Yea its really filling the craftsmen jones Primitive Technology has left behind. All the other stone age channels I'm not a fan of. Even better that its on Townsends its honestly one of the few channels I don't get annoyed with. He really somehow manages to have the perfect balance of narration and showing instead of telling. This also feels like a good progression from sticks and stones to frontiersmen. Now if only there was a decent medieval channel that doesn't just have a guy standing infront of a camera talking.
@@pokeman5000 Try "Primitive Skills" for a PT style channel with more of a farming focus to it. It's the only channel of the "primitive" ones I've seen (PT included) that could actually live there and feed himself if he needed to. Mr. Chickadee is another channel you might enjoy, sort of a cross between this new Townsends series on frontier homesteading and PT style of silent crafting, well worth a look if you're into that sort of thing.
@@pokeman5000 Watch Shawn Woods' early primitive crafting videos. They're every bit as good as these, with content similar to this, and showcase just how ingenious our ancestors were in toolcraft and construction.
@@pokeman5000 If you look up 'building a castle medieval method' there is a lot of videos about this interesting project in France. It's exactly what is says on the tin.
Just want to say- yours is one of the best channels on you tube. No violence, profanity, politics....just old fashioned entertainment / education. Thank you
@@imchris5000 we could push the idea further and make so that the gym sells what's made by the people who go there... and then give some back to them... if it makes some bucks, maybe the people will come more often, maybe a full day... they could make a whole salary there... idk, it sounds familiar
I remember seeing one of those at a renfaire -- amazed the hell out of me. I love non-electrical versions of machines that we can't conceive of without plugging it into a wall. Treadle sewing machines are another one of those ...
It's amazing to see how people got things done way back without having to use electricity. There was a show I watched years back on my local PBS station of a man that built furniture using only tools hand tools devices that they used back in the 17th an 18th century. He even hand made tools an devices for the purpose busing certain tools like Jon did in this video.
I have been teaching myself to weave, and will teach myself to spin (and the plan is to grow and harvest and prepare the wool and flax, and perhaps nettles, for the spinning), and the sheer amount of technical skill and innovation that goes into something so "mundane" to an uninformed casual observer is baffling. Little things that you need to develop a feel and a touch for, that are near impossible to explain in written text. Just getting the tension and rhythm right to make fine cloth will take me years. But I'm excited to keep learning.
Brandon did a great job in constructing and explaining the wood station. I think this is the first time Brandon has spoken on screen...he did a GREAT job!
The first thing you do with a lathe like his is to build the tools to make a better lathe. The history of technology can be told in the progressive generations of lathes. All of today's best lathes were built on yesterday's best lathes, after all.
This journey of the homestead has been wonderful to watch. I keep waiting to see a woman’s touch added to the cabin though! A quilt for the bed to be, rag rugs eventually if the floor gets a wooden layer, curtains at the window, maybe even a cloth on the table! I really look forward to the journey this summer!
Those metal tools must have been absolutely cherished at the time. When you've ventured out 100 miles away from anyone else, it's not like you can just run down to Home Depot if you lose or break one.
@@NoobNoobNews Until very recently, you could find those in Spain. A man with a small motorbike and a sharpening stone attached to the engine, anouncing his arrival with a whistle. I'm talking about the 1990's here, in small cities.
I love watching this kind of historical crafting. You get such an appreciation for the amount of work our ancestors had to do just to have a place to live.
Rare to see a host willing to step back and let others shine on their channel. You've had so many awesome people on your show and always you support them and let them take the spotlight. Jon, sir, you are a real gentleman.
The precision isn't super necessary, you can bodge together a workable pole-lathe in a less stable and permanent way. Pretty much the only necessary part is that the pikes you turn on stay true and level.
