Small lathes driven by a hand held bow probably provided the earliest form of turning, particularly of small items, not just of wood but Ivory, bone, amber and precious metals. Very fine gold Celtic jewelry has been shown to have been worked on the bow lathe. Bow Lathes also figure in early engineering, especially in clock and watch making.

It is almost certain that the earliest lathes also encompassed reciprocation with the power provided either by the workman himself or with the aid of another individual. The earliest illustration of a lathe is from a well known Egyptian wall relief carved in stone in the tomb of Petosiris dated some 300 BC. As with many Middle Eastern and eastern lathes of this type it was operated at ground level, in this case by two men. Due to standard Egyptian artistic convention each element of the lathe is depicted in the most comprehendible manner for the observer. This results in a misleading depiction as it appears to show a vertical lathe when in fact what is intended is a horizontal strap lathe. One man provides the power by pulling backwards and forwards on a cord or leather strap wrapped around the work piece while the turner sits opposite with his chisel on the tool rest.

At a similar period, the Iron Age inhabitants of the Glastonbury Lake villages have been shown to be very competent woodturners. Excavations show these English West Country Celts to have produced some quite sizeable turned artifacts such as spokes and hubs for wheels. Mallets, bowls, tool handles as well as smaller items like stoppers for jars are amongst items recovered by amateur archaeologist Arthur Bullieid and Harold St George Gray over a century ago. No actual lathe evidence was discovered and so one can only make assumptions. Strap or bow lathes could have been used for the smaller artifacts but turning wheel hubs would require more power than would probably be available from a strap lathe. It is almost certain that pole lathes were used to produce the larger items.

The Romans were familiar with the wood turning lathe, they were particularly adept at making very fine lidded boxes and containers from boxwood, and there was also a demand for sophisticated furniture parts for couches and such. In Dorset they were turning Shale, a soft stone from the kimmeridge area into body adornments such as amulets.

Archaeological excavations at York uncovered over-whelming evidence that woodturning played a significant role in daily life during the Viking period of occupation. The Vikings were great artisans and natural woodworkers, and most every day domestic items were fashioned from wood. It seems everyone used wooden bowls in York; these were turned in small timber buildings behind the houses fronting the streets. Apart from complete bowls many ‘cores’, the waste centre pieces remaining after being turned on a pole lathe, were found. These cores and the discovery of part of an adjustable tool rest provided enough clues as to what the lathe looked like and how it functioned. It is interesting that even in modern time’s parallels can be found. George William Lailey in Berkshire was using a virtually identical bowl turning lathe until 1958. Even today Ion Constantin works in just the same fashion in his Romanian back yard.

The earliest illustrations of a pole lathe occur in the 13th century. A very stylized stained glass window in Chartres Cathedral clearly depicts what looks like a woman seated at the lathe complete with cord and foot treadle. A much more precise rendition is to be found in a French illuminated manuscript. Again the turner appears to be a woman and the lathe components themselves seem to be turned and decorated with bead ornament.

A German family called Mendel founded a home for aged craftsmen in 1388. In 1425 the family instigated a ‘house book’ in which a full-page portrait was incorporated of each deceased artisan including a Pole Lathe turner. The turners lathe bed of a solid ‘table top’ type made up of a single plank of wood is unusual although there was a tradition in Wales for this design last century! The artist has captured the broad chisels and skew very well but has omitted the tool rest.

The “Book of Trades” published in Nuremberg in 1568 includes a woodcut of what we might call a production tuner. His workshop faces the street and also serves as a shop front. He seems to be using mostly hook tools judging from those hung on the rack behind him and the position of the tool he is using. The range of the turner, if this pictorial view is representative is enormous. The German text says: “The turner makes little jewel boxes of Boxwood, cases, pulpits. Bedposts, hammer handles, bowling pins and mallets. He is shown making a bowling pin, also in his ‘shop’ are dishes, furniture legs, a flute and drinking flasks turned on double axis. All this illustrates the versatility and importance of the pole lathe in a thriving medieval city.

If space for a pole was limited, perhaps by a low ceiling a bow and ‘shreave’ was some times used as a substitute from the late17th cent. An archery type bow with several strings (‘Cat gut’) passing through a bobbin (the shreave) on to which the lathe line was attached. As the foot treadle was depressed the Shreave revolved, wound up the bow cord and in doing so applied enough tension to the bow to provide for the upward return of the treadle. This was a temperamental and sophisticated alternative to the spring pole with the only advantage of compactness. It had the additional disadvantage of restricting the movement of the cord to any desired area of the work. The simple pole was much more versatile.

In his book, ‘Hand or Simple Turning’ John Jacob Holtzapffel illustrates a Chinese pipe stem turner using another form of reciprocal motion. After the drive cord is wound round the driving mandrill the two ends terminate at separate foot pedals. The operator works seated and pumps the foot pedals alternatively, such a lathe is only suitable for light work. In the same book Holtzapffel describes an itinerant strap lathe turner who sets up his crude lathe wherever the job might be. If a customer needs to replace a broken furniture part for instance the turner commences by ramming two low posts into the ground at the required distance apart and to tie a horizontal tool rest to them. Round nails or spikes are driven through the posts to act as centres. A boy is engaged to pull on the ends of the coca-nut rope that is wrapped round the work in alternative directions. The turner then sits on the ground holding the turning tool in both hands and manipulates the cutting edge with his toes.

What may seem surprising to many people is the long continuous history of using reciprocating lathes; one might think that the early use of the wheel would have had a more significant impact. It is impossible to write a chronological history of the lathe expecting each new advance to supercede the last and completely replace it; life is not that simple. Jan Joris Van Der Vliet’s etching of 1635 shows a Dutch spindle turner at his Pole Lathe, a lathe identical to those used commercially in the Beech woods of England less than 50 years ago and still used by some craftsmen today. Indeed there is a renaissance; the association of Pole Lathe Turners (UK) enjoys a membership of over 350 enthusiasts.

Next >> Part 2: Continuous Rotation

The great advantage of a wheel driven lathe is that continuous and controlled rotary motion is possible. This was not an automatic benefit to every aspect of woodturning though, as is illustrated by the continuing use of the reciprocating bow, strap and pole lathes. These ancient, simple lathes could still compete and perform efficiently in certain specialist areas such as small spindle and bowl turning.

