Le Blonde Lathe 1940 ish
 

Hi Guys,

I have a lathe, which used to belong to my grand farther it's about
the size of a Colchester student. It's got a domestic powered motor
fitted to it, however I think originally the lathe was powered by a 3 -
phase motor. It's not in bad condition for its year comes with a
3-jaw chuck and I think may be a steady/ faceplate. It's got slight
damage the lead screw support at the tail stock end but it's an easy
job to make a new one. Any ideas what it could be worth in its current
state or fully buffed up and restored and how I could sell it?

I have used it myself a few times it's a good machine even by
today's standards lots of work left in it I would say, after the
small repair job.

I think it would be nice to restore.

Rich.

Le Blonde Lathe 1940 ish
 

I would think that Ebay is the most reasonable scheme available to
determine approximate value.

Rich wrote:
Hi Guys,

I have a lathe, which used to belong to my grand farther it's about
the size of a Colchester student. It's got a domestic powered motor
fitted to it, however I think originally the lathe was powered by a 3 -
phase motor. It's not in bad condition for its year comes with a
3-jaw chuck and I think may be a steady/ faceplate. It's got slight
damage the lead screw support at the tail stock end but it's an easy
job to make a new one. Any ideas what it could be worth in its current
state or fully buffed up and restored and how I could sell it?

I have used it myself a few times it's a good machine even by
today's standards lots of work left in it I would say, after the
small repair job.

I think it would be nice to restore.

Rich.

Le Blonde Lathe 1940 ish
 

On 8 Oct 2005 10:23:08 -0700, "Rich" wrote:

Hi Guys,

I have a lathe, which used to belong to my grand farther it's about
the size of a Colchester student. It's got a domestic powered motor
fitted to it, however I think originally the lathe was powered by a 3 -
phase motor. It's not in bad condition for its year comes with a
3-jaw chuck and I think may be a steady/ faceplate. It's got slight
damage the lead screw support at the tail stock end but it's an easy
job to make a new one. Any ideas what it could be worth in its current
state or fully buffed up and restored and how I could sell it?

I have used it myself a few times it's a good machine even by
today's standards lots of work left in it I would say, after the
small repair job.

I think it would be nice to restore.

Rich.

It depends on the model and condition of course..but LaBlonds tend to
start at $1800 and go upwards, on the used market. YMMV of course.

Gunner

Confronting Liberals with the facts of reality is very much akin to
clubbing baby seals. It gets boring after a while, but because Liberals are
so stupid it is easy work." Steven M. Barry

Le Blonde Lathe 1940 ish
 

Hello Rich;
I'm a big vintage LeBlond fan, and I currently own several old
LeBlonds, including a 1945-era 15 x 45 Regal Toolroom lathe. I watch
ebay all the time, drooling over machines.

Sadly (or wonderfully, depending on your point of view) old LeBlond
lathes go for virtually scrap metal value these days. In the last
several years, almost every '40's LeBlond lathe that has sold in the
Los Angeles area on ebay has been in the range of $400 to $1200. It's a
shame (and a great opportunity!) because most of them are good useable
machines with some work. The big problem is parts. Many of these
machines were heavily worn during WWII factory use, and if there are
worn castings or chipped gears, it may not be worth the trouble to most
guys to repair.

Newer LeBlonds from the '60's and '70's are a different story. There's
a good supply of parts for them, and they're generally in better shape.
A decent '70's Regal will go for $3000 to $10,000.

So, it's probably not worth your labor to restore it if you intend to
sell it. The selling price wouldn't go up that much to cover your work,
UNLESS you already have a specific customer lined up, who's willing to
pay you to do the restoration.

Old machines like this are a labor of love. The hours I've put into
restoring my machines are because I intend to keep and enjoy them for
the rest of my life.

Bruce Johnson

Le Blonde Lathe 1940 ish
 

xstrange wrote:
Hello Rich;
I'm a big vintage LeBlond fan, and I currently own several old
LeBlonds, including a 1945-era 15 x 45 Regal Toolroom lathe. I watch
ebay all the time, drooling over machines.

Sadly (or wonderfully, depending on your point of view) old LeBlond
lathes go for virtually scrap metal value these days. In the last
several years, almost every '40's LeBlond lathe that has sold in the
Los Angeles area on ebay has been in the range of $400 to $1200. It's a
shame (and a great opportunity!) because most of them are good useable
machines with some work. The big problem is parts. Many of these
machines were heavily worn during WWII factory use, and if there are
worn castings or chipped gears, it may not be worth the trouble to most
guys to repair.