I am an historian. I am also a woodworker, who LOVES turning, in particular. This is the video I have been waiting for, but didnt even know I wanted. ;-)
a lathe-lover, eh? I wonder if you had the same thought I did when he talked about how you only get to gouge on the downstroke like, just make your tool double-sided, obviously! though I'm sure if you asked the blacksmith he'd be like 'just get a continuous lathe'
I didn't catch that, honestly, but technically, you are both right. It is possible to cut on the up stroke as well, however, it is definitely not ideal (or even safe) to do so. Cutting on the up stroke can be dangerous, and unstable, as it lifts the chisel off the tool rest, though safety really is not a big issue on a relatively low speed, non-contunally turning lathe such as this. As for the gouge, it really can be used in one direction only, although there are other chisels which can be utilized for bidirectional cutting. In order to cut on an up stroke, you would have to manhandle the chisel by forcing it into the rest, and taking very shallow depth cuts (to prevent the log from grabbing the chisel), which would sacrifice stability and accuracy (notvto mention wearing out the operator's arm). Using it on the down stroke only, means that you are not fighting physics, as the force of the log is applying the pressure of the chisel into the rest, not away from it.
This is so interesting! Love seeing the tools and handmade machinery that allowed people to make furniture and anything else needed to make a house a home. Totally cool!
The centuries old craft of bodging! I use to know a guy who still used a pole lathe to make bits and bobs from what wood he could find but I'm not sure you will find many (if any) bodgers now.
I am so excited that you are moving to the Homestead video's. I have always wanted to see video's that show how our ancestors built up the homes and farms. Thanks very much for sharing
Townsends! That was so informative and refreshing and well explained. Great visials as well so we can see how to do it ourselves! Such good work. thankyou
THE best demonstration/ explanation of the pole lathe I've seen. Simple, clear, concise. Magnificent. Thank you. I really look forward to this new path you're going to take us down with the woodworking and blacksmithing projects. I got my jollies from watching the cooking, but you're heading to the next level.👍
I enjoy them but in my heart they are second two the cooking episodes. But still very enjoyable. I first found Townsend with his dug out canoe episodes.
@Eric Williams I actually think I prefer the episodes where they build and work on tools. The food is always fantastic but the semipermanence of the other projects really appeals to me.
I love this channel. After watching all the BS from the modern world I can watch something relaxing and calming on top of learning something practical. Please keep up the good work and giving us a little ASMR in these turbulent times.
I helped set one of these up at my uncle’s cabin and it is incredibly simple! I didn’t even have carpentry experience at the time and it took us no time at all. Really fun to use, too!
It's great that you have this UA-cam channel to teach people how life was for people living in the past because they don't teach you these things in history class.
Congratulations on constructing a pole lathe. Really looking forward to seeing what you will make with it for your homestead as well as your other projects this year.
Fascinating to see something that I think of as a sophisticated tool crafted from scratch with wood rope and a minimal number of metal pieces. I watched it a second time because it was so interesting. Thank you!
To know a thing works by making it yourself, has got to be the most satisfying part of this journey for you Jon. As each new part of your homestead evolves, I am more and more enthralled with your journey of discovery, and have a deeper understanding of just how much effort and ingenuity it took to build up a homestead on the early frontier. You and Co., make it look pretty simple, but I know from experience that it is all very labor intensive. I await your next episode with keen anticipation as your take us on this journey back into history. I shall also go now and take a very close look at some of my rustic old Kentucky furniture, to see just what the tool marks on it look like, and if they were made in a similar manner as what you have just revealed to us?! I know of three of my chairs that were made by hand, but now I shall go and look for signs of hand lathing. This is simply splendid!
Great stuff, Jon. I really enjoyed this one. Much more primitive than the one I saw demonstrated at Fort Frederick Market Faire years ago, but much more like one would expect to find at a homestead. Again...it "turned out" great!
Delight, delight, happy delight. Such useful skills. Heard the summer birds in the woods while you worked. More delight... Have been teaching the twins knife safety and whittling basics this summer. Just wait until they see your lathe! Noah will be agog. Wonderful series, Mr. Townsend.
Absolutely love your series over the years! You never fail to teach me something new. I started my adult career as a cook in the Coast Guard and often use the recipes you've taught me. About five years ago I moved into construction. And now you're teaching me historical technologies in that field! Keep it up. I recently moved back to Indiana and I can't wait for everything to reopen so I can visit you some time in person and shake your hand and thank you in person for all the lessons.
When I was just a young man, 12 or 13, I spent Summers with my great-grandfather in Grand Blanc Michigan. He was the toy maker at Crossroads Village & Huckleberry Railroad. We had one of these foot powered lathes, and he had me operate it all day while he made toys for the kids. Some of my Fondest Memories rest in that old building, with those hand tools and my great-grandfather. To this day, I pick up his chisels to work and get a little choked up each time I use them.
