The Pole Lathe
Post date: 09-May-2013 00:41:35
Wikipedia tells us that a pole lathe is a wood turning lathe that uses a long pole as a return spring for a treadle. Pressing the treadle with your foot pulls on the cord that is wrapped around the piece of wood or billet being turned.
The other end of the cord is reaches up to along springy pole. As the action is reciprocating, the work rotates in one direction then back the other way. Turning is only carried out on the down stroke of the treadle, the spring of the pole only being sufficient to return the treadle to the raised position, ready for the next down stroke.
I was able to watch a pole lathe in action on a recent visit to The Ironfest at Lithgow NSW, and found it most interesting to be able to see the entire process from raw log to finished product. Unfortunately I do not know the identity of the man operating the pole lathe so will call him The Man.
The Man started with a log about 600 mm long from which he split a billet with a froe. A froe is a tool with a long rectangular blade with an eye at one end into which is fitted a wooden handle about 500 mm long, holding the handle so it is vertical you place the blade in the required position on the log and give it a good smack with a mallet. When the log starts to split you use the handle to twist the blade sideways to split the billet off the side of the log. Still using the froe he broke the billet down till he was left with a piece about 75 mm square.
He clamped this piece of wood in a vice and used a draw knife to shave the corners off it until it was roughly octagonal. After cutting it to the required length he bored a small hole in the centre of either end using a gimlet.
The next step, The Man took the piece of wood and turned about five wraps of the pole lathe cord around it and then fitted it between the centres of the lathe and he was in business.
Pressing the treadle with his left foot caused the wood to spin towards him and he would use the chisel to remove some of it, at the end of the down stroke the tension in the pole would raise the treadle back up to the starting point. He made surprisingly fast progress and it wasn't long before the hammer handle he was making started to appear.
The Man was also making legs for small tables and three and four legged stools and mallets which he had for sale. He told me that he had only used a power lathe two or three times and preferred his pole lathe.
According to Wikipedia pole lathe chisels are sharpened differently from those used on a powered lathe and that only green wood is suitable. I don't know what wood he was using but it was definitely green.
Geoff Emms
