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Thread: Hand equivalent of wooden lathe?

  1. #1
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    Millersburg (Holmes County - Amish Country) Ohio
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    Hand equivalent of wooden lathe?

    I'm thinking of starting out with hand tools, but how do you "turn" something by hand?

    In another words what is the manual method of what a lathe does?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
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    Delaplane, VA
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    I'd say a springpole lathe like Roy Underhill uses.
    -Dan D.

    Ray's rule for precision:

    Measure with a micrometer, mark with chalk, cut with an axe.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
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    Temecula,CA
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    I think there's a couple styles. Treadle lathe comes to mind.

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    Just saw a workbench with a removable treadle lathe mounted on it on CL.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
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    For simple spindles (no beading or fancy shapes), a drawknife, spokeshave, and scraper, with the work held in a shaving horse. No efficient substitute for a lathe for fancy work.

    Probably the ideal manually powered lathe is the great wheel lathe, but that requires a regular supply of young apprentices to turn the wheel.

    dualgreatwheel.jpg

  6. #6
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    +1 on what Dan posted about Roy Underhill. He has had various man powered lathes on his show, from the simple spring pole to some manufactured and sold by Barns and other makers of shop machinery in the late 19th and early 20th century.

    I have also seen a lot of shop made wood lathes. A few actually are held in a bench vise and dog holes.

    Otherwise shaping with spoke shaves and draw knives is an alternative.

    I posted a "Want to Buy" ad on the local supermarket bulletin board and ended up with an old Craftsman lathe with tools and accessories for a Franklin. My intention was something to make handles for socket chisels. It isn't a great lathe, but it can spin wood and the rest is up to me.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  7. #7
    In my opinion one of the best and most inspiring pole lathe users today is Robin Wood. Here's a nice video and there are lots more on Youtube. As it happens, Robin is in the country right now, teaching a class in Minnesota. Here's a cool pic from his Instagram feed.

    Jarrod Stone Dahl is another terrific bowl turner; here's a short video.

    Peter Follansbee is an incredible turner who does more spindle work than Robin or Jarrod do. No videos unfortunately, but here are a bunch of blog posts showing his pole lathe.

    Finally, here's an article with a nice pic of SMC contributor Warren Mickley at his Roubo lathe.

    One thing all of the guys above have in common is that they are using the very high torque of a sturdy pole lathe to take off a lot of material quickly, even though the rotational speed is low. By contrast, a lot of the videos of treadle lathes that you see show more of a scraping cut, which is noticeably less efficient, even though the spindle is moving continuously. Warren can probably say a lot more about this than I can.

    Anyway, as you can see, there is a lot of information out there on meat-powered lathes. Have fun!
    "For me, chairs and chairmaking are a means to an end. My real goal is to spend my days in a quiet, dustless shop doing hand work on an object that is beautiful, useful and fun to make." --Peter Galbert

  8. #8
    English woodworker has a simple version of a bench top lathe with bungee cord . I have been planning to give it a try, but have not had a time.

    http://www.theenglishwoodworker.com/...athe-the-plan/

  9. #9
    A pole lathe is really easy to make and fun to use. None of the dimensions are really critical. My wife and I went to the Bodgers Ball last spring, the annual general meeting of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Greenwood workers over in the UK. It as a blast! There were dozens of pole lathes set up, with people turning everything from bowls to platters to spoon handles to chair legs.

    Here's a picture of me turning a chair leg in the Log to Leg race. Our team won, with a time of just under 11 minutes to make a pair of matching legs from a log.

    BB2015_L2L_Team_Race.JPG

    I've even turned a pen on a pole lathe, so they're good for small finicky work too.

    Darrell
    who would have been happy just to compete at this level, let alone win
    Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User

  10. #10
    A few notes. There were three lathes used in the 17th and 18th centuries: the pole lathe, the treadle lathe, and the great wheel lathe. I have used all of these lathes.

    The treadle lathe has a long treadle attached to a crank and a heavy wooden fly wheel. From the flywheel there is usually a leather belt to a small pulley that drives the lathe. The treadle generally goes the length of the bed so you can turn from any place along the length.

    The great wheel lathe has a large wheel, maybe six feet in diameter, in a frame or stand and has a crank to turn it. There is a heavy rope going from the rim of the wheel to a pulley on the lathe which is part of the headstock. A two worker operation. The great wheel lathe is useful for large diameter or long work which is unhandy on the pole lathe. If you are doing spindle work and have two guys it is much more efficient to use two pole lathes than to tie up two people using a great wheel lathe.

    The pole lathe has a pole (10 to 14 feet long) suspended from the ceiling, and a cord tied to the pole which then is wrapped around the turning stock and attached to a treadle. When the treadle is depressed the cord turns the stock a few times while you turn, the then is slightly withdrawn while the pole pulls up and reverses the motion in preparation for another stroke. The efficiency of the pole lathe comes from the fact that during the down stroke there is great power and a large chip can be removed. There is also great control over the speed of the lathe; you can go slowly to start the cut then speed up when confident and in control.

    I have tried the bungee cord lathe and the portable lathes with a little "pole" incorporated in the design. Using one of these lathes is like playing baseball with a wiffle ball. They do make a nice demonstration though.

  11. #11
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    Here's a video of another style of hand lathe, or maybe it is hand/foot lathe... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnv0DAR_gWA

  12. #12
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    Dec 2011
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    Wayne, Pa.
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    Do you live near a river? Make a waterwheel, put it in the water. Run a drive shaft into your shop and let it power your lathe by leather belt....or is that too much work?

  13. #13
    Here is a plate from Diderot showing a great wheel lathe and two pole lathes
    .Diderot great wheel, pole.png

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    NE Mississippi
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    83
    There is also the venerable bow lathe.


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