PAGE
CHAPTER I.
The Foot Lathe[13]
CHAPTER II.
Tools[22]
CHAPTER III.
Scrapers, etc[30]
Chasing and Screw Cutting[33]
CHAPTER IV.
Chasers, etc[35]
CHAPTER V.
Chucking[42]
CHAPTER VI.
Metal Spinning[51]
CHAPTER VII.
Ornamental Cutting[59]
To Make a Pair of Solitaire Sleeve Buttons[59]
CHAPTER VIII.
Centres[65]
CHAPTER IX.
Fancy Turning[71]
CHAPTER X.
Ornamental Woods[77]
Varieties[77]
Snake Wood[78]
Tulip Wood[79]
Granadilla[80]
Tamarind[80]
Cam Wood[81]
Box Wood[81]
Laurel Root[82]
White Holly[82]
Ebony[82]
Olive Wood[83]
Sandal Wood[83]
Rose Wood[84]
Curled Maple[84]
Birds’ Eye Maple[84]
Treatment[85]
CHAPTER XI.
Wood Turning[87]
CHAPTER XII.
Tools for Wood Turning[90]
CHAPTER XIII.
Tool Tempering, etc.[92]
CHAPTER XIV.
Artistic Wood Turning[96]
CHAPTER XV.
Stamp Inlaying[102]
CHAPTER XVI.
Designs in Mosaic[106]
CHAPTER XVII.
Finishing the Outside[110]
CHAPTER XVIII.
Inlaying Continued[114]
Gluing in Veneers[115]
Ivory[116]
Polishing[118]
Dyeing Ivory[118]
CHAPTER XIX.
Ornamental Designs for Inlaying[121]
CHAPTER XX.
General Summary[125]
Lacquers[126]
Soldering[127]
Varnishing and Polishing[129]
Brushes[131]
Pearl[131]
Miscellaneous Tools[131]
Curving Veneers[132]
Cutting Miscellaneous Materials[133]
Index[135]

MANUAL

OF THE HAND LATHE.

CHAPTER I.

THE FOOT LATHE.

There are two distinct kinds of work done in foot lathes—the useful and the merely ornamental. Both afford enjoyment and profit to those who practise them. The mechanic who earns his living by working ten hours a day in a workshop, does not care to go home and pursue the same calling in the evening; but he can institute an agreeable change in his life, beautify his dwelling, and cultivate his taste, by the use of the lathe, and thus obtain ornaments that would cost large sums if purchased at the stores; or he may, indeed, make the lathe a source of revenue, and sell the product of his skill and ingenuity at high prices to those who admire, but have not the ability to construct.

To many mechanics, even, the lathe is merely a machine for turning cylinders or disks, or executing beads, ogees, scrolls, or curves of various radii, so that, after all, the work is pretty much alike, and ceases to be attractive. This is quite a mistaken view. There are no such goods in market as those made on lathes, and peculiar tools used in connection with them—by lathes with traversing mandrels, with geometric chucks, with dome chucks, and compound slide rests. There are lathes that, while one could chase up a five-eight bolt in them as well as on the simple pulley and treadle machine, are also capable of executing all sorts of beautiful things—vases with bases nearly square, or exactly square, with round tops and hexagonal bodies, with gracefully-curved angular sides and bases, fluted vertically; boxes with curious patterns, resembling basket work; in fact, any combination of straight and curved lines, cut in the sides, it is possible for an ingenious man to invent. Strictly speaking, these are not lathes, for in order to do the things before mentioned it is necessary to use after attachments in connection with them, so that the combination of them produces the results spoken of. There is, absolutely, an unlimited field for the genius of workmen to exert itself in designing patterns and executing work of an ornamental character.