Fdmorrison wrote:

The finish is important, but it's not the only history that the
old devices offer for preservation.
Frank Morrison


Absolutely! I got an old misused treadle lathe some time ago. The slots
in the faceplate casting were rectangular with knife sharp corners.
Obviously this was designed before stress concentrations and fatigue was
common knowledge in the engineering society. The faceplate had broken
with the crack emerging from one of these sharp corners. Trying to save
it someone obviously left it with a blacksmith who forged a ring around
the faceplate. No welding of the ring it was forged together. Today when
we run our lathes at much higher speeds this would not have worked but
on a treadle lathe it obviously did.

Another thing that caught my eye was that all centres (tailstock,
treadle, and headstock) were 90 degrees and not 60 as we are used to today.

I agree there are no astronomical values in old machines but if you find
an ornamental lathe fully equipped – the chance is probably less than 1
in a million – then be sure to take care of it. It might have both a
historical and a big monetary value.
http://members.ttlc.net/~lrpw/OrnamentalLathe/lathe.htm

/Ulf B