Joseph Moxon (1683) put the wheel’s advantage as:

“Besides the commanding heavy work about, the wheel rids work faster off than the pole can do; because the springing up of the pole makes an intermission in the running about of the work, but with the wheel the work runs always the same way; so that the tool never be off it, unless it be to examine the work as it is doing”.

It is a drawing by Leonardo Da Vinci C.1480 that affords us our first glimpse of what an early treadle wheel lathe looked like. The main eliminates required for self-propelled continuous rotation is clearly shown, the flywheel, crank and treadle. It was the crank in conjunction with the flywheel that provided a huge leap forward in technological advance. The crank, linked to a treadle provided constant rotation whilst the momentum of the large flywheel ensured the crank was carried over its ‘dead spot’. The drawing also shows an adjustable tailstock with a threaded cranked handle. Leonardo is often attributed to the invention of the wheel lathe but I think it is more likely he was sketching something quite well known in his time. Indeed I think it almost certain that the cranked wheel lathe was known in Roman times.

One disadvantage of Leonardo’s lathe is that it only provided direct drive, so the speed of the machine relies entirely on the speed of the turner’s foot on the treadle, but it is beautifully simple and compact with its integral wheel. The next advance was to mount the wheel independent of the headstock and linking the two via a belt or cord, this allowed the use of stepped pulleys to be used. With this arrangement a number of gear ratios were available and could be chosen simply by moving the drive belt from one stepped groove, either in the wheel, the headstock pulley or both to another.

John Jacob Holzzapffel writing in 1881 describes most beautifully the advantages of the wheel lathe as follows:

“Flywheels afford the lathe two important advantages. Their momentum, equalizes the results of the varying muscular effort expended in driving them; storing up all in excess for the work load to be overcome, and parting again with just so much, as is necessary to carry on an equal revolution under occasional increased strain, and during the recurring periods of diminished effort. Thus, permitting a maximum of power to be conveyed to the work, with a minimum of fatigue to the operator.”

The positioning of the wheel exercised the minds of many lathe users and builders over the following centuries. Joseph Moxon, in 1683 illustrates the wheel, contained in its own separate frame mounted on the floor beneath the lathe bed. In contrast Charles Plumier in 1701 depicts a French lathe with the drive wheel fixed in a frame to the wall above the lathe. The frame was raised or lowered by a wooden screw to enable adjustment to the drive belt .It is interesting to note the Plumier lathe incorporates a spring bow that could be used in conjunction with, or separately to the wheel.

Even though the foot treadle wheel lathe was a great advance, for many forms of turning it still had it’s limitations regarding the size of object to be turned. For heavy work the ‘great wheel’ was developed. These wheels were often six feet (2m) or more in diameter and were freestanding, usually being some distance from the lathe itself. The drive was a large cranked handle, sometimes one on each side. One or two men were employed in turning the ‘great wheel’ as required whilst the turner was left free to turn such items as large table legs, Lignum Vitae Wassail bowls or wheel hubs.

A Great wheel lathe was illustrated in a nice little woodcut published in the ‘Book of Trades’ published C.1568 in Germany by Jost Amman. It depicts a pewterers workshop open to the street as was often the custom in medieval times. The ‘wheel turner’ cranking the great wheel can clearly be seen as can the Pewterer forming vessels on the lathe.

Although we tend to think of early lathe turning as the production of essential domestic objects there were exceptions. The treadle wheel lathe provided some members of the aristocracy with a hobby that some found as absorbing as any modern day turner. This section of society was more consumed with ‘ornamental turning’ and vied with each other for the most lavishly equipped machines. Ornamental lathes were very special; they allowed both the cutting tool and the object to revolve independently and at the same time. There was great competition amongst royal family’s to create ever more intricate and fantastic objects from exotic materials. As early as the sixteenth century the Hapsburg emperors were keen hobby turners, in Russia Peter the Great (1672-1725) pursued it with a passion and in France Louis XVI (1774-1792) was a great exponent and patron.

The Jurra region of France has long been a centre of woodturning and they devised some very ingenious treadle wheel lathes. One example consists of an upright wooden frame housing a lightweight spoked wooden wheel of approximately three feet (1 metre) diameter above a small lathe bed. This C.19th century lathe was designed for the manufacture of small turnings in Boxwood and Ox bone. It can be seen at the Art Tournage and Culture museum near Lons Le Saunier.

Geared cogwheels are rarely found in early lathes but I have seen two exceptions, one in France, the other in Romania. Although not ‘wheel’ lathes as such, they embrace the use of metal gear wheels to enhance the continuos revolutions gained by one turn of a cranked hand opperrated handle. Both examples appear to be wheelwright’s lathes for the turning of hubs for wooden wheels and would require two people to operate them, the woodturner and the handle turner.

Previous >> Part 1: Reciprocal Motion

Next >> Part 3: Mechanical Power

‘Yon cottager, who weaves at her own door,
Pillow and bobbins all her little store;
Content though mean, and cheerful if not gay,
Shuffling her threads about the livelong day,
Just earns a scanty pittance, and at night
Lies down secure, her heart and pocket light.’

Lines written by the poet William Cowper (1733-1800) describing the plight of lace makers in his hometown of Olney, north Buckinghamshire. For the most part lacemaking was an occupation of the poor, mainly women and children, and although the financial rewards were low it often made the difference between independence or the workhouse.

‘Bobbin’ or ‘pillow’ lace was never more than a cottage industry but according to a petition of 1698 more than 10,000 people in England were employed in the trade.

The earliest records of ‘bone’ (pillow or bobbin) lace go back as far as the mid-16^th century. Charles the First is said to have used 994 yards for twelve collars and 24 pairs of cuffs, and the trimming of the king’s night-clothes required another 600 yards. There were two main areas of production in the UK: Honiton in Devon and the East midland counties of Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. By 1770 the industry went into decline and in 1880, from Olney, William Cowper wrote ‘I am an eye witness to their poverty’. Bedford lacemakers in 1768 were said to be earning between 8d-10d (31/2p – 5p) a day. After a brief revival in the early 19^th century, machine-made lace put to rest for ever the romantic image of the lacemaker sat at her sun soaked, rose covered cottage door with just the jingle of her bobbins for company.

