THE LATHE - 1

Having spent almost 40 years in Banking, it was always nice to attempt something completely different when away from the office, although, in fact, the lathe fixation only took hold well after retirement, and arose mainly because of my ownership of a classic car.

The car is a 1935 Lanchester LA10 Sports Saloon and the significant feature - in relation to this tale - is that the vehicle has brake drums on each wheel. (Nothing so 'posh' as new-fangled disc brakes - were they even invented then?)

Prior to re-birth from 'old banger' to 'Classic', one economy by an earlier owner had obviously been to ignore the state of the brake shoes and as a result all four brake drums were scratched and scored by rivets, which, because of wear, had eventually protruded above the brake shoes that they were holding in place.

The practice of 'skimming' damaged brake drums WITH A LATHE, was known to me - and my brother, who is skilled in engineering matters, assisted by 'doing' the two worst drums for me on his lathe - restoring the inner faces to a smooth finish.

However, shortly afterwards, I bought a number of second-hand bits and pieces of Lanchester, which - fatefully - included four brake drums (in a tatty state), and as I live more than 100 miles from my brother, and cast iron brake drums are a bit heavy to send through the post, a thought came into my head.

"Why not get a lathe of my own to do jobs of this nature in the future?"

A Clutch of Brake Drums!

Of course, not any old lathe would do - it would, crucially, have to be big enough to hold the 12 inch diameter brake drums needing attention, but ideally, if I was going to this expense, also big enough to work on 'other things' (chair legs/crankshafts/minature walking-sticks etc?) according to how the fancy took me in the future.

This meant that some small lathes mainly intended for model-making would not do, and as you can see below, I ended up with a large, very heavy, crate full of machinery, which caused considerable stress to all concerned in getting it to the area in front of our garage.

This crate measured about 4 feet by 2 feet at the base, was 3 feet 3 inches high, and weighed 4 cwt.

These details were known in advance of delivery, so I anticipated some difficulties in handling - I was not mistaken!

The first snag arose when it was realised that the delivery van was too big to get through an arch leading to our garage, and grey hairs multiplied rapidly when it was seen that the alternative route - a long, narrow lane - was no more than a few inches wider than the delivery vehicle.

The owner of the six foot wall bounding one side of this lane was also fairly anxious, but I thought that the driver was doing a brilliant job - until he pulled up in front of our garage and we discovered that his on-board 'fork-lift' trolley - for lifting and moving heavy crates - would not fit into the pallet which formed the base of my crate.

Oh dear!!!