Lathe addiction.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Gary, these are the kind of Christmas presents I like.

Whilst at Rufforth Auto Jumble feeling frozen last Saturday morning I bought four HSS (High speed steel) 1/4" square tool blanks; asking price for the four £12 but mine for £10. HSS is my preferred tool material for the lathe as it is easy to sharpen in a home workshop unlike the TC tipped tools.

I bought a set of TC tools from Chronos a couple of years ago for use on my Myford lathe; these at the time were a genuine bargain and I thought I could use them in the Clarke; unfortunately the Clarke only accepts 1/4" tooling and the Chronos ones are 3/8" a pity but small lathes don't accept big tools.

Also at Rufforth I wanted a 19mm reamer and found a box full on a stall; my hands were so cold I had trouble picking them up to check sizes so I asked the stall holder if he had a 19mm and he went through checking with a digital vernier caliper finding a hand reamer and I was only charged £3 for it.

I also bought 24" of 7/8" dia BMS at £7; this costs double on eBay. It pays to be careful though because on another stall I found a brand new Jacobs chuck with a #2MT (Morse taper) but no chuck key; initial asking price was a very steep £25 which quickly dropped to £20 but I politely walked away. For anyone looking for engineering tooling Rufforth is wonderful there was even a delightful small clock-makers lathe on sale with a price tag of only £75; I bet it was soon sold.

Kind regards, Col.