‘Bone’, ‘bobbin’ and ‘pillow’ lace are all descriptions of the same thing, lace produced with the use of many threaded bobbins on a pillow which is supported either on the makers lap or upon a special stand called a ‘horse’. Most lace designs required the use of dozens of bobbins at any one time, all suspended by their threads and woven in and out as the pattern dictated. This need for bobbins will have kept many specialist bobbin turners busy through nearly 5 centuries. The term ‘bone’ lace derives from the fact that many of the early (and some later) bobbins were turned from bone, often Ox or Mutton. In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare wrote of ‘the free maids that weave their thread with bones’. In the mid 18^th century one could buy a dozen for a penny; in the 19^th century bobbins made of wood were about half the cost of bone.

It was the bone bobbins that often carried inscriptions, usually delineated by the use of small dots drilled and Coloured. Inscriptions were various, many relating to historic or local events such as a public hanging; ‘JOSEPH CASTLE HUNG 1860’. The friends of Castle’s wife held a party outside Bedford gaol on the night of his hanging and gave all the guests who attended an inscribed bobbin as a momento! Other inscriptions relate to religion, anniversaries and love, the latter probably being the most prolific; ‘KISS ME QUICK AND DON’T LOOK SHY’ ‘I AM YOUR LOVER MY DARLING’ ‘ I LOVE YOU MY BLUEBELL’ and ‘YOUR HEART OF OAK FOR EVER’. Bobbins with special inscriptions could be ordered at many shops while others were sold door to door by hawkers or were to be found at fairs and markets.

Charles Freeman, in his book Pillow Lace in the East Midlands states:

‘the production of bobbins formed a trade in its own right. Richard Kent, a ‘bobbin maker’ was buried at Olney in 1728. Joseph Haskins is described as a ‘bead and bobbin maker’ in 1830. Samuel Wright of Cranfield was a bobbin turner, pillow and lace horse maker, and lace bobbins were turned on a water driven lathe at Stoke Mills, Sharnbrook. Percy Keech, a Stevington carpenter, turned wooden bobbins (mainly Plum) on a 4 foot lathe’.

There does not appear to have been a ‘bobbin turners lathe’ as such but rather each turner used what was suitable and available to himself. On close examination of many bobbins it is evident that a great number were turned using some form of bow lathe. The evidence for this being small ‘centre’ indents remaining at each end where the wood (or bone) pivoted between the lathe Poppets (stocks). I have in my collection four large ‘Gimp’ or ‘Yak’ bobbins also said to be turned on a reciprocating lathe, but in this case produced with a pole lathe by a Chair Bodger from the Buckinghamshire village of Beacons Bottom. On other bobbins there is only one pivot point indicating that these were probably turned using a lathe with continuous rotation such as a treadle wheel lathe.

Apart from bone and the rare use of metal, wood was the most commonly used material. Timbers used tend to reflect those species indigenous to the areas of manufacture; it is unusual to find the use of exotic woods although these are extremely popular with contemporary lacemakers. Fruit woods, especially plum and cherry are common; Yew tree, beech, Box, Sycamore, Walnut, Ash, Birch, Spindle and Dogwood are among other hardwoods used.

Although the financial rewards were probably minimal I think many of the old bobbin makers must have enjoyed their work. One has only to admire the variety, inventiveness and imagination that went into these miniature works of art to appreciate that they were not only tools of a trade but designed to give both tactile and visual pleasure. Apart from ‘Honiton’ bobbins and some of the ‘Bucks Thumpers’ most were drilled at the base to enable glass beads and other ornaments to be attached by wire. These are known as ‘Spangles’ and provide additional weight to keep the thread in tension.

Some wooden bobbins were decorated with pewter inlays, often referred to as ‘Butterflies’. Pewter was also incorporated as captive rings and at other times inlaid dots and referred to as ‘Bedfordshire Leopards’. Some of the most attractive bobbins to my mind are those made from two contrasting woods, either joined length ways with contrasting wooden rivets or with a round mortise and tenon. The ‘Cow-in-calf ‘is normally of two differing timbers, these consist of a hollowed body in which a miniature bobbin is secreted and secured with a push-fit top or base. Aqua fortis (nitric acid) produced a mottled effect when dabbed on the surface of wood by staining the area a dark brown.

Perhaps the most intriguing of all bobbins are the varieties with apertures, within which are contained visible miniature bobbins, Wooden balls and beads etc. These are known affectionately as ‘Mother and Babe, Church Window or Bird-cage’. A few years ago I produced my own version of a ‘Mother and Babe’, it consisted of a glass tube with Boxwood top and base with a miniature bobbin (the babe) free to visibly slide up and down the main body.

Photos and illustrations of bobbins

For more photos and illustrations of bobbins and lace-making please visit the Lace bobbins gallery on this website.

There is nothing parochial about the International Turning Exchange (ITE); this is born out by the number of residents who have participated from many parts of the globe over the last ten years. For me an indicator of the programme’s great success was the number of past residents who chose to return to Philadelphia to repeat the experience. I see the ITE as a ‘melting pot of artistic creation’; dare I say, as unique for its time as was the 19th century English arts and crafts movement or the French impressionists! A prime mover in the world of wood-art.

This is some melting pot! I see the essential ingredients as; a group of artisans from a variety of cultures sharing a love of their material, which for the most part is wood. Collaboration, a sharing of individual knowledge, pushing artistic boundaries, listening to other points of view, or not, sometimes having to compromise, these are all features of the ITE programme. It has been a fantastic recipe for learning from ones peers. For me, experimentation is the key component. Experimentation with form, function, texture, colour, narrative and ’awareness of spatial dimension’ (yes, I just mean size) all play their part. The pieces’ emanating from the ITE decade, and their creators, is now celebrated in the sumptuously illustrated book entitled, ’Connections’. ‘Connections’ confirms the raison detre of the ITE.