I'm not sure which part of that statement dates you more. Being a young man at 12 or 13, having/knowing your great grandfather, wooden toys, or having emotional attachment to relatives.. either way let's try to get SOME of that back, can we? maybe not the wooden toys.
Love this channel, just got off a bothersome call an hour ago and I couldn't get it out of my head. Calm, purposeful work done purely for the enjoyment of doing it is an excellent way to take your heart away from your troubles. Still got some mean words stuck in my head but this helps a lot with the heart, ya know?
Thank you so much for this project!!! A real 1800's homestead with all of the essential parts to make it functional is your best, so far! To be self-reliant in our modern day, solar powered world, one could learn to live without electricity like they did 300 years ago. What's interesting is you are doing it in 2020! I can't wait to see this homestead evolve, just the way it would have. Who knows, you may even make a small, functional village! Thanxz
That was a great video Jon. When I used to volunteer at the 1750's fort in Explore Park (Virginia) the fellow who built and ran the fort, Eddie Goode, would put one of those Pole Lathes together for special occasions. He actually used a sapling that just happened to be in the right place as the spring. He was very skilled at using it as he was with all 18th century tools. Very cool to see this one and how he put it together.
Fantastic! This series has been some of the best research material for 18th century living I've ever run across. I thank you! My frontier novels thank you.
hey John I'm really excited to see your new projects. im so glad you built your cabin and now with all the other things you gonna make an honest to goodness live set. impressive. your on my bucket list of places and people to visit. im 55 and I love the show been watching for 3 years and I'm eyeballing a tricorn hat and some pottery. . . I'm also a trained chef. I try your recipes all the time. ty ty ty.
A Thursday townsends video? What a pleasant surprise! I've noticed Brandon's work in a lot of the Cabin videos. He always seems to be tackling some of the more "technical" aspects, like getting the door on. It's amazing what you can do with just wood and some know-how.
I love this content, its so pure and honestly a great thing to learn the skills that founded and built America... i am going to build one of these now to use myself, I was always one for making things by hand instead of buying from stores.. a sence of pride comes along with that and i love it. Thank you for this blessing that is a youtube channel!
This homestead concept is an amazing and natural expansion for your channel! I came here years ago for the recipes, but this adds a whole new dimension and vitality to the concept of living history.
You guys do a great job at demonstrating technologies and crafts that are taken for granted by 90% of the population and by showing something like this somebody like me could potentially in that situation build it if I had to. That is cool 👍
Back here in the UK, especially around the areas known for furniture manufacturing, Buckinghamshire etc.There where craftsmen using pole lathes,up in the woods, making chair legs, these wood workers where called Bodger's.
Upon my word!!! Thank you thank you! This is by far one of the coolest videos I’ve seen yet on this channel. I’ve always wondered how tools and wood things would have been made in the 18th century...👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Ah, the turning lathe. One of the most important tool machines in general. I first saw this basic design on HTME. And I can actually picture how they would have upgraded that design to a continuously turning one.
How? I'm trying to imagine how I would do it but my mind is coming up with Leonardo davinchi esque cog monstrosities.. Thst or just using a water wheel or a donkey mill with a high gearing :/
@@GundamReviver water wheels were popular prior to the steam engine, and some larger lathes might have used a person in a walking wheel. However, if you are serious about a single-person powered wheel, you have a pulley system with a knotted rope connecting two "cogged" wheels that catch on the knots. You spin a large round rock as a mechanical battery much like the spinning wet stone used for sharpening knives. You have a pedal to keep the momentum of the spinning stone up with your foot. It doesn't need to be a stone wheel, as you can make one out of a heavy log of wood, too. But the stone wheel can double as a wet stone to sharpen your tools while you carve on the same lathe. The rope and pulleys don't need to be knotted, but it can help if you are accurate enough with the knotting and carving. Lets you impart more torque with less slippage and lets you cut more aggressively with your tools. there are slightly simpler designs, and I am sure there are better ones, too. This is just one way to do it.
excuse the language but when i first saw that working the only thing i could say was "that is fking incredible" you guys are so awesome, really inspirational, i wish i had half as much willpower and fortitude to be able to live like you guys do. absolutely amazing bush engineering at it's finest here! the final piece came out amazing for being done on a fully hand made lathe!
