Seldom found, the original Bosch wood-turning lathe appears to have been a machine first advertised in 1956 or 1957 as the "Combi", a very clever multi-function wood-working machine. So far, just a few of the very first examples have come to light with one, in the United States, being a complete kit probably brought back from Germany by a returning serviceman. It had been sold in 1957 - confirmed by the original German-language sales brochure and price lists surviving with the machine - and consisted of the maker's fitted wooden storage cabinet complete with the lathe, table saw, bandsaw, band sander, box-joint device, planer and a drum sander - only the disc sander was missing, this being replaced by a replica made by a kind, fellow Combi owner in Germany. As the cabinet was not in terribly good condition - just 25% of the original structure was useable - , it was decided to restore the whole assembly to as near-new as possible. The cabinet reconstructed and the mechanical parts carefully repaired where necessary, with a little welding being used to build up broken parts. Then, with everything overhauled, all the cast parts were sandblasted and powder coated.
Unlike the later Bosch wood lathes, the Combi was driven not by a conventional electric drill with a handle, but a Bosch "Handmotor", this being cylindrical in section and also sold as a kit, in a metal box, with a wide range of accessories to fit the supplied drill chuck. When used on the Combi, the unit retained the Jacobs-like chuck to secure the various fitting, but with the assembly guarded by a cover in cast aluminium with a hole provided to engage the chuck key.
Other Bosch wood-lathes were rather more prosaic, being similar in concept to the original Black and Decker type of the 1950s. Common amongst the Bosch range is the S18 light-duty model, this being supplied less a suitable electric drill but otherwise complete with everything needed to begin work - even to a set of three turning tools.