Barley Twist

[Kidbee]

While watching Antiques Roadshow on the idiot box I saw a 19th century table (Brazilian timber) with barley twist legs, so beautifully done. I then watched someone do a barley twist candle holder on Youtube where he manually turned the lathe while he used Pfeil chisels to carve out the twist.

Would the 19th century table legs, been carved in a similar way?

[mark david]

Generally speaking probably not during the Victorian era when the barley twist was revived, the bigger workshops probaly had specifically made engines for producing the turnings in large quantities especially in the Edwardian era when there was a fashion for awful dark brown oak Jacobean style furnture.

The barley twist was first very popular towards the latter part of the 17th Century in England and they would have been worked by hand, they were cut left and right handed on earlier furniture so looked better balanced on a cabinet for example.On the later mass produced rubbish they were not.

I once made a miniature table with barley twist stem all handworked and not incredibly difficult when you get the hang of it, I didn't even own a lathe.probably it is easier to do with a half round rasp than a chisel

A router lathe is the easiest way of producing them these days.

[chuck1]

I have a book from 1920 and it has how to markout and carve twists by hand. Fairly simple but time consuming, if you do lots though I'm sure you could pump them out.
Not much call for it these days.
I've got a cheap router lathe and it has its limits with length, diameter and twist length. There is a few threads on here about doing them by hand.