Jon has switched from cooking to construction. He's been showing how to fill your appetite, now he's showing how to acquire it.
Has he started Dragon Slayer yet?
What a Maneuver! “You
@@TriggertheTaco Still need to finish the other stations and get some more quest points I think.
Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day, teach him to fish and you’ll feed him for a lifetime.
Well, one must be a multi-tasker out in the Frontier. Well done, Sir.
I subscribed for the cooking but I’m loving this homestead series!
I want chicken tho ugh bruh
Yea its really filling the craftsmen jones Primitive Technology has left behind. All the other stone age channels I'm not a fan of. Even better that its on Townsends its honestly one of the few channels I don't get annoyed with. He really somehow manages to have the perfect balance of narration and showing instead of telling.
This also feels like a good progression from sticks and stones to frontiersmen. Now if only there was a decent medieval channel that doesn't just have a guy standing infront of a camera talking.
@@pokeman5000 Try "Primitive Skills" for a PT style channel with more of a farming focus to it. It's the only channel of the "primitive" ones I've seen (PT included) that could actually live there and feed himself if he needed to. Mr. Chickadee is another channel you might enjoy, sort of a cross between this new Townsends series on frontier homesteading and PT style of silent crafting, well worth a look if you're into that sort of thing.
@@pokeman5000 Watch Shawn Woods' early primitive crafting videos. They're every bit as good as these, with content similar to this, and showcase just how ingenious our ancestors were in toolcraft and construction.
@@pokeman5000 If you look up 'building a castle medieval method' there is a lot of videos about this interesting project in France. It's exactly what is says on the tin.
Blacksmithing? Brick-making? Earthen oven?
Jon, are you founding an 18th century village over there?
I hope he is - that means content for years and years forward
I hope he is. I also hope he makes it accessible to public for visits or to host events and workshops
@@CroatiaSurvival Oh, that would be so cool. I might go there just to see it!
He's preparing you for what's coming.
I hope so! And now we know how to build our own houses too!
Just want to say- yours is one of the best channels on you tube. No violence, profanity, politics....just old fashioned entertainment / education. Thank you
"no violence"
the video: man ax murders living organism and then uses it's dead body to shred it's brothers.
And that's why our ancestors didn't need a gym.
I have been kicking around an idea for a gym were you do traditional wood working turn logs into fine planks and build timber frame kits.
@@imchris5000 we could push the idea further and make so that the gym sells what's made by the people who go there... and then give some back to them... if it makes some bucks, maybe the people will come more often, maybe a full day... they could make a whole salary there... idk, it sounds familiar
@mickey7411 Ok bruh
Yeah, but can you imagine how unbalanced their muscles would be, only ever doing the same few motions.
mickey7411 cringe
That was facinating. This is something my dad would have loved. He died in 1988, best dad and always fixed things for the family and the neighbors.
Men like that are becoming rare. What a great example for you.
I remember seeing one of those at a renfaire -- amazed the hell out of me. I love non-electrical versions of machines that we can't conceive of without plugging it into a wall. Treadle sewing machines are another one of those ...
It's amazing to see how people got things done way back without having to use electricity.
There was a show I watched years back on my local PBS station of a man that built furniture using only tools hand tools devices that they used back in the 17th an 18th century. He even hand made tools an devices for the purpose busing certain tools like Jon did in this video.
I have been teaching myself to weave, and will teach myself to spin (and the plan is to grow and harvest and prepare the wool and flax, and perhaps nettles, for the spinning), and the sheer amount of technical skill and innovation that goes into something so "mundane" to an uninformed casual observer is baffling. Little things that you need to develop a feel and a touch for, that are near impossible to explain in written text. Just getting the tension and rhythm right to make fine cloth will take me years. But I'm excited to keep learning.
@@JoeXTheXJuggalo1 The Woodwright Shop. Roy Underhill is pretty dang awesome.
@@BudgetGunsandGearReviews yeah that's it. I can't remember the name of it.
