A few weeks ago we were introduced to the lathe. This is a completely new tool to me, and honestly, when Ben first demonstrated how it works, I was a bit terrified. What the lathe does is spin material (wood in our case) at a very high speed, while the crafter removes material away with tools very carefully. Here’s what it looks like.

Our assignment was to build a handle based on measurements. Here’s the sketch I made as a blueprint:

So, after securing the material on the lathe (and having the courage to turn in on), I began to remove material with the tools.

Here’s what the material looked like after I got it round and marked key spots for reference.

I’m not sure how to explain this process in technical terms since I just did what I felt was right, but if I attempt to explain — while the material was spinning I slowly began to remove material in certain areas, until this happened:

Although I did this just to get a feel for the lathe, I think I might make another handle identical to this one and then have handles for a jumprope!