Rather than the annual two month period, this special ITE reunion was for an intensive five days. The well equipped workshop of local furniture maker Jack Larimore was generously made available,

The wood pile was the main source of raw material for the ITE residents. This wood was supplied by a nice man called Gus. Gus works for the city council removing unwanted trees from the street environment, and being a hobby woodturner has a good understanding of our requirements. He also took great interest in what we, a rag-tag looking group of world wide ‘woodies’ were creating from it.

Fellow Frenchmen Alain Mailland and Christophe Nancey were amongst the first to pick over some choice logs, they were each to produce very differing pieces. Alain mounted a large log of, I think Cherry, on the lathe. Most people would have found it almost imposable to imagine the wonderfully delicate, organic work that slowly emerged, after much turning, carving and steam bending, from that freshly felled log.

I think one of the things that attract visitors to woodturning shows and seminars is the expectation of seeing a diverse display of work, both to admire and for inspiration. There will be the studied work of those who commit every aspect of their design to paper before picking up a tool. Then there will pieces created by the free-spirits whose work will evolve almost as if they were created by Mother Nature herself. Alain Mailland and Christophe Nancey are definitely in the free-spirit brigade.

The ‘hollow sphere’ form is at the centre of much of Christophe Nancey’s recent work. Watching a lathe artist working, especially one who never repeats their pieces, often begs the question; do they know from the outset what the completed item will be, or is a truly organic process that slowly evolves? Certainly, we all kept a watching brief on Christophe’s sphere. Turning the hollow sphere was only the beginning, a blow-torch was used to dry the wet wood from the inside, it was then textured, painted, and adorned with small rose-tinted cut glass fragments and mounted on a tapered turned spike.

The French were by far the largest group of participants from overseas. They have a very strong woodturning tradition, in recent years this has provided the world of woodturning with some exceptionally creative craftsmen. Jean-Francois Escoulen epitomises this phenomena. Pre ITE he worked quietly in his workshop as a production turner, now he is king of the off-centre turners and travels the world entertaining lesser mortals with his magic. Jean Francoise (pic below) created a wonderful ‘sunflower’ ladle in Black Walnut whilst enjoying the friendly banter that is part of the ITE experience.

Marc Ricourt and I were both members of the 2001 residency. In common with American turner Mark Gardner of the same year, Marc draws much of his influences from the native artefacts of the Pacific Rim. Marc was quick to turn an interesting form out of some unidentified log from the pile, and after what Marc does to the timber I think the identity of the species is irrelevant! Off the lathe Marc is a gentleman, but turning can bring out his brutal side, how many turners do you know who attack their material with a chainsaw, and create a master-piece?

Israeli lathe artist Eli Avisara collaborated with Mark Gardner to fashion some textured and coloured end grain roundels. These roundels were incorporated as applied decoration to Mark’s antique inspired boxes. Eli would be the first to admit the roundel idea was inspired by the spinning tops of Bonnie Cline, but a little lateral thinking resulted in a new application for end grain ‘chatter’ work. Collaboration between artists/craftsmen often yields innovative work. This was an interesting piece, and like many others, would not have been created without the coming together of diametrically opposed creative minds.

New Zealander Graham Priddle produced a goblet, and then enlisted the collaboration of Australian Terry Martin. Terry took a head-only digital picture of all who were working in Jack Larimore’s workshop. He then printed the results and attached the heads to ‘bodies’ culled from a variety of glossy magazines and pasted them on to the vessel to produce a collarge, this was a great fun piece and much liked by the other artists. The work was duly signed by all the participants and sold well at the auction.

Normandy artist Laurent Guillot supplied each of the ITE participants with one of his specialities, a turned lace wood ‘Tube’. We were all invited to create something interesting from these. No one can pretend that this was great art, but great fun yes, it is interesting how each lathe artist approached decorating Laurent’s tubes in his/her own way.

Betty Scarpino worked tirelessly on a gilded ‘crescent’ piece. Betty is living proof that what may be perceived by some as a ‘mans’ world, is in fact all encompassing. Betty, along with a number of prominent women woodturners is an inspiration to the ‘fairer sex’.

Nothing lasts for ever and before long the ITers once more departed Philadelphia, many to cross the oceans that separate us. But! They’re ready I’m sure, that if the call comes once more, they will be back together with newer recruits, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the International Turning Exchange.

Visit the International Turning Exchange website.

How long has man been turning wood? Almost certainly longer than we have evidence for! What did the first lathe look like? We are not sure, but we can come to a reasonable conclusion bearing in mind the materials and technology available. There are just a few early illustrations that give us some insight plus the continuing use of simple technology in parts of the under-developed world.

One thing is certain, all early lathes would have been of the reciprocal variety, that is to say, the material to be turned would have been supported between two centres and spun backwards and forwards in some way. Many people will be familiar with this concept via the ‘pole lathe’ as it is still used today by certain traditional chair makers, both amateur and professional, and can often be seen demonstrated at various craft events.

The earliest illustration of a lathe is from a well known Egyptian wall relief carved in stone in the tomb of Petosiris dated some 300 BC. As with many Middle Eastern and eastern lathes of this type it was operated at ground level, in this case by two men. One man provides the power by pulling backwards and forwards on a cord or leather strap wrapped around the work piece while the turner sits opposite with his chisel on the tool rest. Due to standard Egyptian artistic convention each element of the lathe is depicted in the most comprehensible manner for the observer. This results in a misleading depiction as it appears to show a vertical lathe when in fact what is intended is a horizontal strap lathe.

Of a similar period, the Iron Age inhabitants of the Glastonbury Lake villages have been shown to be very competent woodturners. Excavations show these English West Country Celts to have produced some quite sizeable turned artefacts such as spokes and hubs for wheels. Mallets, bowls, tool handles as well as smaller items like stoppers for jars. These are all items recovered by amateur archaeologist Arthur Bullieid and Harold St George Gray over a century ago. No actual lathe evidence was discovered and so one can only make assumptions. Bow lathes could have been used for the smaller artefacts but turning wheel hubs would require more power than would probably be available from a bow lathe. It is almost certain that either pole or strap lathes were used to produce the larger items.

