Building Your Own Lathe

I found this project online for building your own wood lathe. I thought it might be helpful for those of us who would like to have a lathe but are unsure about the expense.

http://www.mimf.com/articles/lathe/index.htm

 

Gee! I may try that! I don't have a lathe either and I'd like to try my hand at turning balustrades. I also would like to make a few decorative canes and such also. I could fill my Christmas list easily if I had one. Thanks for the link.

 

These will prove to be useful for someone wanting to have there business about wood turning.

I used to work as a lathe machine operator with the computer attached to the lathe machine. I guess that it would be harder for me to use this since I am sitting with the computer and I let the machine do all the work for me.

 

Thanks for posting the link. That looks like a very rustic lathe, with the thick would construction.

Speaking of lathe projects, I think it would be fun to try to make baseball bats.

 

A lathe might be one of the "safer" tools (saving for maybe the scroll saw and the drill press), but I always have these nightmares of a loose connection on the spindle, causing the dowel to fly straight off into my face. Be very careful if your building one yourself!

BTW - Avast reports a virus on that page link.

 

I've made all sorts of wooden lamp bases using a lathe, and I think a home-made lathe could turn out some interesting lamps. I run a pipe down the center, add cords, sockets and finials to end up with lamps that are one-of-a-kind.

 

We have some beautiful wood bowls with fine, swirly grains in the bottom we've been using all the time we have been married. Hubby says he turned them with a lathe as a high school project many years ago in his woodworking class. They have to be 30 years old, but are one of my favorite things in the house.