We’re not so stuck up here at Toolmonger that we don’t acknowledge when things are beyond us. When we first saw this video we couldn’t imagine not posting about it. The caption listed in the video from Mr. King kind of says it all.
This young woodturner can be found plying his trade in the medina of old Marrakech. With just one tool (a skew chisel) he turns a chess piece on a bow lathe that would have been a familiar sight in ancient Greece or the Pharaoh’s Egypt.
So what excuse do we, with $500 plus of lathe gear that’s powered and everything, have for not carving? The correct answer is none. We have no excuse at all; this dude carves with his toes. Play the vid, then play it again and let that sink in.
I do wonder what kind of wood this guy uses on a day-to-day basis. Our hat is off and beer is up to this master turner — we’re not worthy.
Moroccan Bow Lathe [YouTube]
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14 Responses to So You Think You Can Turn?
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You forgot to mention the captive ring…
Yeah, for the first minute or two I just didn’t understand what that was. Thought he didn’t clear the shavings. Then he stopped it and I saw what he did. My jaw hit the floor.
congratulations on stealing this from reddit.
Sean,
I saw this video somewhere else on the Internet and therefore this is proof that you stole it.
Additionally, these other websites also stole this copyrighted story and should be notified to cease and desist:
MAKE Magazine
Boing Boing
Festool Owners Group
The Centered Librarian
VideoSift
ForFunFun
Canadian Woodworking
RoboticLab
World of Wood
Stu’s Shed Blog
Handmade Wooden Bowls
Blight Design
Redux
Sawmill Creek
Woodworking Plans
Woodcrafts
DIY Lifestyle Direct
What story? All these websites are sharing the video, as permitted under YouTube’s standard Terms of Service. http://www.youtube.com/t/terms
Sorry, Cameron. I’m the site’s editor. I was ribbing Sean because commenter “wartex” accused him of stealing the video/story from reddit.com. I was pointing out that the Internet is an amalgam of shared content, and that if posting the same video as another site constitutes stealing, then virtually everything online is stolen.
Sorry for the confusion.
You had me going there for a minute. I almost thought it was two dueling contributors one of which didn’t understand news aggregation blogs or something. Anyway, I enjoyed the video.
Dude posts a tool-related vid on a tool-related website, so people who don’t even know what reddit even IS can enjoy it, and you have the cajones to give him grief?
This a website about tools… you certainly are proving yourself to be one.
But do you know what cajones are?
I think he said he was working with cedar. There is clearly more than one type of wood though.
Gotta be hard on the back working bent over like that.
Yikes…I can’t do a captive ring with a powered lathe! These and other foot/spring/bow powered lathes are cool and to think at one time they were cutting edge.
I do think though I saw a power cord coming out of this dudes left foot……
The fact that he is just using a skew is the most impressive thing.
This guy pretty much made ALL of my excuses invalid.