It is a drawing, or rather a simple sketch (see the drawing to the right) by the Italian genius Leonardo Da Vinci C.1480 that affords us our first glimpse of what an early treadle wheel lathe looked like. The main elements required for foot propelled continuous rotation is clearly shown for the first time; the flywheel, crank and treadle. It was the crank, in conjunction with the flywheel that provided a huge technological advance (the principal is still used in our modern internal combustion engines). The crank, linked to a treadle provided constant rotation whilst the momentum of the large flywheel ensured the crank was carried over it’s ‘dead spot’. The sketch also shows an adjustable tailstock with a threaded cranked handle.

Many of Leonardo’s inventions have been put to the test in recent times, indeed a number of them, such as his hang glider have been the subject of absorbing television documentaries. Because it appeared that no one had previously attempted to recreate the great mans lathe, to see if it was a viable and practical machine, the Worshipful company of Turners decided that such a project would be a fitting part of their quarto-centenary celebrations.

I was commissioned to recreate the lathe in time for the June exhibition, ‘Wizardry in Wood’, held at the Pewterers Hall, London. Although the concept is very simple, with the original being a collaboration between turner and blacksmith, the end result is a surprisingly powerful machine. The kinetic energy produced via foot treadle and flywheel is amazing. This is only one small step in historical science but we have proved that yet again Leonardo got there first, and yes it does work!

Photos of Leonardo Da Vinci’s lathe, as reconstructed by Stuart King

Reconstruction starts using traditional tools >>

Boring a hole with an auger to take the crankshaft >>

Detail of the crankshaft >>

Sixty revolutions per minute >>

A small bowl turned with a hook tool >>

Tuition at the Wizardry in Wood exhibition 2004 © Worshipful Company of Turners >>

Stuart King proves that Leonardo got it right © Worshipful Company of Turners >>

A tribute to Leonardo Da Vinci by stuart King, a plaque turned from oak and lime and pyrographed >>

Some of the earliest evidence of turned work in English chairs date from the twelfth Century where a chair of state is depicted in an illuminated manuscript written by Eadwine, a monk from Canterbury.

Every turned component is covered by a mass of ‘bobbin and bead’ decoration. Bobbin ornament was very popular with early turners as it was easy to achieve and did not demand sophisticated tools. By the sixteenth century chairs became more numerous, particularly a triangular seated variety referred to as a ‘thrown’ chair. This was every inch a ‘turners‘ chair with virtually every component turned and ornamented on the lathe. The paintings of Pieter Bruegel show that these chairs were quite common in Dutch cottages and Inns of the mid-1500s. The term ‘thrown’ is descriptive of the wood being ‘spun’ in the lathe, pots are still ‘thrown’ on a potters wheel today.

The components of these early chairs were pole lathe turned and were the equivalent of the massed produced Windsor chairs of the 18th and 19th century’s in England. Although animal glue, sometimes combined with wedges were used in Windsor chair construction to keep the whole thing together turned chair parts of earlier century’s were normally just pegged.

By the 17th century well-proportioned baluster turned legs with elegant beads, coves and swells were being incorporated into the oak furniture of the time. Well before the century had ended the turner was playing a significant role producing high quality work, often in the newly fashionable Walnut. Legs and chair backs with barley-sugar twists are an example of this. Twists themselves were not turned but carved and rasped from a turned cylinder that had previously been carefully measured and marked. This was a time consuming practice and required great skill, especially when we consider that these 17th century twists were made in mirror image sets for esthetic balance.

Towards the end of the Victorian era a Semi automatic lathe was invented to produce twists and by the 1920s the demand for reproduction Oak furniture was high. Sir Lawrence Weaver observed in 1929’ when writing about the High Wycombe furniture trade that:

“There are other odd little corners of work where the hand still prevails. Because the Jacobean cult is still so much loved, Ingenious lathes work the twisted baluster that gives the ‘Tudobethan’ flavour. But the lathe has not learned to do the job quite cleanly. So there is a pleasant profession amongst women in High Wycombe, the profession of twist cleaning-so prosperous that a few weeks ago enquirey at the Labour Exchange revealed only one twist cleaner not cleaning twists”.

This cleaning work entailed rounding off the flat facets left by the lathe cutter attachment using rasps, scrapers and sandpaper.

Off-centre turning was employed in a variety of ways, one was to create a form of Cabriole leg for instance. True Cabriole legs are mostly the result of sawing on two faces and shaping with drawknife and spokeshave with may-be a ‘ball and claw ‘feature carved at the foot. The ‘pad foot’ variety is the only version to incorporate any turning at all, in this case the foot is turned off Centre before the leg is sawn to shape. The turned foot is then gracefully incorporated into the rest of the leg using hand tools. Today, many simple cabriole legs found on cheaper furniture are the result of being produced on automatic copy lathes.

There is a form of cabriole leg that is wholly lathe turned using off Centre techniques. These have often been derided by connoisseurs in the past as being a poor substitute for the real thing, but they do have their place in furniture history.

‘Best forefeet’ is not a term that occurs in general conversation much these days but from the mid Victorian period they were much desired as a refined feature on bedroom and parlor chairs.

The foot of this style of chair leg curves outwards in a long tapering elegant sweep and gives the appearance of being cleverly turned on the lathe. At first glance these ‘best forefeet’ appear to be the result of some clever off-Centre turning. The actual method employed was simple; enough extra wood was left where the toe would be for it to be shaped by hand after the remaining leg had been turned. The turned leg would be held in a vice and carefully shaped using spokeshaves and stock scrapers until the curved toe was blended into the turned portion.

Producing best forefeet was also part of the chair Bodgers repertoire. In the Sam Rockall collection there are two pairs showing quite clearly the two main stages of shaping. It is quite likely that most of these legs were delivered to the factorys where ‘Bench men’ shaped the ‘toe’ once the legs had seasoned.

The term ‘Backfoot’ is misleading as it refers to the back leg of a chair that continues in a curve to also form the chair back. The actual leg portion is usually left square but the section above the seat that forms the back is often turned. To turn the straight section of a curved component quickly and repetitively requires a simple solution. The answer was the ‘Turners Buckle’, a quick release devise, as simple in it’s conception as it was in operation. The main component was a profiled block of wood that operated as an extension to bring the turned portion back in line with the lathe centers. This was held in place with a hand forged rectangular steel link and wooden wedge. The ‘Turners Buckle‘ was used on both pole and power lathes.

