Sebastian & May lathe, c1890, needs a new home

Was at a auto swap meet at Cowtown, NJ and came across a leg thief dismembering a small, helpless lathe. He was not interested in the rest of the corpse, so rather than see it scrapped I gave him some money and took it home. The legs are probably destine for some sort of steampunk table. Where it not that I had seen the legs, I would have been hard pressed to figure out the make as the name appears no where else on the machine. Doing a little research, it appears Sebastian & May were operating out of Sidney, Ohio from 1890 to no later than 1898.

As you can see from the pictures the lathe is rather light. It is also well worn, so not a candidate for a hobby lathe but perhaps someone with an identical Sebastian & May might be interested to make one complete or more correct lathe out of two. In my searching the internet, I did find others out there so they are not unknown.

There is a braze repair to the from bearing cap. Note the headstock and tailstock are on interesting cast risers. On the rear is part of an taper attachment. Not sure this is original to the lathe as none of the other examples seen have such. Mounted on cast brackets, so someone may have started to transfer this from another lathe and the project never was finished.

Probably the most curious feature is the partial cross feed dial. This pivots up and out of the way on a screw to the left. Why, I have no idea. The fiducial mark is on a tang that clamps to the cross feed shaft. These parts are brass. The other that I have seen have no dials at all, and this might be a non-standard addition.

$125 OBO. Glen Mills, PA. Loading available (literally, one person can pick it up!) So if you have a like Sebastian & May and it is missing a few pieces, here is your chance to pick up some spares. Or corner the market. It is neat, but I have enough 'museum pieces' already. Like the SPCA says, it needs that Forever Home.

-Doug

Three more pics. -Doug

I'm glad you saved the lathe even if you didn't get there in time to save the legs too. As to the crossfeed dial. I think you got close to size, measured the work to see how much more to remove (at this point down to maybe .025 to .050") then set the dial to "0", then advanced the tool to take off the last little down to size. They were probably just getting to using thousands and having micrometers instead of using a rule, calipers, and thinking in terms like "scant 64ths" etc. And this was an early attempt at a graduated dial.

Would make a good bench lathe with appropriate wooden blocks under the end.

Sadly, this circumstance is becoming more common - orphan lathe minus the legs. Some sellers are bold - "lathe for sale - legs available separately."

A recent discovery on the Worcester Craigslist. A Flather lathe in VERY early pattern - but minus the legs. This Flather is the design equal of my Flather No. 1. Same rear-mounted lead screw, same square look tailstock, same thin top mounted arms supporting the feed rod. Same in all respects except 12" swing instead of 18".

Antique Flather metalworking wood lathe bed early - tools - by owner - sale



I would reach out and gather this one in as an example of size progression - but alas - the money and more importantly my space - or the shortage thereof.

Funny the legs though. I don't think of Flather legs as all that particularly attractive - there are better out there.

Joe in NH

I actually have one and a half lathe legs, that came with a non matching lathe. Why the missing half you ask, apparently the owner before the one I bought it from had the lathe encroaching on a staircase. They aren't that ornate, so if I wanted to I could fab some new bottoms to that leg, though it would only be marginally worth the time and trouble.

robinr said:

I actually have one and a half lathe legs, that came with a non matching lathe. Why the missing half you ask, apparently the owner before the one I bought it from had the lathe encroaching on a staircase. They aren't that ornate, so if I wanted to I could fab some new bottoms to that leg, though it would only be marginally worth the time and trouble.

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Hey, give it a go. The point is to USE them much as a 19th century machinist would - and not necessarily as a side table in your yuppie upscale 3rd floor garret apartment tres chic.

I once bought a Fay & Scott woodworker lathe that someone in their infinite wisdom had cut one leg off about an inch and a half short. The lathe was a good buy because of the damage.

So I set upon this with steel plate, a cutting torch, grinder and braze and brought it back. Painted you would have to look underneath the foot to see it did not have machine marks on it like the other three to know it wasn't original.

Sometimes the reward is just in having done it.

Joe in NH

Hey Doug, Is this still around?
Mogi

Mogi,

Eventually managed to find it a home. Listed and eventually sold a Hardinge Chucker and when the fella came to collect he bought the Sebastian & May too. Mainly on impulse and cuteness factor I think, and knocking the price down to $100. He had a small collection and an interest in antique machinery. All that stuff was in storage with no room to set it up, so I suspect nothing has been done with it. But at least it wasn't getting scrapped.

-Doug

Elam Works said:

Mogi,

Eventually managed to find it a home. Listed and eventually sold a Hardinge Chucker and when the fella came to collect he bought the Sebastian & May too. Mainly on impulse and cuteness factor I think, and knocking the price down to $100. He had a small collection and an interest in antique machinery. All that stuff was in storage with no room to set it up, so I suspect nothing has been done with it. But at least it wasn't getting scrapped.

-Doug

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Thanks for getting back to me. I have a treadle lathe in good working condition that is almost identical to the one you posted.

Mogi