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12/17/2025 |
Every day I am at work I spent at least 15 minutes - more like 30 minutes -a day using the showroom treadle lathe. I would do more but I don't have time. And this was the point of designing the lathe in the first place: I need the exercise. Using the lathe, I break a sweat; I can feel my heartbeat go up; and I can feel the improvement in my stamina. I hate going to the gym, and at this point I don't pretend that this New Year will be different. But this is different. I focus on my goal of learning to turn properly and the time just slips by. Eventually my goal is to make certain items. I have a list but I am not skilled enough yet.
And this is what will bring me to the lathe in the future - interest in turning. The important physical benefit is frosting. Consequently I don't have to negotiate with myself, resort to post-workout bribery or make complicated podcast or music playlists to distract myself from (what I experience to be) the monotony of gym exercising.
But there is a learning curve.
Turning in general has a learning curve, but I am also learning the important aspects of turning on a treadle lathes. Pedaling is one example. I am now at the point where I routinely switch feet. I am learning how to position my body so that I am not in the way of moving the tool in a cut - yet still be able to pedal comfortably. I am is getting better, but I am not yet where I need to be, or where I hope to be within a few weeks.
I also had my first accident today. It was pure stupidity and carelessness, as accidents sometimes are. If I had been using an electric lathe, I might have lost a thumb. I was rounding out square stock and stopped pedaling so I could see where I was and I touched the wood to see if it was round. It was far from it and my thumb was dragged and stuck between the work and the tool rest. This was totally avoidable mistake and it served as a real wake-up call. Fortunately instead of causing an emergency trip to the hand surgeon, the accident just caused a mild pain at the base of my thumbnail. I don't even think I will lose the nail.
I counted myself lucky and finished roughing out.
Update on manufacture: We are basically done assembling all the bits and bobs that go into the lathe. The Treadle Lathe is the largest and most complicated hand tool project I can think of by any manufacturer in several generations. We are dealing with multiples of over 100 different parts. All of the parts with three exceptions are sitting here waiting to be assembled. The parts that are missing are a few of the headstocks - we had a CNC milling crash last week and we lost a few days waiting for the machine to be repairs. That's done. We don't feel comfortable finishing the tailstocks until we have assembled a production machine and double- checked the actual center distance from the ways. (It would be just foolish to make an assumption.) And finally the welded frames were supposed to be shipped to us last Wednesday but the trucking company confused bills of lading, reported our shipment picked up and on schedule when in fact it was just sitting at the fabricator. In theory, by the time you read this we will either have frames or we will be waiting for a truck to pull up, which will be followed by a mad dash to assemble the machines. If you have signed up as a pre-sale buyer, you will then get your call to arrange delivery, although that last bit may not happen until January because most of our shop people are on vacation Christmas Week.
We still have lots of work to do on manuals and videos.
All of this is a roundabout way of saying: I expect to spend more time turning and be a better turner in better physical shape starting now.
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Happy Holidays to all!