Many years ago I attended a lecture on antique furniture and when a picture of a certain Windsor chair appeared on the screen, the lecturer said that maybe in the future the tool that produced this circular moulding would come to light. The decoration he was talking about is known as a ‘Bulls eye’ and is a solid device sometimes used instead of the more common pierced wheel as found on many wheelback Windsor chairs. The answer to the lecturer’s conundrum was that there never was a ‘special tool’ but that these ‘Bulls eyes’ were turned on the lathe.

A long winding country road slowly dissolves uphill into the main street of Sieffen where private homes and small shops share the roadside. Everywhere are large carved, turned and painted wooden signs, many of them animated, pronouncing proudly the local toy making tradition. At the village centre is the church, which itself features in some of the toys. All around are small factories and workshops, some built in the Alpine style of the region.

One has to ask the inevitable question, how did this toy making tradition start? To find the answer we have to travel back to the 14th century with the discovery of metal ores, especially silver and tin. The rich mountain towns such as Annaberg and Marienberg were founded upon the riches extracted from the Erzgebirge mines. By the middle of the 17th century mining was in decline although the last mine to close in Sieffen was in 1849.

Miners were familiar with wood, it grew all around them, it was used in the mineshafts, to build mining machinery and for their wooden houses. As a pass-time, they carved wood through the long winter nights into figures depicting their own mining community and those around them. Figures in traditional costume holding and working with the tools of their trade were very popular.

Coinciding with the major decline in mining was the introduction of pillow lace making. In 1571 one Barbara Uthmann was employing over 900 women making lace, there were approximately 10,000 by the end of the 16th century and by 1845 the figure peeked at 40,000. Pillow lace requires up to 100 wooden bobbins per worker, that’s a lot of bobbins and a lot of work for the lathe. The first documented woodturner in Seiffen was described as a maker of plates and spindles (bobbins?). A turner from Seiffen is known to have travelled to Leipzig fair as early as 1690 and from the mid 18th century ‘goods from Sieffen were well known on the European market.

By this time figures and toys comprising of a number of turned elements rather than purely carved items were well established and from 1810 the ‘discovery’ of ‘hoop’ (ring) turning enabled the toy makers to extend their range considerably. Turning profiled rings that could be sliced into many single animal shapes to produce farm yard and Noah’s Ark toys efficiently added greatly to the toy maker’s repertoire.

It is perhaps the ‘smoking man’, or ‘manikin’, that really brings out the essence of the characters of the area. These small figures represent the traditional occupations of the region over the last few hundreds of years, miners of course, but also peasants’, itinerant salesmen, village sweep and postman. The one thing all these manikins have in common is that they smoke a pipe. A traditional German carol starts with; a man with nothing in his mouth is a poor type. And never will a man among us be seen without a pipe… This is a reference to the ubiquitous habit of smoking among men at the time. These smoking men are made in two sections and when the top half is lifted, usually at the waist, a metal cup is revealed. A fragrant ‘candle’ is placed on the cup and lit. The two halves are reunited and soon perfumed smoke emanates from the figure’s mouth, there is no flame, the ‘candle’ just smoulders slowly.

Much of the Seiffen toy makers’ production is concentrated on the Christmas market. Indeed, the Village itself is one large festival during the three weeks leading up to Christmas. With new fallen snow reflecting the lanterns and candles of the evening processions to the church from where traditional music is played and carols are sung, the place is thronging with visitors who want to celebrate the festive season in a truly wonderland setting.

Many of you will be familiar with the so-called ‘Christmas Pyramids’ incorporating piers of seasonal figures such as angels, the nativity, and musicians, all set in motion by the rising warm air from decorative candles turning the horizontal fan at the top. These were made from the early 1800s to decorate the local’s own houses, not till 1902 were they first produced commercially. Over the years they have become more elaborate, made possible due to the many lathe turned components. Since the 1930s some communities have built giant versions several metres high in the town squares as part of their seasonal celebrations.

To ensure all this is secured for the future Sieffen hosts a school of toy making. It is furnished with first class machinery; a whole shop is devoted to woodturning and boasts a long bank of lathes that would be the envy of most in the teaching profession. The second shop comprises of every machine required in the manufacture of toys. The students normally attend for three years after which they are fully grounded in the trade and are eagerly sought after by the local manufacturers. The school, which on my visit appeared to have an equal number of boys and girls, is sponsored by the local Toy Makers Guild.

Sieffen boasts a wonderful museum covering the whole history of the region. The collection is displayed on two floors and is a must for anyone interested in the history of woodturning and toy making. There are reconstructed rooms representing a toy maker’s living quarters and a ‘hoop turners’ workshop plus a collection of antique lathes.

Never have I been in a town or village where it appears the whole community is involved in the production of so many diverse objects made of so many components, but with a common theme, and all based upon a long tradition. What impressed me is the attention to design and standard of finish of everything these craftspeople produce, be it a small tree decoration or the most expensive ‘Pyramid’. What is more, the people in the Erzgebirge Mountains are proud of their history and do all they can to promote and protect it. Long may they do so.

Much has been written of these Pole lathe turners and the contribution they made to the furniture-manufacturing town of High Wycombe, and, as is the way with history, distortion and myth tend to creep into the story. I have seen references to chair bodgers as being ‘itinerant’ but they never were. They were family men with a cottage to go home to every night. There was a garden to tend and animals to feed. Indeed, a number actually worked at home in a bottom of the garden shack or a cottage lean-to preferring to have their timber delivered rather than work in the woods.

For the chair bodgers of Speen, Lacy Green and Great Hampden villages the buying of timber was a great annual social event. The Hampden estate of the Duke of Buckingham owned most of the local Beechwoods and sold ‘stands’ or parcels of standing timber every autumn. A catalogue was issued to all prospective purchasers detailing the number of trees and species in each lot, its location and accessibility.

