On May 7, 2012, at 11:22, Phil Schempf <philschempf@g...> wrote:

> Galoots-
> 
> What are the advantages of a spring pole versus a treadle lathe?  From this
> noobs perspective, it seems a spring pole may have more power while the
> continuous action of a treadle lathe would also have advantages.  

In addition to torque, the pole lathe can be easier to build.  I had plans to
build a treadle lathe for a couple of years, but never got motivated to
make/acquire the steel parts, and making the flywheel was more of a time sink
than I was willing to commit to. 

My pole lathe, on the other hand, took an afternoon to build, and maybe cost $50
at most. This is the no-joinery approach, using deck screws and bungee cord
instead of more traditional (and nicer looking) lathes.

> Which one is more versatile?  As far as likely uses, I think it would be
> mostly spindle turning (tool handles, plane knobs, spinning wheel bits,
> wooden screw shafts) rather than bowls or other large objects.

You can do all of this, including bowls, with a pole lathe (check out Robin
Wood's videos). Possibly not as well in some cases, but I'd note that listmom
Chris Swingley converted his treadle to a pole lathe (and has a nice writeup on
his site). 

So far, I've only made tool handles and dowels for threading. Something small
like a knob might be kind of fiddly with the pole lathe, so hopefully Darrell
LaRue or someone else with more experience will chime in.

Adam

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