Sold! I've been looking for one on Ebay for over a year and haven't found one locally. I'll give you a call tomorrow or Sunday. I'm in Suncadia right now but we are heading home tomorrow. It might take me a week or two to organize moving it, but I can give you the cash this week. What does it weigh? About 600 lbs?

The nice thing is you're welcome to come and use it anytime you need it!

T

I understand your concerns Alex, but I'm one of those guys who doesn't like regrets. And I know I would eventually regret passing on this deal. For one thing, I know I'll have a need for the machine for at least two projects in the near future … whenever I actually find time to work in the shop again. So while I won't be using it regularly, I will have a need for the honing machine occasionally. I've used the machine on one project already (several months ago when I was trying to get my flame eater to run) and I was amazed at how well the machine works. It's definitely the cadillac approach to honing a cylinder (as apposed to a wooden dowel wrapped in sand paper, or a brass lap, etc). And to put things in perspective, I easily spent over 100 hours on the engine, but at least half of that time was spent fussing with the fit of the pistons to the cylinder. I think I remade them 4 or 5 times before finally asking John for the use of his Sunnen.

I wasted weeks agonizing over that engine when I could have spent 15 minutes at the honing machine (that's literally how quick it was to hone the cylinder to a glass-like finish) and had a working engine. So I asked myself that age-old question. What's my time worth? And better yet, what's my frustration level worth? I'm not a highly skilled machinist. I'm an enthusiast with hack-level skills. I'm willing to pay for excellent tools when I think they might give me an edge (even if that edge an illusion – I know a lot of machinists that produce excellent work with cheap chinese tools – but I need all the help I can get). And I'm even more willing to pay for tools when they save me time or make a task easier to perform.

John's machine is literally like-new despite being a 1977 model. He said that he's only used the machine on a dozen or so projects in all these years. The price for the bare-bones honing machine in 1977 with no accessories was about $3,000. That translates into about $11k in todays dollars. I found a new machine online that was a scratch-and-dent model for $10k – but it was just the machine, no accessories. 

Now, would I pay $10k for a new honing machine? Absolutely not. I could never justify that. I wouldn't even pay $3500 for a like-new machine like Johns. So for me the price was still a stretch until I remembered how much extra tooling he had for the machine. He easily has 5k in tooling and stones. He has an almost complete set of arbors (one seems to be missing, but I bet we find it when we move the machine) and a full set of stones for both outside and inside honing. Some of the more common sizes he has duplicates or triplicates of. And only a few sizes have even a hint of oil on them (supporting the claim that he's only used the machine 10 or 12 times). He also has most of the major accessories that you can buy for the machine. So to equip a shop with the machine and tooling he's got would cost a lot of capitol. 

One more reason I couldn't pass up the machine is because I know the machine's history. I've personally used the machine and can attest to the shape that it's in (it's literally like new, even though it's from the 70's) … and having used the machine I can also say that once you've used a quality honing machine you'll never want to fuss with a copper lap or a $16 break cylinder hone from Shucks. 

And one last reason I couldn't pass it up. I could easily sell it anytime for at least what I'm paying for it. Granted, it might take some time to find a buyer – it's a pretty specialized machine. But I would never loose money on it. As far as I can see the only downside to the purchase is tying my money up in a capitol expense like this for however long I keep it. But that's no different than any other machine I've purchased. The difference here is, I'm not paying the "new" price. I'm paying used price on a machine that will retain it's value – assuming I don't damage it in some way. 

So anyway, no I won't use the machine regularly like I use (or used to use when I had time) my lathe, but when you need something honed and you've used a Sunnen, it's hard to think of doing it any other way. So consider me crazy if you must, but it think it's a great deal. And since John's a personal friend, I'm glad I'll be keeping the machine "in the family" so to speak. Sorry for the long reply. Sometimes being able to type fast is a curse.