Brandon did a great job in constructing and explaining the wood station. I think this is the first time Brandon has spoken on screen...he did a GREAT job!
There's something beautiful about woodworking tools. From the very basic to the elaborate. I've loved them since I was a child.
Wow can't wait to see what you build with the lathe.
dowels for the most part
My thoughs: all sorts of knobs for doors or cabinets, table legs, cup?, decorations for a fireplace? (split round in half) rolling pin?
Also handles for various implements.
The first thing you do with a lathe like his is to build the tools to make a better lathe.
The history of technology can be told in the progressive generations of lathes. All of today's best lathes were built on yesterday's best lathes, after all.
@@NoobNoobNews except for the parts that were made on mills
The idea of living in the woods is getting more and more vivid by the day.
Don't wait until your area goes full cannibal mode to buy your place in the country;)!
This journey of the homestead has been wonderful to watch. I keep waiting to see a woman’s touch added to the cabin though! A quilt for the bed to be, rag rugs eventually if the floor gets a wooden layer, curtains at the window, maybe even a cloth on the table! I really look forward to the journey this summer!
I'll wait until the roof is properly shingled before bringing in soft, valuable textiles haha
I can see Ivy taking one look, making that face when she doesn't like something and saying something like "This needs a woman's touch!"
I love how much detail you included about both the construction process and how it functions - it made it informative as well as entertaining!
Those metal tools must have been absolutely cherished at the time. When you've ventured out 100 miles away from anyone else, it's not like you can just run down to Home Depot if you lose or break one.
Thats why every larger settlement has a smith to repair them, forge-weld broken pieces together, reshape and sharpen the knife until nothing is left.
@@aenorist2431 even smaller settlements- if you look at old villages you'll always find a forge cottage or something along those lines
And the smallest of towns who did not have a knife sharpener would hire nomadic traveling knife sharpeners.
@@NoobNoobNews Until very recently, you could find those in Spain. A man with a small motorbike and a sharpening stone attached to the engine, anouncing his arrival with a whistle. I'm talking about the 1990's here, in small cities.
Spacehy there’s a guy in my town who rides a three wheel bicycle with a tool box and grinding wheel.
I love watching this kind of historical crafting. You get such an appreciation for the amount of work our ancestors had to do just to have a place to live.
Rare to see a host willing to step back and let others shine on their channel. You've had so many awesome people on your show and always you support them and let them take the spotlight. Jon, sir, you are a real gentleman.
This is absolutely wild! The ingenuity and precision necessary is just incredible. Also major DIY goals
The precision isn't super necessary, you can bodge together a workable pole-lathe in a less stable and permanent way. Pretty much the only necessary part is that the pikes you turn on stay true and level.
Ae Norist stfu
I am an historian.
I am also a woodworker, who LOVES turning, in particular.
This is the video I have been waiting for, but didnt even know I wanted. ;-)
Thank you!
a lathe-lover, eh? I wonder if you had the same thought I did when he talked about how you only get to gouge on the downstroke
like, just make your tool double-sided, obviously! though I'm sure if you asked the blacksmith he'd be like 'just get a continuous lathe'
I didn't catch that, honestly, but technically, you are both right. It is possible to cut on the up stroke as well, however, it is definitely not ideal (or even safe) to do so. Cutting on the up stroke can be dangerous, and unstable, as it lifts the chisel off the tool rest, though safety really is not a big issue on a relatively low speed, non-contunally turning lathe such as this. As for the gouge, it really can be used in one direction only, although there are other chisels which can be utilized for bidirectional cutting. In order to cut on an up stroke, you would have to manhandle the chisel by forcing it into the rest, and taking very shallow depth cuts (to prevent the log from grabbing the chisel), which would sacrifice stability and accuracy (notvto mention wearing out the operator's arm). Using it on the down stroke only, means that you are not fighting physics, as the force of the log is applying the pressure of the chisel into the rest, not away from it.
The excitement of seeing the homestead come together really has me engaged.
Watching a jolly man make a tool ill never use to get over a breakup. Thanks you mr townsend, really
This is useful as a woodsman, survivalist, and homesteader. Thank you!
*People talking about different qualities of wood.*
** Me nodding along, not knowing a single thing **
Wood is splintery and it comes from trees. So that's two things I know.
