The practice of wood-turning is an art relative to which there is little published, and there is, in consequence, little chance for arriving at conclusions as to the best method for performing any given operation; so there is a wide diversity in the methods by which different operators arrive at the same results. Some use one tool almost exclusively, while others use a large variety of tools.

The following exercises are designed to give the operator command of the more commonly used tools, using each for the operations for which it is especially fitted.

The first four exercises are of special importance, and the operator is urged to continue the practice of them until he can perform them easily and safely; the operations involved in the third exercise, when mastered, will be found to give special confidence.

As the exercises have been arranged to give in the most direct manner, and without repetition, the typical operations of the wood-turner, some learners may desire to add further practice in some or all of them, and, for the benefit of such, further exercises, involving similar operations, have been added in the form of an appendix. These have drawings, and, where necessary, additional instructions. The operator is urged, however, to perform, the regular exercise before attempting the added one.

In wood-turning the first essential is that the material being operated on be revolved on an axis with a fair degree of rapidity, and if this requirement be met, work involving great skill on the part of the operator may be accomplished by the use of rude and imperfect tools. Some beautiful specimens of turned work have been made on the somewhat primitive tool shown in Fig. 1. This rude lathe, on which the work is revolved between two pointed metal pins held in two blocks of wood, contains the essential features of all lathes. The sharpened pins give points of support between which the material being operated on revolves, and a bar of wood or iron, resting on the carriage, supports the cutting tool.

The Indian workman has a lathe even more rude than this, for his consists of two stakes driven into the ground, through which sharpened nails are driven to support the work, and revolution is given to the work by means of a cord in the hands of an assistant.

The principal features essential to all lathes are an axis of revolution for the material being operated on and some means for supporting and guiding the cutting tool, and the lathe shown in Fig. 2, the one in common use, differs from the ruder lathes just described in having these features in greater refinement.

In this lathe a metal spindle revolving in metal bearings determines the axis, and as this turns in one direction, the revolving wood has a movement that is steady, smooth, and continuous. The cutting tool is supported on an adjustable rest, and the speed of revolution may be varied within comparatively wide limits.

Fig. 1.

The degree of manual skill required to produce any required form is much less in this lathe than in the ruder forms first described.

Before starting to learn the operations of the woodturner, it is desirable that one should learn the names and uses of the tools he will have. Following are those in common use: