[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by charlesbahn

Be sure to gather up all the bits and pieces- sometimes small parts or the tooling (steady rest, collets, taper attachment, etc are individually worth more than the lathe; or at least increase its desirability.

Problem with these is the weight and shipping costs. Good tool if someone wants it locally.

Charles

This is EXACTLY what I was telling my dad. There's a bunch of "bits and pieces" that I think will come close to matching the value of the lathe itself. He has three different heads for the lathe (Why? I have no idea) then there are the Jacobs Portomatic chucks and one large Jacobs 18N. Too many bits to count and I don't know what they are so I'm looking into those as well.

Originally Posted by devodave

From the photo, that looks to be in great shape! 14" 5 step cone Bradford, circa 1919!

http://www.vintagemachinery.org/pubs/2316/26432.pdf

Bradford Machine Tool Co. - Publication Reprints - 14-inch Quick Change Gear Lathe | VintageMachinery.org

You might find a few buyers in OH. Since its not a very large lathe, it is more desirable to home machinists. But parts might be tough to find and it is 100 years old! So surely a collector item. The $800-$1000 estimate is probably very accurate.

That's not the actual lathe but the one we have is similar. I need to get it out to get some pics. I think ours has more options than the one pictured.
The history of it is why I'm working hard so that my dad doesn't scrap the thing. I think it's too cool and too old to just destroy it. I'll bring it to my barn to store it before I'll let him scrap it.