@Herbert Munson ** me also nodding, because I think you are more knowledgeable than me and I'll ask you later**
This is me too
Oh yes of course wouldn’t use anything different
This is so interesting! Love seeing the tools and handmade machinery that allowed people to make furniture and anything else needed to make a house a home. Totally cool!
It's amazing to see how crafty people had to be to create every day necessities. Very Cool !
I love this channel so much. I was just watching some craftspeople at Guedelon castle using a pole lathe. This is an awesome how to video.
Watched the whole series on that castle and it was quite amazing.
I was thinking this project reminds me of that castle project, excited to see how this one develops
I need to check back in with that Carle, it’s been a few years
You know i was draw to this channel for the cooking. But these homestead episodes are awesome. Blacksmithing, brickmaking.... I can't wait!!
I've seen these a few times on documentaries, but never the construction process. Thanks for sharing!
Love the videos, Im a machinist by trade so this one is extra special, keep it up it gives us a glimpse of bygone times . Blessings and great weekend
This kind of stuff is why I loved The Wood-wright's Shop on PBS when I was a kid.
So cool! I can’t wait to learn a bout the tools they are using ❤
I really love this series! It's giving me such a deep respect for our ancestors ingenuity and skill.
How fascinating! I love hearing about how they did everything without electricity😁 such lovely craftsmanship went into each piece.
The centuries old craft of bodging! I use to know a guy who still used a pole lathe to make bits and bobs from what wood he could find but I'm not sure you will find many (if any) bodgers now.
Love all your vids. These skills are tried and true and still work when electricity and internet doesn’t
Talk about a channel that helps you get away from it all. Such a great series, thank you!
So hyped for the pole lathe!
I am so excited that you are moving to the Homestead video's. I have always wanted to see video's that show how our ancestors built up the homes and farms.
Thanks very much for sharing
Very cool machine. I look forward to seeing other machines and crafting tables.
Excellent slow-motion capture of the subtle in-and-out of the chisel in action as the lathe turns the wood piece down and up!
I can not get enough of the homestead content. I can't wait to see more!!
Townsends! That was so informative and refreshing and well explained. Great visials as well so we can see how to do it ourselves! Such good work. thankyou
I love this channel definitely brings me comfort.
THE best demonstration/ explanation of the pole lathe I've seen. Simple, clear, concise. Magnificent. Thank you.
I really look forward to this new path you're going to take us down with the woodworking and blacksmithing projects. I got my jollies from watching the cooking, but you're heading to the next level.👍
I love your videos. They brighten up my day. They are awesome. Keep up the great work! Cheers!
I wondered how they fabricated round wood things for furniture & tools back then. Now I know, can't wait for more progress on the homestead!
Most wholesome channel on youtube. Keep up the good work and I'm loving the homestead series.
As a woodworker, I had never heard of this before. What a great, simple idea! Thanks for sharing.
Fantastic! This is fascinating and I look forward to seeing more videos as you build up your homestead!
I agree with most of the comments here. This series has taken your channel to the next level. I'm stoked to see every new episode. Thanks for sharing!
I love woodworking excellent episode.
I enjoy them but in my heart they are second two the cooking episodes. But still very enjoyable. I first found Townsend with his dug out canoe episodes.
@Eric Williams I actually think I prefer the episodes where they build and work on tools. The food is always fantastic but the semipermanence of the other projects really appeals to me.
Jon, this is going to be a wonderful series!
Simple and ingenious. I love this stuff.
I love this channel! Every time I watch it, I'm inspired to learn more about this Era. Thank you guys!
I love this channel. After watching all the BS from the modern world I can watch something relaxing and calming on top of learning something practical. Please keep up the good work and giving us a little ASMR in these turbulent times.
This new phase is absolutely my favorite.
I have a sneaking suspicion this knowledge is going to become very useful sooner than we think.
I helped set one of these up at my uncle’s cabin and it is incredibly simple! I didn’t even have carpentry experience at the time and it took us no time at all. Really fun to use, too!
It's great that you have this UA-cam channel to teach people how life was for people living in the past because they don't teach you these things in history class.
