Is it worth that much money?

[John Hicks]

the mystery of metallurgy

 

[R Henrickson]

Now that is what I call ingenuity!!

That's how it's been done for centuries across North Africa and into the Near East. Spindle turning with a bow lathe. Wood has always been expensive there, so most turnings were done from small pieces. Wood was too valuable for things like bowls or plates --- pottery was much cheaper to produce, whatever the size of the item. Yet the woodturners guild was one of the largest in Ottoman Cairo, and spindlework turned from wood was ubiquitous in vast numbers of houses and other structures -- furniture, window screens, dividers, balusters, etc etc. Some was incredibly complex. Window screens often had 100-200 pieces *per square foot*, and typical window lattices were 10-20 square feet (so 1000-4000 pieces for a single window).

 

[John Torchick]

Just think- that is how it was done in the past. Saw a photo of an Egyptian chair that had beads and coves on the legs and spindles.

 

[David Shombert]

I'm a little late to this discussion, and others have already expressed the same take that I have on this, but I'll just add my $0.02 - I always choose Doug Thompson's tools first. Idon't see much difference among any of the higher quality tools, steel-wise, but Doug is a great guy, an individual (not a big corporation), and has done a lot for the woodturning community. He's been helpful to me on more than one occasion. I just plain like the guy so I give him my business whenever I can.