Handturnings in miniature

Today came the long awaited letter from The Guild School. I got my first choices. Two classes on carving with Ann High. That will be fun!

Well the header says "Handturning in miniature" so on we go.

I was in need for some turned legs for my small cabinets and the size made me select my watchmakers lathe for the turnings. The wood I start out with is 4mm by 4mm and is fits in a standard collet on the lathe.

The standard handturning rest requires that you cam control the tool in three directions. Not easy.
 
So instead of using a standard handtoolrest I have this special toolholder.  In that toolholder the toolbit is mounted at the centerheight of the lathe. and then used by sliding on a flat surface mounted on the lathe.

Then I only have to concentate on moving the tool in two directions.

But still ......

And success. Two legs to be taken apart and mounted on a cabinet.

This principle of toolholder can easily be adapted to other small lathes for handturning small objects in wood or metal.

Have fun
Niels
PS: My lathe is a Lorch 8mm Lefthand lathe. Some of you may notice that the headstock of the lathe is located to the right and I haven't mirrored the images but most european watchmaker's lathes is used that way. In many Ebay listings of watchmakers lathes the images shows the headstock to the left (like on a machinists lathe) but most of them is mounted wrong, you can easily see if the image is wrong because the locking handle below the headstock is behind the lathe if it is mounted properly.