Congratulations on constructing a pole lathe. Really looking forward to seeing what you will make with it for your homestead as well as your other projects this year.
Fascinating to see something that I think of as a sophisticated tool crafted from scratch with wood rope and a minimal number of metal pieces. I watched it a second time because it was so interesting. Thank you!
To know a thing works by making it yourself, has got to be the most satisfying part of this journey for you Jon. As each new part of your homestead evolves, I am more and more enthralled with your journey of discovery, and have a deeper understanding of just how much effort and ingenuity it took to build up a homestead on the early frontier. You and Co., make it look pretty simple, but I know from experience that it is all very labor intensive. I await your next episode with keen anticipation as your take us on this journey back into history.
I shall also go now and take a very close look at some of my rustic old Kentucky furniture, to see just what the tool marks on it look like, and if they were made in a similar manner as what you have just revealed to us?! I know of three of my chairs that were made by hand, but now I shall go and look for signs of hand lathing. This is simply splendid!
Great work! Thanks for sharing!
This is the best episode ever! simple, very practical, clear instructions and something I could use without a significant investment Thank you !
Great stuff, Jon. I really enjoyed this one. Much more primitive than the one I saw demonstrated at Fort Frederick Market Faire years ago, but much more like one would expect to find at a homestead. Again...it "turned out" great!
Delight, delight, happy delight. Such useful skills.
Heard the summer birds in the woods while you worked. More delight...
Have been teaching the twins knife safety and whittling basics this summer. Just wait until they see your lathe! Noah will be agog.
Wonderful series, Mr. Townsend.
Thank you, love your channel.
Absolutely love your series over the years! You never fail to teach me something new. I started my adult career as a cook in the Coast Guard and often use the recipes you've taught me. About five years ago I moved into construction. And now you're teaching me historical technologies in that field! Keep it up. I recently moved back to Indiana and I can't wait for everything to reopen so I can visit you some time in person and shake your hand and thank you in person for all the lessons.
Those were hardware store 4x4s guaranteed 😉 it's fine though. Very cool great video. Would like to see more historical tooling.
When I was just a young man, 12 or 13, I spent Summers with my great-grandfather in Grand Blanc Michigan. He was the toy maker at Crossroads Village & Huckleberry Railroad. We had one of these foot powered lathes, and he had me operate it all day while he made toys for the kids. Some of my Fondest Memories rest in that old building, with those hand tools and my great-grandfather. To this day, I pick up his chisels to work and get a little choked up each time I use them.
I'm not sure which part of that statement dates you more. Being a young man at 12 or 13, having/knowing your great grandfather, wooden toys, or having emotional attachment to relatives.. either way let's try to get SOME of that back, can we? maybe not the wooden toys.
Love this channel, just got off a bothersome call an hour ago and I couldn't get it out of my head. Calm, purposeful work done purely for the enjoyment of doing it is an excellent way to take your heart away from your troubles. Still got some mean words stuck in my head but this helps a lot with the heart, ya know?
Even using my modern wood working machinery I do understand fully what you mean. This channel is just amazing.
Love the homesteading!!! Can’t wait for the next project!!!
Thank you so much for this project!!! A real 1800's homestead with all of the essential parts to make it functional is your best, so far! To be self-reliant in our modern day, solar powered world, one could learn to live without electricity like they did 300 years ago. What's interesting is you are doing it in 2020! I can't wait to see this homestead evolve, just the way it would have. Who knows, you may even make a small, functional village! Thanxz
That was a great video Jon. When I used to volunteer at the 1750's fort in Explore Park (Virginia) the fellow who built and ran the fort, Eddie Goode, would put one of those Pole Lathes together for special occasions. He actually used a sapling that just happened to be in the right place as the spring. He was very skilled at using it as he was with all 18th century tools. Very cool to see this one and how he put it together.
Fantastic! This series has been some of the best research material for 18th century living I've ever run across. I thank you! My frontier novels thank you.
hey John I'm really excited to see your new projects. im so glad you built your cabin and now with all the other things you gonna make an honest to goodness live set. impressive. your on my bucket list of places and people to visit. im 55 and I love the show been watching for 3 years and I'm eyeballing a tricorn hat and some pottery. . . I'm also a trained chef. I try your recipes all the time. ty ty ty.
