View Full Version : Lathe work
johnny601
07-18-2007, 09:44 PM
Can anyone help as to how to turn barley twist on my lathe? They are used as candle sticks in England.
Thanks
charlese
07-18-2007, 10:25 PM
If "barley twist" kind of looks like strands of rope in a twist - the stuff I've seen in magazines is done by hand. That is, hand turning the lathe while putting on pencil marks, then hand turning more while carving the spiral grooves.
johnny601
07-19-2007, 09:22 AM
Thanks Chuck, sounds like the way to do it. I was familier on how they do it on a machine lathe but not wood. Thanks again. J601
Your post got my attention so did a little research on the barley twist and found a couple of web sites on both how to do them by hand turning on the lathe and also using a rather expensive tool combo utilizing a lathe like device and router like device. Also the Woodright has had an episode that showed him making the legs for a table however you would need to purchase the video for this as there were no dates showing a future showing of the episode. I enjoy turning but I think this particular method is more involved than I would want to spend time on or money for a machine to do this.
http://legacywoodworking.com/technique.cfm?techniqueID=2
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~rhaslip/Rex/workshop/projects/woodyswa.htm
http://www.ket.org/cgi-bin/tvschedules/episode.pl?nola=WOWS++002602&cd=1&&layout=popup#details
Sears/Craftsman once made a router attachment that would rout barleycorn turnings called a "Router Crafter." Maybe search Ebay?
With all good wishes,
reible
07-19-2007, 09:44 PM
If you happen to have access to the October 1972 issue of Popular Mechanics they have a nice method shown starting on page 178. "An old twist to woodturning".
Ed
gsdsj
07-19-2007, 11:28 PM
There is a book called Router Magic that has a section on Router Lathes you may want to check out.
charlese
07-20-2007, 12:45 AM
Ron, Nick and ED all jogged my memory about a home made jig used to make these things, like twisted bed posts, or candle sticks. Now that I am curious, I will take the time to look up the magazine and article. I'll tell you where it is, after I find it. The set up - as I remember - was a jig to hold a router and a hand turned pair of centers that hold the work piece.