Armed with a catalogue the local Bodgers spent a day visiting each location and weighing up the pros and cons of each lot, were there enough trees to keep them busy for the next twelve months? was it easy to get a wagon on to the area? how far from home (walking distance) was it? They would check how sheltered or exposed the situation was but most of all they would study the trees. Were they straight from being sheltered or ‘rimey’ from exposure on the hilltops? Would the trees be ‘good or bad splitters’ or contain a devious grain that meant extra conversion time and more waste. What if your favourite lot proved too popular and you lost the bidding, it was all these considerations and uncertainties that made the auction such a big day in the chair bodger’s calendar.

The auction was held in a pub, the Hampden Arms, Great Hampden with the bidding starting at 1pm. The venue was open from 10am and the beer was free, paid for by the Hampden estate. This may be seen as an act of generosity by the woodland owners but was more of a ploy to loosen pockets and create over enthusiastic bidding later in the day. Successful buyers were given six months to pay. One bodger explained how useful this arrangement could be should that particular years work not go according to plan. If a bodger got into financial difficulties he could sell the remainder of his trees and with what he had made previously could at least hope to break even when the time came to pay.

An essential concession by the vendor was the 12 months allowed for clearing the woodland of purchased trees and the erecting of a shelter for the lathe. In wintertime the Bodgers started out for work on foot or bicycle, usually a journey of several miles and arrived at the woodland edge before daylight. These men knew the Beechwoods better than any one and yet on foggy mornings were glad to follow the trail of shavings they had left the night before. Candles were the main light source after dark; one perched on top of each poppet (head and tailstock). It was an eerie thing to see the glow of flickering light through the evening mist and hear the ‘razzle’ of a gouge against revolving green Beech!

Owen Dean lived only a stones throw from the Hampden Arms and was a regular bidder at the auction. He worked in partnership with his brother Alexander and they attracted a lot of attention in their latter years due to their being two of the last chair leg turners remaining. Even the BBC made a film of them in 1950. In earlier times the traditional Bodgers shelter or ‘Hovel’ was an ‘A’ framed arrangement, usually thatched with straw and twigs. Latter the thatch was sometimes replaced with corrugated iron. From the 1930s the Dean brothers used a panelled shed in the woods so they could lock up their equipment more securely, formally tools could be left in the safe knowledge that they would be there next morning, Owen’s lathe can be seen at the High Wycombe Chair Museum.

Another regular at the Hampden estate auctions was Reg Tilbury. He lived in the same row of cottages all his life and Beech trees planted by Reg as a boy, even today stop just short of Reg’s old front room window with only a lane intervening, he was a true man of the woods. Born in 1898 he decided at the age of 13 to work in the woods as a bodger‘ It was hard work for little pay, I worked from 7am to 6pm and brought home 1/6d (71/2p) a week. I knew others who started work at 6am’ he once told me.

Jack Rickson took Reg on as an apprentice.’ I used to do all the sawing on the (saw) horse, that was all I did for a long time. The chance to turn legs came when I was about 15.’Jack used to say I ought to pay him for teaching me!’ Reg joined the army in WW1 and each week sent his mother sixpence (21/2p) from his army pay packet. She saved all the moony and presented it to him. Reg used the money to start up in business on his own, it gave him the capital to by timber.

Reg used a pole lathe up to 1924 and then invested in an oil engine that he set up in a wooden outbuilding, this drove a wooden bedded power lathe. Two men were employed to convert green logs into chair legs in the cottage yard using traditional methods to split timber, shaping with the side axe and to shave billets on the shave horse. The new belt driven lathe was the only concession to modernity. The new engine also provided power to a circular saw that proved an enormous help in the other half of Reg’s business, firewood. When I first photographed the old workshop in 1982 it was a ruin but still housed the Petter oil engine and remnants of busy woodturning days. Reg had given up a Bodgers life to grow strawberries but still revelled in telling stories of the days when things were altogether different.the-chair-bodgers-

One of the earliest recorded woodturners was Nicholas Baylye who married in 1597 and there has been an unbroken succession of Baylyes (Baly, Bailey) employed in woodturning right through to the 1940s. In 1712 the writer Morton wrote, ‘there is scarce a town in England wherein this sort of handicraft is so much professed and is managed with so much dexterity’. Morton also noted that ‘wooden spoon making was a distinct trade’, but the handles of the spoons would have been turned. The 1762 militia list describes 26 of it’s able bodied men as woodturners. The major output of these Woodturners was domestic woodware, and up to the early 19th century probably only serving a fairly localized market.

Kings Cliffe still typifies the quintessential English village. A fine church dominates winding streets lined with a mix of fine mellow stone houses and humble cottages. The mill still stands by the trout stream, farms and meadows and an old pub (now a private house) called the ‘Turners Arms’ still survive. By the early 19th century the population of the village had nearly doubled from 876 (1801) to 1,407 by 1851 reflecting the growing prosperity of what was by now becoming a small market town. The census for that year reflected the importance timber played in the local economy. Recorded were; 3 timber merchants, 8 sawyers, 8 wheelwrights, 6 Carpenters, and 37 Turners. Of these, 5 bore the name of Bailey and all but 4 of the 37 were born in the village, an indication of the indigenous nature of the trade. When Mr. Levi Dixon entered the trade aged 12 in 1844 he did his apprenticeship on a pole lathe although by this time the wheel lathe would have been more commonly used.

The populace was keen to have the railway stop at the village, which it did in 1879. A local newspaper, in petitioning for the railway stated in 1860, ‘if we turn to the woodware we see that hampers of it have to be bumped about on the road and half spoilt before they get to Stamford and Oundle markets’.

Writing in 1909 a Mr. EE Sibley wrote of a hawker named William Daking who died in 1840 aged 85. ‘It was his custom to purchase the woodware made by the Kings Cliffe turners, load up his donkeys with it and journey into different parts of the British Isles selling these wares, returning to Cliffe for fresh supplies or ordering them to be sent to different parts of the country. Dakin drove such a thriving business that he amassed a considerable fortune—. In those days the wood turning industry in Kings Cliffe was very flourishing, not only were large firms employing numerous journeymen, but there was a lathe in almost every house in the village (a slight exaggeration).The turner made great stocks of turnings in the winter months and in the spring the hawkers would arrive and practically clear the workshops and their stores. Bailys and others used to take wagon loads of articles to Peterborough Bridge fair, but the hawkers who went on the road from town to town or village to village were the main support of the Kings Cliffe industry’.

