A Bronze Age burial chamber was discovered on Dartmoor, with the remains of a woman, and four lathe-turned ear studs. So began an archaeological experiment.
Woodturning
Mary Rose — making a sailor’s boxwood hair comb
I recently visited the new Mary Rose museum at Portsmouth. What a fantastic job they have done. I was so taken by the sailor’s boxwood hair combs that it was straight to the workshop to make a couple of examples.
Wassail—an ancient English tradition
Wassailing is 1000 year old English tradition. Stuart King outlines the simple chronology and and some details of the wassail bowl.
Romanian bow lathe
In 1998 I was privileged to visit the Constantin family in Romania to film the making of drop spindles from lime wood (linden) on a primitive bow lathe.
Making a spinning top on a pole lathe
Robin Fawcett demonstrates how to make a spinning top on a pole lathe. An ash log is riven into quarters, using a maul and froe. It’s cut to length with a pull saw and shaped with a side axe, before being put in the pole lathe…
Gary Rance Round Skew
Master production woodturner Gary Rance demonstrates the use of his round skew. This is available to buy from www.garyrance.co.uk.
Yasuhiro Satake, Japanese woodturner
Yasuhiro entertained delegates at the 2009 AWGB seminar with his unusal (to us in the west) turning techniques and tools. It is always good to experience the craft skills of other cultures from which we can often learn a great deal.
Moroccan bow lathe turner
This young woodturner can be found plying his trade in the medina of old Marrakech. With just one tool (a skew chisel) he turns a chess piece on a bow lathe that would have been a familiar sight in ancient Greece or the Pharaohs’ Egypt.
Romanian pole lathe flask turner
Ion Constantin is the last of the Romanian pole lathe turners, turning traditional wood drinking flasks using techniques unchanged for at least 2000 years.
