Turned Wood Table Legs

If you are a woodworker or a carpenter, then you might know what the term wood turning means. However if you don’t, by the time you get done reading this article hopefully you will have some insight on what it means.

Wood turning is in fact a part of wood working that is used to create furniture parts made of wood on a lathe. A lathe is a tool that shapes and forms as well. Wood turning is different obviously than other forms of woodworking in that the wood is actually turning as the tool cuts and shapes it. Exotic designs and styles are made simply by using this method.

There are two ways for a person to do wood turning, one is by the use of a spindle and the other is by the use of faceplate. If you use a spindle be sure the grain of the wood runs lengthwise to the bed of the lathe. Otherwise it makes the wood more likely to splitting.

Or that the wood piece itself could chip or break in different species or types of wood. There are many uses for wood turning, the making of pegs, furniture legs, and even some baking vessels are spindled turned.

When a faceplate is used, this is from an early form of an early method of attaching the material to the lathe.

There’s a distinction between spindle turning and faceplate turning due to the nature of the wood. Some times the wood being cut won’t support the way the lathe will cut a design into it without it absolutely breaking.

Wood turning is often produced by local woodshops or independent wood working companies in smaller towns, however there are bigger facilities that can create the designs on wood in the same manner using high technology and computer controlled machinery.

To put it plainly, in some situations it is putting the smaller businesses out of business, unless they are financially sound, and then these smaller companies get good business from many people who want that personal touch when it comes to their furniture. These smaller businesses can make quality custom wood furniture, fancy or plain, using hand tools and dowels whereas more of the bigger companies produce quantity and not the quality of the products or assembling of products. For this reason, most furniture is made very quickly today. This is due in part because the machinery is replacing the personal touch of actual wood turning by woodworkers in smaller businesses.

As time progresses woodturning will probably be obsolete as far as independent companies are concerned as more bigger companies that manufacture wood parts can do more furniture with the same designs using machinery that goes faster and in this sense meet the demand of the stores and retailers that want the furniture. However some woodworkers will continue to do wood turning and building wood furniture as a hobby and most of these products cannot be duplicated. They are literally furniture originals designed by the few wood working places that are still in existence.