Working with a wood lathe is truly an art form. This will be a lengthy post, but mind you that this is very much edited to give you a general overview resource of the tool of wood turning. There are many other more detailed resources in your library or on the internet on wood lathes and wood turning, I would encourage you to explore these options as well if this topic interests you.
Wood Lathe Introduction
In the most basic sense, a lathe is a machine that spins a block in order to perform a certain manipulation to it such as cutting and sanding with the help of tools to form a work of symmetry based on its axis of rotation. The end goal is to smooth and shape the block into a new form. Keep in mind that lathes are not just for wood, there are also metal lathes and even glass lathes. Since, we’re all about wood here, we’ll just go over the wood lathe and wood turning. It seems that wood turning is making a bit of a resurgence and is gaining in popularity in woodworker’s shops. Although gaining in popularity, this is form of wood working is nothing new. The first wood lathe was patented by Thomas Blanchard way back in 1820. The first versions of the lathe were very different than what we see today. They were manually operated and the rotation of the spindle was very slow. By the mid 1900s there were introductions of wood lathes that represent more closely to what we know and love today.
A wood lathe in action
Wood Lathe Parts
To describe the pieces of the wood lathe let’s start at one end and work our way over. Lucky you, you can see my 4th grader drawing skills. All wood turning lathes will be slightly different in their set up, but this will give you a general idea of the layout and the parts of a wood lathe.
simple diagram (or crude drawing) of a wood lathe and its parts
As I’m looking at the machine, we’ll start more or less with the left side and work our way over then down:
- Head Stock : The whole side of the machine that has the drive motor or the “live” end of the lathe.
- Cone Pulleys : These are a series of different diameter wheels that go from large to smaller. The larger pulleys generate more speed than the smaller ones. The type of project you are working on as well as the stage of the product will help determine which pulley on the cone to use.
- STOP! : Yes, very good, this red button means stop.
- Power : This button is much smaller than the stop button for obvious reasons… safety. More on wood lathe safety later on in this article.
- Spindle & Thread for Face Plate : The actual spinning part is called the spindle, on the spindle is machined threading to attach the face plate. This is also one of the areas where the wood lathe chuck is mounted.
- Face Plate : The part of the machine that makes contact to your future work of art.
- Live Center : The exact center of your turning work, more how to find the center of your piece later on.
- Tool Rest: This is the portion of the machine where you guide your tools to manipulate the wood.
- T Rest Adjustment : This adjusts the height of the tool rest to accommodate both the size of the piece as well as the size of the individual making it.
- Tool Rest Clamp : This locks down the tool rest in the correct position to be centered on your project as well as the right distance from your project.
- Dead Center : Ever heard of this term before? I bet you didn’t know it’s a wood lathe term. This is the exact center of your piece on the tail stock, the side without the motor drive.
- Tail Stock : As stated above, this is the end of the lathe that does not drive the spinning action, it simply supports the other end of the block.
- Tail Stock Hand Wheel : When this hand wheel is rotated, it mounts the tail stock to the wood block via the wood lathe chuck.
- Tail Stock Clamp: This adjustment accommodates different lengths of wood to turn.
- Bed : This is the length of the wood lathe connecting the head and tail stocks. Lathes will come in a variety of bed lengths to work on different scales f projects.
- Leg : Duh, yes we all know what a leg is. Although, keep in mind that not all lathes come with legs, many common lathes are designed to sit on your work bench, not as stand alone tools.
Types of Wood Lathes
There are several types of wood lathes on the market. As with any tool, they come in many varieties to accommodate your specific use as well as come in many tiers of quality. If you are an avid wood worker, you can really get into some high end stuff. Conversely, if you are a beginner or novice woodworker you can find a pretty affordable wood lathe. The most common or standard lathes will usually have a capacity of turning a 10-12 inch diameter piece. This measurement is also known as the swing. The other measurement to be concerned with is the spindle length or bed length. Most standard lathes will accommodate 36 inches (3 feet in length). There are two main categories of wood lathes bench top lathes and stationary lathes (aka floor lathe) like the poorly executed drawing by me above.
In the bench top wood turning lathe category, as stated above the typical one has approximately an 11 inch swing and a 36″ spindle length. These machines even though designed to sit on your work bench can weigh up to 300 pounds, so no card tables fellas… please. Not only would a rickety working surface be unsafe, it would diminish the quality of your work, so be sure you have a good sturdy work surface. The typical bench top wood turning lathe will have .5 to 1 horsepower motors. These little guys can do a lot, but sometimes within the specs of the machine they claim they can do some things that they’re not quite up to. The length can accommodate leg turning and the swing can accommodate larger bowls, but in my experience they struggle with the larger and heavier projects. They have an especially difficult time turning larger green wood blanks. Just keep this in mind, but do not worry, these lathes can accommodate 90% of what most woodworkers want from them anyway. As far as wood lathes for sale, you can expect to pay less than $1000 for a bench top model. There are also many venues for used wood lathes. You can find an almost mint condition used wood lathe on places like ebay and craig’s list. It seems guys get really into wood lathe turning and use their tools forever or some never do much after their first few attempts. There isn’t much in between. So long story short, the later of these two guys can get you a great deal on a wood lathe and wood lathe accessories.
In the same bench top category there is what we would call mini wood lathes. This is a small wood lathe that is the exact proportions of the standard sizes. This is still a very versatile tool that can produce many wood lathe projects, but is also quite portable. These are great for things like candle sticks and similar sized items. Along with the mini wood lathe, there is even a smaller option, the pen lathe or also called micro lathes. These are tiny wood lathes, but big on fun. What are they great for? You guessed it, pens. This are cool little machines, every thing is so small even the wood lathe chuck is about the size of a dime. How satisfying would it be to have a hand made pen along with your personalized pencils in the shop? I know, I’m a wood fanatic. Wood pen lathes are precise, fun to work with and extremely portable. I turned a set of chopsticks early this year on my micro wood lathe.
