because he was disabled and no longer able to hunt. I killed some deer with it but always wanted a Browning Auto-5 in 7 mm. mag. when I first started working I bought a used A-5 in 7 mm. mag. Used that for thirty years and took lots of deer with it in numerous states. As I aged and now myself disabled I went back to the 300 salvage, because it's light, deadly accurate, and perfect caliber for deer. I'm not a gun guy but have many, they are a tool like any of my tools, that being said the Henry rifle still have my interest, like you would sight it in and just hunt with it, I've only bought one or two new guns because I'm hard on them. 

Go to the gun shop, hold one, enjoy the moment, get a lathe. You already have what you need for venison.

[Pullstart 64,388]

If I had that burning holes in my pockets I’d consider the 360 Buckhammer lever action Henry.  But as mentioned, I have other meat gathering tools (and a lathe at my disposal) as well.

[SylvanLakeWH 27,251]

3 hours ago, adsm08 said:

groundhog, and none of this has anything to do with lathes or deer rifles...

Well, deer rifles... er tools... do work very well on groundhogs...

 

Id go lathe given your supply of deer tools... 

[adsm08 2,573]

5 minutes ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

Well, deer rifles... er tools... do work very well on groundhogs...

 

Id go lathe given your supply of deer tools... 

 

I prefer my groundhog tools in something more of a .22LR type tooling.

[squonk 42,364]

I think I'd rather have a mill over a lathe but I'm a dummy that no one listens to anyway. 

[ebinmaine 70,396]

4 minutes ago, squonk said:

I think I'd rather have a mill over a lathe 

 

Because? 

 

 

Forgive my silly question. I only have a minimally basic understanding of the tools.  

[squonk 42,364]

1 minute ago, ebinmaine said:

 

Because? 

 

 

Forgive my silly question. I only have a minimally basic understanding of the tools.  

Mills take up less room in general and I fell they are more versatile. I have a friend who builds racing go karts and has both and the mill gets used a lot more. 

[Ed Kennell 40,307]

28 minutes ago, adsm08 said:

 

I prefer my groundhog tools in something more of a .22LR type tooling.

I like my .223 WSSM.    It will reach out and touch Phil at 400 yds.

[ebinmaine 70,396]

3 minutes ago, squonk said:

Mills take up less room in general and I fell they are more versatile. I have a friend who builds racing go karts and has both and the mill gets used a lot more. 

 

Can an average mill do some light lathe drilling like a spindle? 

 

 

[Ed Kennell 40,307]

5 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

Can an average mill do some light lathe drilling like a spindle? 

 

 

I don't have a mill, but I use my drill press , angle grinder, and files to do some turning work.

[ri702bill 8,925]

20 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Can an average mill do some light lathe drilling like a spindle? 

Yes, with the proper fixturing it can. I repaired the well worn front mount for a couple of gear driven cutting decks using the milling machine to turn down the shaft ends for a pressed on steel bushing. That part was too big to chuck up in my lathe...  I also added grease passages &  fittings at both ends. BTW, I showed the finished part to @Handy Don - he told me I was just showing off

 

 

[adsm08 2,573]

1 hour ago, Ed Kennell said:

I like my .223 WSSM.    It will reach out and touch Phil at 400 yds.

 

I rarely see them at farther than 100, and I can usually get within 50, and so my Savage 64F does just fine.

 

 

Well this thread has given me quite a bit to think about. I may just sit on the rest of the money and watch for something to come along used. Space is currently at a premium in my shop, but I'm hoping by fall to have the new one up and then I will have more options.

[Handy Don 13,267]

3 hours ago, ri702bill said:

BTW, I showed the finished part to @Handy Don - he told me I was just showing off

I admit it. Doing it with such precision seemed over the top at the time. Thankfully, he didn’t throw me out of the shop!

On the other hand, how many of us have, know how to use, and have the time to utilize machines like that? It is something well out of my reach, for sure.

I repaired the same piece, on my gear deck with built up weld, a grinder, and files--not nearly as precisely. I didn’t dare ask Bill for an assist 

[ebinmaine 70,396]

4 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

I don't have a mill, but I use my drill press , angle grinder, and files to do some turning work.

 

I'd try that again but the drill press I have is too loose. 

It's an (older than me) model of an inexpensive type in the first place.  

At some point in the past it developed a wobble at the chuck. 

 

[Wayne0 860]

I say go for a lathe. Maybe not the HF, but a used South Bend or an old Craftsman/Atlas. If you don't need it NOW, you got time to look.

I lucked out with my drill press. My friend is an R&D machinist and his shop was upgrading equipment.

No one wanted the drill press as it was 3 phase. They were going to scrap it! Once he told me, I was there with my truck.

Came with 2 #2 Morse chucks and an X-Y vice for nada! I don't have 3 phase, so I bought a static converter. Works great for me.

[adsm08 2,573]

1 hour ago, Handy Don said:

I admit it. Doing it with such precision seemed over the top at the time. Thankfully, he didn’t throw me out of the shop!

On the other hand, how many of us have, know how to use, and have the time to utilize machines like that? It is something well out of my reach, for sure.

I repaired the same piece, on my gear deck with built up weld, a grinder, and files--not nearly as precisely. I didn’t dare ask Bill for an assist 

 

Ironically I have more hours with a welder, consider myself to be excellent at fabbing/"precision" work with a grinder, and I think I'd be more comfortable trying to do what Bill did than to build a weld and re-grind it.

 

And I haven't touched a lathe since high school shop class, except the brake lathes.

[oliver2-44 10,274]

9 hours ago, ri702bill said:

BUT - not that one. Too small, not enough power. My son bought a Grizzly 9 x 14 clone used for $600. Nice machine for most jobs.

You need to look at the pass-thru diameter in the headstock - the 9 x 14 is 20mm. Do NOT buy a mill / lathe combo machine. That is neither a good milling machine nor a useful lathe.

Best bet - look for a used single phase South Bend 9 or 10 inch lathe - parts are still available, unlike Atlas lathes.

Look at the tools from Precision Matthews, right in PA.

For working on these tractors a spindle pass through of 3/4" or larger is very useful.  That's one more of many nails in the coffin to rule out the old Sears/Atlas.

In my area the old South Bends have become to pricy.  A local gunsmith has the Grizzly Gun Smith Lathe and really does some precision work with it.  

[Achto 28,626]

With a good lathe and a mill, you could always make a new riffle.  I like things that go bang, but I would get a lot more use out of a lathe.