Bob Easton

Chocolate powered woodworking

Treadle Lathe – Compilation

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One of this blog’s followers, Josh Delmonico, compiled a Word document that includes many of the posts for the Treadle Lathe category. The result is a single document that describes building this lathe.

I browsed through it quickly, and found that it covers all of the construction related posts. There are a few posts not included, such as ones published after construction that are related to some of the things made on the lathe. Omitting those is logical for someone wanting to build a lathe. The focus is on the build.

The included web links work too! Josh captured the photos at sizes that fit comfortably. You can see larger versions of most of the photos by clicking through to the actual blog pages and then clicking on the images.

For someone wanting to build a similar lathe, this is a GREAT compilation that gets all the construction related material in one place. Highly recommended.

THANKS JOSH!

Download >>>—> Treadle Lathe DOCX (about 8MB)

Update (1/31/2014): Josh updated the document to include the recent post about the machined crank. All build details are now fully up to date.

PS: For those (like me) who don’t have Word or abstain from the MS suite, you can find a variety of DOCX readers with your friend, Google.

 

Catch Up – December 2013 Completions

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The months leading to Christmas have extra security around the shop. Guards are posted to prevent word getting out about possible gifts being created within. Blogging is ignored. All of the gifts made it out in plenty of time, but the blog didn’t write itself, and the wimpy guards wouldn’t write anything, heading for warmer regions the moment this winter’s cold arrived.

I did take a few photos, but am not excited with them. Dark Walnut needs a lot of light to photograph well. I don’t know whether these photos suffer from my capability, getting used to a new camera, or the dearth of real light bulbs.

One might surmise from what I show here that there are four grandchildren, each having 3 parts to their names, one family liking lighter color wood and another liking darker wood. Correct. Each of the grandchildren now have a pencil box, either of Cherry or Walnut, and each supplied with “The World’s Best Pencils” and a sharpener. Each of those boxes uses standard pencil box construction, simple dovetails, sliding lid, solid base.

photo of a pencil box made of cherry with the initials E J E carved in the lid photo of a pencil box made of cherry with the initials M A P carved in the lid photo of a pencil box made of cherry with the initials H E P carved in the lid photo of a pencil box made of cherry with the initials G N P carved in the lid

photo of a walnut walking staffA young woman in our family puts up with a very strange nervous system malady and sometimes appreciates assistance when walking. I thought she needed something better than the mass-produced piece of aluminum tubing she has been using. The walking staff is dual purpose, long for use as a staff, and with a handle for use as a cane. The twisty part is a double helix, similar to one of the symbols of her profession.

photo of a walnut box with an oval rose carved in the lidThe oval rose is one of my favorite classical carvings. I’ve made several of these carvings. The box with the oval rose is about 9″ by 6″ by 2 3/4″ high. The lid is a flip up lid which will stand open at just a bit beyond 90 degrees. No pencils in that box. It traveled with a load of cookies.

Finish on all of the boxes is shellac and wax. All of the Walnut items have additional dark stain, Min-Wax Jacobean. The walking staff has  a polyurethane finish, better for exterior use.

oval-rose-patternUPDATE: In response to Shannon’s comment, I’ve attached the pattern for the oval rose, both as an image and as a PDF.  The pattern is free. The carving sequence is an exercise for the carver.  🙂

… and for hints on how to transfer complicated patterns, see the “Ponce on That” section of a recent post.

Treadle Lathe – Parts Update

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Update (Oct, 2022): Stephen Shepherd’s website has disappeared from the interwebs. A couple of years ago, I heard he was having health problems. I certainly wish him well and will leave his link here in case he gets back on the air.

Any of you who followed my treadle lathe project know that most of it was based on Stephen Shepherd’s drawings of an 1805 Turning Bench. You might also remember that I stalled for a long time while searching for a blacksmith … who apparently fled NY’s wonderful tax system and literally headed for the hills.

I recently heard from another lathe builder who was also looking for certain parts, all the metal bits. Good News…

Just in! Stephen Shepherd has just pulled together a hardware package for people building the lathe. The hardware lets one keep the authentic nature of the machine with fittings that match the original plans (with a very minor size difference here or there). From Stephen’s description, the fittings look great and I see the price as very reasonable.

Highly recommended! see: http://www.fullchisel.com/blog/?p=4425