Oliver restoration

[John Deere Addict]

Bought this old Oliver and even though it works good I felt the need to restore it to original condition.

[Greg]

That's gonna be a nice addition to your shop, Steve. Are all the parts there and in decent shape? Did you run it before tearing it down? Anything made by Oliver is pretty good, right?

Uncle "Norm"

[John Deere Addict]

Yeah I turned a bowl on it first before I tore it down. It was built in the 40's and from what I've been told at that other place I frequent, it is like a old dodge truck...may not be real pretty, but you can never wear it out.

I bought it to turrn legs for coffee tables, end tables, etc. and also try making some bowls and platters for gifts. I even made a ink pen last Thursday.

This is the bowl I turned on it before restoring. It is my first bowl and not to good looking at that, I need lots of practice.

[Greg]

WOW, what kind of wood is that? Looks more like ceramic.. so white and with a "floral" tinge to it.

Good ol' iron tools are great...congrats!

[John Deere Addict]

The wood is called Red stained box elder, it is very white and this one was very wet. You should see the nice stuff in the turners section that people make out of different types of wood...even corn cob pens.

[Jim_WV]

Nice looking machine JDA, I was'nt quite sure what it was, saw the thread title and thought about an Oliver tractor :D

Looks like you are on your way to doing some fine work with that once you get it restored and hope you share some pics with us of what you make down the road :fing32: :thanku:

[Carl]

JDA that was my first thought too. What is JDA doing restoring an Oliver! True it is green, but not that green. Most of the old machines just have more iron in them. Makes for less wear and warpage. Should be able to get all the table legs from that you will ever need.

Are you going to take it down to bare metal and repaint it? Or just make sure all the parts have a nice tight smooth fit?

[John Deere Addict]

Carl, it is being stripped down to bare metal. Spent the weekend getting it to the point in the pictures.

Thinking about hooking it up to the old 396 and start making wood chips!

....and I wouldn't have a problem restoring a Oliver tractor either :fing32:

[Greg]

"Thinking about hooking it up to the old 396 and start making wood chips!"

Steve...you've been playing in the creek too long.... What's a "396" that makes wood chips? Your SS?

Now that I'd like to see! ROF ROF ROF

[Carl]

Sorry about that. If I had looked really close at the pictures I would have realized that the sawhorse you were working on was the lathe frame. I just didn't recognize it with all the lathe parts removed.

I'm picking up a pattern here. A good restore always goes down to bright metal!

[John Deere Addict]

Steve...you've been playing in the creek too long.... What's a "396" that makes wood chips? Your SS?

Now that I'd like to see! ROF ROF ROF

It'd be some serious torque for turning wood around ROF

[John Deere Addict]

An update. I have all the old paint removed and ready to primer the old Oliver Lathe. I took the electric motor to the local repair shop to have it gone through and fixed if needed.

My wife bought a couple of accessories for it so I can turn bowls, as well as a set of casters to move this heavy thing around the shop easier.

I put the cleaned up pieces back on the lathe to give an idea of what it looks like now.

[bontai Joe]

What size electric motor did it come with? And did it check out with your motor guy?