A Thursday townsends video? What a pleasant surprise!
I've noticed Brandon's work in a lot of the Cabin videos. He always seems to be tackling some of the more "technical" aspects, like getting the door on. It's amazing what you can do with just wood and some know-how.
Loved seeing it setup specially the tool rest for some reason tks!
Such a simple yet effective contraption.
I just might try to build one myself some day.
I remember having such a blast building stuff with a lathe in high school. This looks just as fun!
That pole lathe is amazingly stable. Never seen one with sunken posts like that. Awesome.
I love this content, its so pure and honestly a great thing to learn the skills that founded and built America... i am going to build one of these now to use myself, I was always one for making things by hand instead of buying from stores.. a sence of pride comes along with that and i love it. Thank you for this blessing that is a youtube channel!
Oooo yes another homestead video ❤️
I love watching Jon and another channel, TA Outdoors, as they build homes from back in history.
This homestead concept is an amazing and natural expansion for your channel! I came here years ago for the recipes, but this adds a whole new dimension and vitality to the concept of living history.
I’m so excited to see the homestead grow this summer.
I’ve seen designs for these before. They date back to the Vikings, maybe earlier. This stuff blows my mind.
Oh this is DELICIOUS. Thank you John and company for sharing this knowledge. Lathes are such useful tools.
You guys do a great job at demonstrating technologies and crafts that are taken for granted by 90% of the population and by showing something like this somebody like me could potentially in that situation build it if I had to. That is cool 👍
Wow, that's awesome. Using a springy piece of wood to drive the lathe, wow. Whomever first came up with that was a genius.
This is turning out to be a fantastic series. You could market it to schools!!
Thank you for this video. So neat! Also, thank you for all of your videos!
Really, really enjoying this homestead series! As someone else said, that's not what I came to your channel for but its sure part of why I stayed!
Back here in the UK, especially around the areas known for furniture manufacturing, Buckinghamshire etc.There where craftsmen using pole lathes,up in the woods, making chair legs, these wood workers where called Bodger's.
Upon my word!!! Thank you thank you! This is by far one of the coolest videos I’ve seen yet on this channel. I’ve always wondered how tools and wood things would have been made in the 18th century...👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
I want to come live / work there and wear these fancy outfits! What an amazing life!
Love how you worked the diffusion into the frame. And that green jacket looks excellent!
Love it man!!! I'm a craftsman too...such an ingenious design!
Ah, the turning lathe. One of the most important tool machines in general.
I first saw this basic design on HTME.
And I can actually picture how they would have upgraded that design to a continuously turning one.
How? I'm trying to imagine how I would do it but my mind is coming up with Leonardo davinchi esque cog monstrosities.. Thst or just using a water wheel or a donkey mill with a high gearing :/
@@GundamReviver water wheels were popular prior to the steam engine, and some larger lathes might have used a person in a walking wheel. However, if you are serious about a single-person powered wheel, you have a pulley system with a knotted rope connecting two "cogged" wheels that catch on the knots. You spin a large round rock as a mechanical battery much like the spinning wet stone used for sharpening knives. You have a pedal to keep the momentum of the spinning stone up with your foot. It doesn't need to be a stone wheel, as you can make one out of a heavy log of wood, too. But the stone wheel can double as a wet stone to sharpen your tools while you carve on the same lathe. The rope and pulleys don't need to be knotted, but it can help if you are accurate enough with the knotting and carving. Lets you impart more torque with less slippage and lets you cut more aggressively with your tools.
there are slightly simpler designs, and I am sure there are better ones, too. This is just one way to do it.
@@GundamReviver Search for "flywheel lathe"
@@GundamReviver
Turn your rope into a loop and run it over a wheel you keep in motion by a foot pedal connected excentricaly to the wheel.
@@Bird_Dog00 so basically a flywheel system, yeah that could work
I have a lot of trash tree parts in my yard I now have a use for them. Thanks Jon.
excuse the language but when i first saw that working the only thing i could say was "that is fking incredible" you guys are so awesome, really inspirational, i wish i had half as much willpower and fortitude to be able to live like you guys do. absolutely amazing bush engineering at it's finest here! the final piece came out amazing for being done on a fully hand made lathe!