Adversity and invention

In these extraordinary times, everyone has to adapt.  Working and schooling from home, competing for internet bandwidth with my wife, trying to carve out quiet space for everyone--it poses challenges.  For me it has become increasingly obvious that my basement workshop is poorly suited for our current lifestyle.  Noise travels too easily in our house and I am constantly disturbing others.  I have dreams of a standalone shop and even built a platform in the trees where I might someday have a treehouse workshop, though the family loves the platform as it is, and I can't take it back now.  But maybe I could set up an outdoor lathe on the platform?!?

Lugging my old lathe up there was out of the question.  It is monstrously overbuilt and nearly immobile.  So over the past few days, I banged together a Viking-style lathe to use outdoors and travel with if necessary.

As the name implies, this form of lathe has been in use for thousands of years and is a pretty simple affair: a single thick board for the bed, a notch cut down the center to hold the poppits, legs insert into holes in the bed.  Years ago I saw photos if Robin Wood making such lathes.  He attached the legs, stood on the bed, and cut the notch with a chainsaw.  It was quite a sight!  Ben Orford used such a lathe in his videos on turning bowls.  (I bought my first hooks from Ben and they are still among my favorites.) Since then I have had a chance to use a few of these lathes, mostly at Greenwood Fest courses with Jarrod Dahl and Robin Wood.  They are pretty simple to build, and if you are interested and want some guidance, Owen Thomas has just released a series of videos on how to build one of your own, and Sharif Adams also has plans and some great videos on turning.  I built mine in just a few days.

The new lathe has its quirks, and I am still fine-tuning the setup, but it works just fine. 

Turning outside can be idyllic or horrific, depending on the weather.

But there are some mornings when going to turn is in itself an experience. 

Our current adversity also comes with new opportunities--more time with family, more time for hobbies, more creativity. I hope you are safe and healthy.