Shopsmith Forums

Recently I reported satisfaction with getting my tailstock/eccentric aligned "just so." It had to do with keeping that eccentric flush onto the tailstock while aligning and tightening it.

Here's a for-fun project I did. I needed a "Hot Dog" grip and I wanted that thing to be round, really round! I also like to use my beat-up Lathe faceplate for novel projects.

First I selected an Ironwood blank and resawed it like so.... Subsequently I jointed the pieces flat on a sheet of sandpaper, and tacked the extreme ends together with JB-Quik epoxy:
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It was next glued onto the previous scraps attached to my lathe faceplate. I found the middle and started a 5/8" bore with a brad-point to take advantage of the center spur. Then I switched to a metal-bit and kept rubbing it with beeswax as I sank about 4-1/2" of bore depth:
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I shaped the hot-dog and separated it; one end of it still had a tiny bit of glue tacking the 2 halves together:
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Then I split it open by tapping it against my live-center cone. I was left with 2 perfectly symmetrical halves:
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Now at last I can assemble it to the target, a very rough-looking but extremely finely-made Yankee / North Bros. / 2101 ratcheting brace. These are like the "Cadillac V16" of braces, and they're usually expensive to this day when in good condition. Of course I deliberately bought one with a busted handle to save money. My rebuild is almost complete:

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Cool project. How do you get away with using your lathe in the formal living room, wall to wall carpet and a Chippendale chair

Nice save!!
That Yankee is looking good.

I have a Millers Falls 10" Holdall Not quite the Caddy, More like a Lincoln.

Great Brace.

fredsheldon wrote:Cool project. How do you get away with using your lathe in the formal living room, wall to wall carpet and a Chippendale chair

Some of us are just lucky that way. No SWMBO to deal with. (Although, the nights MAY be long!) (She Who Must Be Obeyed, in case you had to ask. Thank Rumpole of the Bailey.)

Yes, I've got a full-sized ER in my front room, as well as the full-length extension to it. And, I don't have to explain it to SWMBO. (Because, there is no SWMBO.)
But, I can turn 70X12 inch spindles.

steve

A sequel....

I like having a couple of braces around but I like them to be 'special.' The big Yankee is still in the shop from last year. Then I found out that 6-inch sweep braces are very very rare, so I jumped on one that looked terrible but was cheap:

I used the similar resawn/tacked/turned/separated/reglued technique for changing one grip to Zebrawood:

Then I finally got around to the top Bun, also from Zebrawood. Lots of elbow-grease in this petite thing!

Great work, and I love seeing old tools brought back to life! But I bought the correct way was to unbend the brace, slip anew handle on, and rebend it. I mean, this way you have a two piece handle.
I've barely tried the lathe but this had me realizing I should learn to consider it when problem solving and not just for actual we projects. That was a nice series of elegant solutions.
The full length extension on the ER: is it another er pulled into use that way or something, or is it something they really made?

I'm lucky: my wife puts up with the living/dining ruin (ha! My phone interpreted "room" as "ruin" as I typed. Considering the context I'll leave it.) Anyhow, I was going to say she puts up with all sorts of projects making sawdust and shavings in the living room. Of course I think that may be why she agreed to let me claim the very centrally located room (in a small small house) as my shop - you have to walk through it to get to the bathroom. I still end up taking my smaller projects to the living room. I just try to remember to asst least vacuum before she gets home from work. We have wall to wall, landlord has even seen it covered with shavings. Carpet is old enough he doesn't care. I haven't pulled the Shopsmith out of the shop though, unless you count when it was in pieces. It is just so much easier to clean up old as parts relaxed on the couch

fitzhugh wrote:But I bought the correct way was to unbend the brace, slip anew handle on, and rebend it. I mean, this way you have a two piece handle.

NO NO NO! You use green wood and steam bend it around the the bends.

I thought you grew a tree around it, like a fence post, and then carve it away. They'd have plantations full of trees with braces wired around the trunks, took years to harvest. They made shoes the same way, back when they had wooden soles. Hence the term "shoe tree," of course.