Lathe Work Station

 For years I have been rolling my lathe around the shop on top a cabinet where I stored lathe related tools.  I have done that because my shop is small,  so nearly everything is on wheels.  There is not enough space for the lathe to have a dedicated area of its own.  Since I now have to produce eight chair legs it seemed time to focus on improving my lathe work area. (something that has been on my mind for a long time)

  

  Regardless of how good a wood worker I maybe I can't create wall space where there is none.  So  did the next best thing.  I created a wall on the cabinet.  The lathe will still be rolled out of the way when not needed but  now it has its own work space.

  As you can see the plywood was used for something else, in this case not by me. However I was going cut a whole in the back board for dust collection hose to fit through anyway.  Now the back board has all the tools that are regularly needed while working on a project.

My chisels are racked in the upper right.  They are high so that when I reach for them I am well clear of the spinning work piece. In the middle are two face plates, on the left the key for my chuck etc.

   As soon as I was finished with the design I made an addition.  This bucket has pencils, Hex keys and other small stuff and a top to keep chips out.

  When I began work on the eight chair legs I decided to make nine.  The first leg is to be used as the template from which the others will be copied and as a just in case.

  The legs are turned from maple, made from hoarded wood, three pieces of maple stair tread that I had picked up in my travels.

  The leg will not be fancy, but I think it will match the style on the table and chair back, well enough. The legs need to be sturdy as much as they need to be fancy.

  cheers,

ianw