The best wood lathe for the job depends on the size of the wood that you will be using for the project. Another consideration for the right lathe to do the wood working is the area that you have to work with a lathe. Different wood chisels can offer some great design abilities to add to your wood working projects.
There are three specific sizes for lathes. The pen lathe is for very intricate small refined wood working projects. You would need a pen lathe to do the tiny intricate work that could not be done with a manual tool. A pen lathe would make it possible to turn the wood and handle very refined small details that would not be possible to do otherwise. A mini lathe takes up a little space and is easy to store without taking up a lot of room in your wood working shop or garage.
The mini lathe is the next size up. It is used for making spindles and other curved designs. It allows you to work on projects that require curved pieces that require turning and shaping of the wood while it is being worked into a particular piece for a project. The mini lathe is easy to store and can be kept on a shelf in the wood working shop or your garage when not in use saving space for other equipment and tools.
The largest size is the floor lathe. It is a machine that sits on the floor and works larger pieces of wood for bigger projects. It is still small compared to other wood working machinery but it does take up more space than the mini lathe or the pen lathe which can be stored on a shelf. The floor lathe in most cases is easily stored.
Wood lathes and wood chisels can be found in many sizes, but they all do different things so you may need more then one. Before you purchase do your research, and take a look around your working space. Once you have you can then pick out the perfect lathe for you.
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