Man Power

It seems to me that many years ago I saw some plans on how to make a lathe like this in a copy of an old ‘Fine Woodworking’ magazine. Maybe someone out there can dig the magazine up. Or there might be a web site out there that you could check on. By the way, sounds like your wife is really supportive of your woodworking. Maybe you could get her to operate the foot powered fllywheel while you operate the lathe or another tool in the shop. Then it would be a joint effort of ‘man power and woman power’. Just kidding.

-- Ron in Osseo, Minnesota

It’s usually called a treadle lathe, and you can find all kinds of information on them on Google.

Here is a free plan: http://www.manytracks.com/lathe/

Good luck.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Wow! That is a great link. Thanks, Gary!

-- He said wood...http://hickbyassociation.blogspot.com/

Good woodworking on the lathe is fun check out the stuff i made

-- A. Molloy

If you want to go all out look into the old water powered shops that used a paddle wheel on a small river and the shaft of the wheel had belts that ran all of the tools. There are some still around and it might be fun to look into something like that.

It would be fun to find one and rebuild it but wold be very expensive and time consuming.

-- Hope Never fails

No matter how you go treadle or a new jet you’re right turning is fun and you are only limited by your imagination. Good luck. mike

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

You want hand tools, check this out: The Woodwright’s Shop on PBS

http://www.pbs.org/wws/schedule/26season_video.html

-- When you give someone a chance it may well be their last.

I wanted to suggest The Woodwrights Shop as well. In his videos, he demonstrates all the old tools…all of them human powered. Google “Bow Lathe” for yet another version. There’s also a Treadle lathe that uses a bow.

He also did a tour of a water powered mill/woodshop not too far from here in NY. All those tools (saws, gangsaws, lathes, drill, mills, etc.) were powered by (quickly) slipping a large leather belt over an even larger, spinning pulley, then jumping clear so as not to become “one with the machine”, all the while remembering that there are 50 more spinning, lashing, grinding, tearing, man eating pulleys and belts everywhere! This is definately why OSHA was formed! There were exposed blades, bits, saws and pinch points everywhere! Truely an excellent show!

Even better, I found the show! Click on Russel’s link and go to show #2612.

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

It’s a great show and thanks to Tivo I get to watch him regularly. It is worth remembering the ingenuity and learning the skills of those pre-electric woodworkers.

-- When you give someone a chance it may well be their last.

Treadle direction is easily reversed (just depends on what direction you spin it when you first start kicking it), so you don’t have to worry about gearing for that. For the drill press problem, you can either use a belt or bevel gears to get your 90°, albeit with some loss of efficiency, or you could set up a way to hold your workpieces on edge and use your bit horizontally. In fact, it might be easier to clamp your workpiece to some sort of moveable dolly and keep the bit stationary, rather than moving the bit as you do in a traditional drill press.

As others have pointed out, there are lots of resources for how woodworking was done and furniture was made before electricity, and a lot of gorgeous furniture came out of those eras, but I’m an unrepentant power tool user…

-- Dan Lyke, Petaluma California, http://www.flutterby.net/User:DanLyke

Goggle treadle saw they also have a universal woodworker listed

-- Pretzel L8agn

I also would like to build a lathe like this also, to use outdoors during nice weather.

I’ve seen some treadle scroll saws … I’d love to have a cabin in the mountains full of manual powered tools.

-- http://www.north40custom.com -- http://north40studios.etsy.com --

Several years ago – in Dollywood – I had the pleasure of watching a craftsman turning spindles on a treadle lathe. He was far more proficient that I am on my fancy Nova lathe. It’s not what you use for equipment, it’s the knowledge that you have to use the tool. So that treadle lathe may be all you need – go for it.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

I hate to throw sand in your gears, but you could make yourself an electric powered lathe.

This one may not cost you any more than the treadle lathe.

But with his type of lathe, you wouldn’t get much exercise. ;o)

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1