# What can ya make with a Lathe



## Itchy Brother (Aug 22, 2008)

I was thinking about a wood lathe and have seen people make Bowls,Table legs and pens.What else can ya make with them?I have done a little copper metal spinning with one in highschool,that was 45 years ago LoL!


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## Colt W. Knight (Nov 29, 2009)

Back when I had one, I only ever made candle sticks that didn't match. They were pretty though.


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## WoodRic (Jun 17, 2009)

Round stuff?


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## Itchy Brother (Aug 22, 2008)

Seriously!


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## mickit (Oct 5, 2009)

A big mess and some really good tinder. 
Mick


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Depending on your tools and your patience, quite a bit. Things like spindles, all sizes, for room dividers to gallery rail. Small spindles for shaker knobs. Cabinet knobs, dowels, bun feet, balusters, newels, toy wheels.

This project was actually my first turning experience. I had the contract to build and install all the office cabinetry, and got a deal on a lathe, so I could do these spindles. They weren't absolutely perfect, but good enough to collect a check. There were a few that I had to trash.
.


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## Just Bill (Dec 29, 2008)

furniture legs, trim, spindles, etc., as suggested above round things, salt/pepper shakers, bowls, etc., but you can't make square stuff.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

wood mallets, replacement spindles for broken chairs, tables, etc, .........


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## dodgeboy77 (Mar 18, 2009)

Wood chips that fly at your face at a high velocity! :laughing:


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

So, you are obviously trying to talk yourself into a lathe?????????

Advantages:

1). Virtually no scraps in your shop as seen in the atached photos. Even a 2" square scrap can be the base of a small bowl as in the Oak bowl with a 2" Padouk base or a 1/8" strip can be a pinstripe in a larger plate. 

2). Bowl making is probably the most mentally relaxing thing one can do. You are concentrating on concentric spinnning circles inside the bowl. If that isn't mesmerizing, nothing is. When I had a large shop in Little Rock, I turned a bowl every day before I went home. That 15 minutes would really relax me. 

3)...................


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## mike65072 (Apr 13, 2008)

This a good thread. I've been trying to talk my self into a lathe for a long time...really good ideas here. Thanks Ichy, now I've got the excuse I needed.


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## JohnK007 (Nov 14, 2009)

Over the Winter I made a couple of baseball bats for a friend of mine who plays in a league out in Kalifornia. They came out OK and weren't too difficult. He liked them and he thought I could make them for a profit to some of his buddies.


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## Just-a-Guy (Apr 13, 2010)

I made a baseball bat for a friend once. It broke in half when he used it. Hm. Must be something to making bats other than turning a piece to the proper shape and size. 

I agree about bowl making. I absolutely love turning bowls. Unfortunately, it is also about the messiest woodworking I have done. A DC challenge for sure.


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## Colt W. Knight (Nov 29, 2009)

awwww... a fluffy bunny.


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

Scraps of figured woods make great bottle stoppers. People just love to give their wine-drinking friends and family bottle stoppers, so they're good sellers. 

I've made several thousand dollars in the last 1-1/2 years making turkey calls and duck calls...All on my lathe. 

There's of course bonkers. Can't have enough bonkers (mallets) in the shop for chisel work.


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## JohnK007 (Nov 14, 2009)

That's Eddie! Some people have junkyard dogs, some people have house cats. I have Eddie, the garage bunny. You can see him in the first photo too sitting on the chair supervising my work. His mom, Jada, is running around back there someplace too.


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## Old Skhool (Oct 31, 2009)

*Off center turning*

You can also do some off center/offset turnings to make elliptical shaped turnings of various sorts including a method of turning a cabriole leg.


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## b00kemdano (Feb 10, 2009)

Nobody said tops! Throw tops and finger tops have been my biggest seller so far. Parents tend to like old fashioned toys that don't require batteries.

Lidded jars, Christmas trees, snowmen, ornaments, spheres, eggs, finials, replacement parts for old furniture, clocks and such, small novelty baseball bats (not intended for playing baseball!).

I found a craft site some time ago where a woman was turning small spindles with different knobby parts on them, then she'd cut the knobs apart, drill a hole through them, making wooden beads for her jewelry.

It's really only limited by your imagination.


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## Ledhead (Aug 3, 2009)

I once turned a set of chess men. I have also turned some hourglasses. Wine bottle stoppers are a really fast job and people love them. I use cocobolo for the stoppers.


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## toycrafter (May 31, 2010)

I don't have a lathe yet but I can't wait to get one so I can make all kinds of round toy parts like wheels, boiler for choo choo trains, spindles and tons of decorative little pieces to add detail.

Btw those padauk platters with oak stripe are nice


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Itchy,
Here's a few things you can turn.....
Mike Hawkins


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