Thread: Question for Woodwould- Barley twist bines.

I set the lathe at the slowest speed (perhaps 150 RPM; I don't have the old lathe any more) and used a spindle gouge. The idea is just to get a bine started which can then be worked on and improved with subsequent passes. Even at the slow speed involved, you have to be prepared to move along sideways at a fairy rapid rate which is not initially intuitive. However, once the bine is established, it's surprisingly easy to follow and refine it.

Give it a go, it will bring a smile to your face!

I will.

What's a "bine"? Aw c'mon, those are turned freehand? I gotta try that too. Bet it will indeed be amusing.

Originally Posted by Texian

What's a "bine"? Aw c'mon, those are turned freehand? I gotta try that too. Bet it will indeed be amusing.

A bine is a thread or helix. Hence Woodbine (or Honeysuckle); the creeper that threads itself around other hedge plants. I think there are other plants with 'bine' in their names too.

Wikipedia to the rescue!

Well my lathe only goes down to 600RPM. A bit too fast. Very hiarious results, but I can see that it might be possible. Even at that speed the chisel starts to go in its own thread. I think a speed where you can see the pencil marks going around would be the go. Will have to try it at 's.

You might still have to come and show us Woodwould.

Originally Posted by tea lady

Well my lathe only goes down to 600RPM. A bit too fast. Very hiarious results, but I can see that it might be possible. Even at that speed the chisel starts to go in its own thread. I think a speed where you can see the pencil marks going around would be the go. Will have to try it at 's.

You're correct, until you've turned one or two, you really need to be able to visually follow the drawn bine.

Originally Posted by tea lady

You might still have to come and show us Woodwould.

You don't need me; you understand the principle and have come close to creating a bine, so all that's required now is practice.

TL there are many ways these are done here's one File:Spiral turning lathe (Carpentry and Joinery, 1925).jpg - Wikimedia Commons

A Jacobean Lathe is another

get a hold of this book by Mortimer [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Techniques-Spiral-Work-Practical-Making/dp/0854420630#reader_0854420630]Amazon.com: Techniques of Spiral Work: A Practical Guide to the Craft of Making Twists by Hand (9780854420636): Stuart Mortimer, Andrew Mortimer: Books[/ame]

approx $95 US
cheap

TL
did you use a gouge or a skew?

PS: I read somewhere that if you do the pencil line, then lightly cut that line with a saw, it is easier to get started with the chisel
can't say if it works as I've not had a go

My lathe only goes down to 350 so I will have to wait untill I have invested in a VS setup.
I do have a plan to start it on the tablesaw and finish on the lathe with rasp and sandpaper. Just need a project that needs a jackobean twists.
Regards
John

Originally Posted by Sawdust Maker

TL
did you use a gouge or a skew?Used a gouge, although the thought did cross my mind that this could be a use for the dreaded skew spiral. If you could repeat it consistently.

PS: I read somewhere that if you do the pencil line, then lightly cut that line with a saw, it is easier to get started with the chisel
can't say if it works as I've not had a go

I was gonna try, when I get a slower lathe to play on, to get the timing by redrawing the pencil line a bit with the lathe going. Then at it with the gouge.

Originally Posted by orraloon

My lathe only goes down to 350 so I will have to wait untill I have invested in a VS setup.
I do have a plan to start it on the tablesaw and finish on the lathe with rasp and sandpaper. Just need a project that needs a jackobean twists.
Regards
John

350 is nearly half of what mine was going. Could be doable.

An American colleague does them by marking a helix on a cylinder using masking tape, then making a saw cut of uniform depth, and finally carving the bine. He probably uses this method as he is mainly a carver, but it seems to work for him.
WW, friends have a table with barleycorn twist legs. Three of the legs have right hand threads, one has left hand. They all seem to be original legs as far as I can tell. What was the convention? All twisting one way, two each way or didn't they worry?

Originally Posted by AlexS

WW, friends have a table with barleycorn twist legs. Three of the legs have right hand threads, one has left hand. They all seem to be original legs as far as I can tell. What was the convention? All twisting one way, two each way or didn't they worry?

Historically, 'barley twist' legs appeared briefly in joyned Oak stools and side tables around 1660 and fell from favour again around 1725. Traditionally, the bines spin clockwise - right-handed, which operation falls naturally to a right-handed turner (Chinnery illustrates an anti-clockwise-legged stool and I've only ever seen one example in the flesh – undoubtedly the work of left-handed turners).

Victorians rediscovered barley twists, and with their propensity to 'improve' everything, often balanced right-handed bines with an equal number of left-handed ones (a bit difficult with a three-legged table, I admit!). Those turnings with left-hand bines were machine made – any hand-made Victorian barley-twists I've seen were all right-handed.

I've seen re-finished and distressed Victorian Oak joyned stools in junk shops with right-hand and left-hand twist legs being sold as 17th century stools. The alternate twists were a bit of a giveaway (see image).