Well actually, part 3 . . . I had a short entry earlier about woodturning. Anyway – I was interested in learning more about early lathes and came upon a couple of good articles on how to make one. The first article is from Howard Ruttan, a self-proclaimed woodworking zealot. The article on his site, In the Woodshop, is from some earlier publication and is entitiled “How to Build a Boy’s Lathe”. Don’t let the title fool you – it’s a wonderful design for a treadle lathe, with some very interesting ideas on construction – a good, solid, turn-of-the 19th century discussion. But the design is very applicable to Medieval and Renaissance era designs.
The other article provides a more contemporary pattern and design, although still a treadle-based machine. From VintageProjects.com, is an article called “Build a Treadle Wood Lathe from Scratch.” While much of the mechanization is mid 20th century, the basic concept is still 16th or 17th century. (Some may say that the ideas were found earlier . . . as in Da Vinci’s spinning wheel . . . just haven’t seen any primary source evidence that they were used prior to the 16th century.) One of the ideas I really liked about this plan was the forming of a concrete flywheel instead of the traditional wooden one. I don’t know why that would be a problem for the Medieval enthusiast. I would think a stone wheel would be very appropriate and viable for 16th century wood workers.
At any rate, I thought both articles were full of great ideas . . . and they were free as well! Of course, many folks would be more interested in bow lathes and spring pole lathes . . . maybe when I return to the keyboard next Monday I will see what I can discover. But I think my next project in the woodshop will be a treadle lathe – something based on both designs, plus a few innovations of my own. Things such as an outboard drive for turning very large diameter bowls, plates and whatever, and also adding a grinding wheel to the treadle so that I can sharpen my tools. Not new ideas . . . I have seen the later one already in someone’s design (don’t remember where) . . . but the outboard drive is my own idea for a treadle lathe – I’ve seen this done in contemporary lathes, of course, but not in the hand/foot operated ones. We will see . . . if and when I complete such a project, I will be sure to include many photos!
Happy turning!
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