Now from chopsticks to baseball bats and fruit bowls. The stationary wood lathe is capable of some big time wood lathe projects. The floor models have much more powerful motors which run around 3 times the power of the bench top varieties. This machines are very large and if you are lucky enough to have a spacious woodworking shop, you go to your nearest store with wood lathes for sale and pick one up for sure! Have some buddies go with you because these machines can way well over 350 pounds.
Turning a large wood bowl on a stationary lathe.
Wood Lathe Brands
While I will probably, most definitely miss some brands, the following are the best wood lathe brands. What exactly denotes the term best wood lathes, it can be many things for many people, price, value, functionality, bells and whistles. I would encourage you all to check many out before buying to familiarize yourself with the wood turning lathe in your future.
- Jet wood lathe – a hugely popular brand for a reason, they make a great product at a good value. I especially like the JET 708359 stationary model which features a 42″ length capacity. Jet wood lathes are a great choice you can’t go wrong.
- Powermatic wood lathe – also a top notch brand. The Powermatic 17912 model 4224 is like the Jet descibed above, but more power! 3 horsepower that can easily turn larger wood lathe projects. Powermatic lathes are something you can have confidence in.
- CNC wood lathe – Talk about high-end. These can come with CAD capabilities, bringing your creation from computer screen to reality.
- Grizzly wood lathe – With their signature mint green machines, you can mistake these quality wood lathe machines and wood lathe accessories.
- Rockwell wood lathe – Big burly timeless machines. My high school back in the day had two Rockwell wood lathes.
- Oliver wood lathe -I have seen some gorgeous vintage machines from this Manchester, England based company.
- Rand wood lathe – Solid brand known for a great wood lathe duplicator.
- Stubby wood lathe – This seems to be the IT brand for wood bowl turning.
- Fisch wood lathe – This brand really excels with their mini lathes.
- Klein wood lathe- This is what I want for christmas, a Klein micro lathe, I see more chopsticks in my future.
- Other fantastic brands: Delta, Wilton, South Bend, Chuck and Atlas.
Wood Lathe Projects
I have heard a question on what all projects are possible on a lathe. I would have to be very generalistic about this because I could have a list the size of a phone book in the possibilities. In general, I would simply refer to the types of wood lathes above to see what’s possible. It can be large table legs, to baseball bats, and handrails for the stationary lathes. Candle stick holders and handles for wood lathe tools on the mini lathes. To beautiful pens on the micro lathes. We should not forget the face plate projects using sturdy wood lathe chucks, like bowls and lids. These are just a few of the possibilities. If you see something symmetrical to an axis point you can learn how to make it. How fun is that? Notice I didn’t say round, I said symmetrical. It is possible to turn oval projects, think ball ping hammer handles.
Lathe Wood
So you have the machine, what kind of lathe wood options are there? Well, in a couple words all wood can be turned. It’s really a matter of what kind of quality, hardness, color and character you’re looking for. My personal favorite is utilizing walnut lumber for projects, I just love the natural color and the variety of grains you can get with it. If you’re just starting off, don’t get crazy with finding exotic pieces of wood. Take your time and get the techniques down by using easily accessible and cheap wood to turn like pine.
The tools for wood lathes or turning wood are extensive. You can get as carried away with the tools as you’d like. Here’s what you’ll definitely want to create most of your projects. Gouge from small as 1/4″ to as big as 1.5″. Skew in the same incremental sizes as your gouges. I would have at least 4 different sizes of both, as these are very important tools. Parting, round and square nose, left and right skews and spear point. All of these mentioned tools are essentially different types of chisels used for shaping the wood. From rough basic heavy lifting type cuts, to super precise small bead work. You will also need at least a couple different sizes of calipers. These are used to accurately measure your wood turning projects. You will use these in conjunction with things like templates and a wood lathe duplicator to get a precise final product. Other essential tools not really involved in shaping are a good ruler, a bench brush to sweep away shavings and oil to lubricate your lathe.
A gouge tool for a wood lathe project
Wood Lathe Safety
I would like to leave you all with the most important topic of this article, wood lathe safety. Like many machines and tools in woodworking, a great deal of care should be taken when operating a lathe. These machines can be very, very dangerous if not used correctly and with caution. The first thing you need to be aware of is what you’re wearing into the shop. Do not have any loose clothing on. I’m not saying you have to look like Lance Armstrong wearing skin tight bicycle gear, but be responsible. No open flannel shirts or hanging strings from a hooded sweatshirt. Long hair is okay, but keep in back and tied securely. Always, always, always wear safety glasses when turning wood. Just by the nature of it, shavings get thrown all over the place, which can be little missiles for the eyeballs, protect your vision. Before starting the machine, make sure the space is clear and tidy of junk. Make sure your project is safely and securely secured into the chuck and remove chuck key immediately. Hand turn your project to make sure it spins freely before powering on the machine. Start with a slow speed to ensure the block is balanced before increasing speed. Use care when using wood with imperfections such as knots. Always take care of your wood lathe tools ensuring they are sharp and clean, never attempt to force a cut with a dull tool. When working, never look away while the machine is on. Stay focused, but have fun, wood lathe turning is very rewarding.
We covered a lot of material today. We’ve discussed the basics, the history, parts, prices, brands, types and safety. I hope this article inspires you to learn more about wood turning and incorporating it into your wood working projects. All the best to you and your next wood lathe project!