Newer LeBlonds from the '60's and '70's are a different story. There's
a good supply of parts for them, and they're generally in better shape.
A decent '70's Regal will go for $3000 to $10,000.

So, it's probably not worth your labor to restore it if you intend to
sell it. The selling price wouldn't go up that much to cover your work,
UNLESS you already have a specific customer lined up, who's willing to
pay you to do the restoration.

Old machines like this are a labor of love. The hours I've put into
restoring my machines are because I intend to keep and enjoy them for
the rest of my life.

Bruce Johnson

Thanks for your comments Bruce. I understand that the labour of love is
probably the only profit you would get out of it, just a shame I don't
have the time or room to do it right now. I must say though I'm
surprised this lathe is here in the UK its come along way and I would
of thought that the original user would of bought a Colchester, not
that there better or worse than the Le Blonde but the Le Blonde would
of been quite expensive to import I would of thought, especially during
WWII.

Cheers Rich.

Le Blonde Lathe 1940 ish
 

Yes the measure of value is sometimes not the price of what the item is.

Le Blonde Lathe 1940 ish
 

"Rich" writes:

xstrange wrote:

Thanks for your comments Bruce. I understand that the labour of love is
probably the only profit you would get out of it, just a shame I don't
have the time or room to do it right now. I must say though I'm
surprised this lathe is here in the UK its come along way and I would
of thought that the original user would of bought a Colchester, not
that there better or worse than the Le Blonde but the Le Blonde would
of been quite expensive to import I would of thought, especially during
WWII.

Cheers Rich.

It is funny where machines end up. I just saw some pics of a 50's Kerry
Mark3 lathe at a machine tool dealer in Pennsylvania- it looked in great
shape except was missing the quadrant & gears for the train down to the
gearbox. I was tempted but he was asking $200 and fabbing up a quadrant
(and reversing gears) would have involved a moderate amount of work- on
top of all the work & money going into my 1912 American lathe....

Regards,

Greg

Le Blonde Lathe 1940 ish
 

Rich wrote:

Thanks for your comments Bruce. I understand that the labour of love is
probably the only profit you would get out of it, just a shame I don't
have the time or room to do it right now. I must say though I'm
surprised this lathe is here in the UK its come along way and I would
of thought that the original user would of bought a Colchester, not
that there better or worse than the Le Blonde but the Le Blonde would
of been quite expensive to import I would of thought, especially during
WWII.

Cheers Rich.

Hmm...WW-II timeframe. Lend-lease, maybe?

Le Blonde Lathe 1940 ish
 

"Edward Greeley" wrote in message
...
Rich wrote:

Thanks for your comments Bruce. I understand that the labour of love is
probably the only profit you would get out of it, just a shame I don't
have the time or room to do it right now. I must say though I'm
surprised this lathe is here in the UK its come along way and I would
of thought that the original user would of bought a Colchester, not
that there better or worse than the Le Blonde but the Le Blonde would
of been quite expensive to import I would of thought, especially during
WWII.

Cheers Rich.

Hmm...WW-II timeframe. Lend-lease, maybe?

I was recently aboard a WW-II vintage museum ship (SS Red Oak Victory) and
the machine shop had a big Le Blonde in what appeared to be virtually new
condition. Ship board machines didn't get a whole lot of use and the
machine in quesiton may have come from a scrapped ship.

Jerry

Le Blonde Lathe 1940 ish
 

Hello Rich;

I suspect that a lot of American machinery like LeBlonds ended up in
England during WWII. It always amazes me to read about the incredible
growth of manufacturing capability during those years in America and
England, and of course also in Germany and Japan. The quantity of
trucks, ships, aircraft, weapons, and all the associated components
that were turned out was phenominal. It's hard to imagine how many
lathes must have been running around the clock turning out parts. And
how many lathes were just making parts to build other lathes. I'm sure
that England's own machine tool companies were swamped, and any
American machines that were available were being shipped over.

Le Blonde Lathe 1940 ish
 

Hello Jerry;

Yes, in many of their old catalogs, LeBlond boasts about all the lathes
it sells to the US and HMS Navies for shipboard use. In a 1916 catalog
that I recently aquired, they have pictures of a portable 17" lathe
which is made to be easily moved around. It has big 3 foot diameter
cast iron wheels under the headstock end and a swiveling trolley under
the tailstock. They describe it as being designed for use in railroad
yard shops and in shipboard machine shops. Personally, the thought of a
8000 lb lathe on wheels in a tight room on a pitching ship is rather
scary!!!