Mike Lake

[Mike Lake]

Hi - my name is Mike Lake, and I live in Bend, Oregon. As the son of a finish carpenter and custom furniture maker, I have been a casual woodworker and turner for most of my 52 years. My profession and passion is metalworking and engineering, but I am a capable woodworker as well.

30 years ago, as my Senior Project in engineering school, I designed and built a very large wood lathe for my Dad's shop. Dad passed away a little over 10 years ago, and my Mom recently moved away from the place where I grew up and my Dad's wood shop still existed. As such, I have been moving equipment out of his shop and finding a home for it.

This brings me to the AAW forum - I figured if a good home for an enormous wood lathe could be found, it would likely be found here. I feel a little bit phony joining the forum just to sell a lathe, but I'm just being honest. This lathe is a very specialized and purpose-built item that has sentimental meaning to me; but I do not have room for it and I will likely not use it. It should go to an enthusiast who will appreciate it.

Thanks for the opportunity to introduce myself, and I will post a for sale thread in the marketplace for this lathe, along with a few pictures.

- Mike

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Welcome Mike .Have not had to go thru what you are doing but I do have a few tools from my father and my FIL .Do you perhaps have pics of the build process?

 

[Bill Boehme]

Welcome aboard, Mike. You might be able to offer some help Tom Albrecht who is planning to build a lathe in the thread "Wooden Treadle Lathe".

 

[hockenbery]

Welcome,
Who knows some day your passion may shift from metal to wood.
In any event us turners could not be where we are without some great metal,workers

 

[Mike Lake]

Hi guys - thank you for the replies! I don't have any pictures of the build, but that was done in 1987 and 1988. As a 22yr old college student, I'm not even sure I owned a camera then ;-)

I do think I have the original write up on the project from my Senior Project class though. It will have drawings of all the components, process plans, proposals, etc.

I'll get some pictures up in the Marketplace soon - this is a BIG lathe. I designed it to turn 24" in diameter and 8 feet between centers. My Dad used it to turn porch columns and such. He turned a cedar birdbath off the back end of the headstock once as well. It is honestly so large that it does not do a very good job of turning little things. Large bowls - it is excellent. Pens and trinkets - not so much. I have a nice Lagun metal lathe in my shop that actually works very well as a wood lathe for what turning I do ;-)

Best,
Mike

 

[John Torchick]

Welcome to the forum. No problem selling the lathe on the forum. I'm sure that you can make a connection.
I was in Bend several years ago for a conference. Flew into Portland and drove to Bend. Beautiful country and a contrast of desert and tall pines. It was in August, if I recall, and there was snow on the mountains west of Bend.