The woodware trade reached it’s height around the mid 1800s and by 1900 only 6 woodturners were still at their lathes. Pole lathes and Wheel lathes were both used. Some gas and steam driven machines are also said to have been utilized in the late 19th century.

The businesses were organized in small family units, they eventually being left to the eldest son who would have served his 7-year apprenticeship under his farther. This was the case with the Bailey family. Eighth generation woodturner John Bailey (1800-1858), also landlord of the Red Lion pub left his woodturning and carving business, J Bailey and son, to his eldest son John (1829-99). Another son, Thomas, also worked for the family firm for a time. Eventually Thomas became landlord of the Turners arms pub, this had an adjoining workshop at the rear. In due course Thomas left the pub tenancy and his woodturning business to his son William Henry Bailey (1868-1941) who eventually became the last woodturner in Kings Cliffe.

The type of woodware produced over the centuries would have changed in response to the varying demand and fashions. Little is recorded of the earlier output but such domestic items as Salts, cups and goblets, platters, dairy utensils and bowls would have been the mainstay. Wooden bowls were sometimes referred to as ‘basins’ locally when used for washing purposes. A specialty of Kings Cliffe was tiered spice boxes, each section being referred to as a ‘lift’. Each ‘lift’ or compartment was screw threaded varying from three to six compartments. These Sycamore spice boxes were produced in three diameters and in 1906 J Bailey and Son were wholesaling them from 7 shillings (35p) to 24 shillings (£1-20p) per dozen. In response to a bet one turner turned 417 eggcups in 8 hours, turning 63 during a one-hour period! Wooden spoons were still being produced by the tens of thousands, indeed Kings Cliffe was known for a long time as, ‘the wooden spoon’ village.

The favorite materials for turning appears to be Sycamore and Lime, but most local timbers were utilized including Maple, Beech, whitethorn, Birch, Chestnut, and Alder. Oak was used in the making of more expensive items such as candlesticks and Boxwood for the very best butter prints. Much of the work was turned ‘in the round’ from 6’ – 8’ (2-2 ½ m) long coppice or branch wood 3”- 6” (75mm-150mm) diameter. To aid drying it was shaved (debarked) and stored for a time under cover.

Apart from ‘between centres’ spindle turning, ‘Cup chucks’ were the normal method of holding blanks. The seasoned timber was sawn to length, then trimmed to size using a ‘peg knife’ (stock knife) hinged to a solid wooden block standing on 4 legs. The inside of the cup chuck was rubbed with chalk to aid grip as the turning blank was tapped into it. Few turning tools survive but those that do illustrate how basic they were. There seems to be a preference for short handles, sharpening being done on a hand cranked stone wheel. Boring in the end of such items as candlesticks was done using a hand held boring bit fixed in a block of wood shaped to fit in the palm of the hand.

In the nineteenth century other materials such as cheap metal, china and glass goods were increasingly challenging Items made from wood. Responding to these changes the turners of Kings Cliffe began to specialize in items like carved butter prints and breadboards. In 1887 J Baileys received an order from Queen Victoria for a butter print with the royal coat of arms carved in boxwood. Taps and spigots for the brewery industry were made in by the thousand. There were 16 distinct operations involved with their manufacture with a skilled turner making between 2 and 3 dozen a day depending on size. Napkin rings, ladies powder bowls, egg cups, sugar sifters and candle sticks and similar items were made for the growing number of fancy goods shops. One turner, J. Ventross Green specialized in the making of toys.

During the second half of the 19th century there seems to be a shift away from dealing with the itinerant hawkers to working for more organized dealers, village men who worked in and knew the trade well. Firms like J Bailey and sons who collected orders from both wholesalers and retailers around the country and in turn organized the work to be produced by the local craftsmen. One member of the firm, Mr. A. Bailey would collect the orders from the turners. After inspecting and rejecting those that were not to standard he would carry out any carving that was required, particularly on breadboards and butter prints. Much of this work was then dispatched by train to the wholesale firm of McFarlane, Glasgow.

Of the 6 remaining wood turners still operating by 1906 one of the best known was William. H. Bailey, at the ‘Turners Arms, still serving beer by night and turning during the daylight hours in the adjoining earth floored stone workshop that was originally built in 1698. Apart from the usual woodware items William produced painted wooden eggs, thousands of them. These were imitation Pheasant, Partridge and Quail eggs used in the hatcheries to encourage the game birds to lay during the breeding season. ‘Pathe News’ featured William turning these eggs C.1936 as part of a feature on Kings Cliffe.

Another everyday item William turned for the local population was clothes pegs in Ash and Sycamore, some of these were discovered quite recently at the ‘Turners Arms’. In 1937 William devised what he called the ‘coronation whistle’. This became very popular in the locality by those with a sense of humor. It consisted of an eggcup like base with a threaded lid incorporating an extension that formed the mouthpiece to the whistle. Some small holes were bored in the front top of the lid, Fingers were held over these to blow the instrument. When handed to an unsuspecting ‘victim’ they would invariable hold it by the base and upon blowing the ‘whistle’ flour or soot was blown through the holes to cover their face. Simple fun at the ‘Turners Arms!

There are still descendants of the old woodturning families living in the village, Baileys, Buckland, Sharp and Dixon, but there is very little in the way of artifacts to be found amongst them or in the locality considering the long tradition of woodturning in the village.

I recently visited the old ‘Turners Arms’ (a private residence) and was invited by the present owners to view William Bailey’s old wood turning shop which is now a studio. Outside, the Oak beam still protrudes from the stone wall from which the pub sign used to hang. Painted on one side was the coat of arms of ‘’The Worshipful Company of Turners’. Next year is the 400th anniversary of the Worshipful Company and it is planed to have a new ‘turners arms’ sign hanging from the old building next year in commemoration. This will be the only physical evidence to visitors to Kings Cliffe of 4 centuries of wood turning.