SCIENCE 
IS 
KNOWLEDGE. 
KNOWLEDGE 
IS 
POWER. 
A PRACTICAL JOURNAL OF 
HOME ARTS. 
Vol. III. 
NEW YOEK, OCTOBER, 1880. 
No. 10. 
Cheap Lathes and How to Use Them. 
EECENT writer 
on Amateur Me- 
chanics tells us 
that Turning is 
"beyond all 
doubt the chief 
of the Amateur 
Handicrafts," 
and no one 
whose judgment 
is of any value 
will dispute it. 
Fortunately, at 
the present day 
cheap lathes are 
quite common. Some years ago no lathe 
in market was sold for a less price than 
$50 to $100 ; to-day, we have many that 
range as low as $5, and yet are capable of 
doing valuable work. Some time ago a 
friend of ours had one of these cheap lathes 
given to him. He showed it to an ac- 
quaintance who was a first rate mechanic, 
and was advised to send it to the jimk 
shop as being good for nothing. On re- 
ceiving such advice, he naturally felt that 
the art of turning was not an occupation 
for him, and he was about to get rid of his 
seemingly worthless present, when he 
happened to meet another friend, who, 
fortunately, was quite as skillful, but nc5t 
quite as " aristrocratic " in his mechani- 
cal ideas. This friend spent an evening 
with him, put the lathe together, and ad- 
justed it, fixed the tools and sharpened 
them up. He then took a piece of com- 
mon wood, which he found amongst the 
firewood, sawed it rudely into shape, put 
it in the lathe, and in a few minutes he 
turned out a handsome little vase, which 
he presented to the astonished wife of his 
host, and it now stands on her mantel- 
piece as one of her choicest ornaments. 
Her husband, meantime, stood looking on 
in amazement; he had been told that his 
lathe was fit only for the the junk shop, 
and liere was a quiet, unobtrusive man 
using it to make articles of great beauty, 
such as vases for the mantel-piece, and of 
usefulness, such as handles for tools, etc. 
Next day, when he went down town, 
he wrapped the smoothly turned and 
finely polished vase in soft white paper, 
and took it with him. He showed 
it to his aristocratic friend, told him 
it was a present he had just received, 
