Lathes

I study medieval woodworking a lot, and I've always wanted to try out the medieval style lathe. The major difference between this type, and the modern lathe is that the motion is reciprocal, rather than continuous circular motion. That, and the fact that it is totally human powered. The back and forth motion of a "spring pole" type lathe has been used well past the 1600's era that I study, and in many places is still in use today.

The whole idea behind a Spring Pole lathe is that you would pinch a piece of wood between two points, wrap a cord around the wood, and pump down on a treadle while putting your cutting tool to the wood. On release, the springy pole attached to the top of the rope would pull up, spinning the wood backwards, and making it ready to be pushed down again and cut.

The idea of the lathe is simple: a piece of wood is made to turn on an axis while a sharp tool cuts or scrapes the wood into a desired shape. There are several reasons why the lathe has been in use for thousands of years. From a practical point of view, the lathe can easily produce truly round objects, invaluable in making wheels for carts and parts for mills and pumps. Turned spindles can also be easily assembled into complex objects such as chairs, beds, tables, etc. This same machine also simplifies the making of woodenware for eating, drinking, and storage. From a more aesthetic perspective, turning can create a sort of surface decoration impossible to achieve by hand alone. The combination of mechanical simplicity, versatility, and decorative appeal has made turning a steadily practiced trade throughout European culture.

Discussion of building a man-powered wheel to power a lathe.

Building a treadle-powered flywheel lathe.

A design for a portable springpole for use with a lathe.

A database of drawings and graphics of mechanical devices from Renaissance and late medieval sources.

The illustrati ons from the Mendel and Landauer Housebooks , indexed by profession and with lists of items found in each illustrati on.

Traditional turner Robin Wood shows how he used a branch trimmed from an ancient oak tree in Sherwood Forest to make a replica of a medieval bowl from Austin Friary in Leicester.

Using a lathe to make bobbins for whipcord.