Waldo

I went into woodworking a couple years ago and bought all new equipment. Now I find that I have to find a hobbie that I can sit down and do. I have been thinking about one of the small wood lathes for making pens and bowls. My question is,can this be done sitting on a stool.
I feel like crap about the entire thing but that does not help,I need to get on with life. Can some one who uses one of these type lathes give me feed back on what I would need.
Thank you Waldo

John in Tennessee

The only thing I bought new was the band say. Health turned south and here I sit..
If something doesn't improve 'm selling the tools and boat..

firehawkmph

Waldo,
You may be able to use one of the small lathes sitting down. But before you go out and buy one, I would try and find someone local who has one and try it out first. It may be a matter of mounting it to a bench at a particular working height. The only lathe I have seen that advertises it as a sitting down lathe is a One Way. They have a model where the whold bed and head and tailstock tilts 90 degrees so you can sit on a stool and use it. Most are made to used standing up, but if you are doing smaller projects, I think you could use one of the mini's and make it work.
Mike Hawkins

Jim Tank

Waldo.... Check out chip carving on panels..like jewelry box lids & side panels... or letter boxes..these can be done sitting down, the joints can be done with a router table that is mounted on a lower stand. even a table saws legs can be shortened to work with smaller projects like desktop bookracks. One winter I carved soup spoons from ash using a razor knife and a rounded scraper. Sold them in the spring at craft shows for $35 each and bought a lathe, that was in '80. carving 18x24 welcome signs to hang by front door is also a lucritive business for one with some time. I bet once you start "lowering" the ceiling and work surfaces, you'll find all kinds of things to keep you in the sawdust without buying anything else. I work with a contractor who remodels kitchens in cottages from a wheelchair (I just build the cabinets). He is very innovative finding methods to do a remarkable amount of the work and subs out the rest. With straight edges and clamps, I have taught several teens to build birdhouses and feeders with just a router for cutting pieces and mouldings. I'll bet you have alot of experience making do with what you have and being innovative on accomplishing all sorts of things that folks would look at as "improbable". Best of all things and keep us posted on what you are doing.

Streamwinner

I took a class on relief carving at Woodcraft last month and really enjoyed it. It's something you can really sit and focus on.

rusty baker

Sroll saw work can be done sitting down.

TS3660

I bet if you tilt the lathe slightly, top toward you maybe 20 degrees, you could be very comfortable sitting and working.

__________________
Bud

"Capitalism is the unequal sharing of wealth: Socialism is the equal sharing of misery"

jeffreythree

Here is a link to a thread on another forum about wheelchair woodworking access. There are nice pics about halfway down of a lowered drill press, mobile base mini lathe, and even a lowered TS. I have considered some of these problems so my wife (in a wheelchair) can use some of my tools or at least a workbench.
http://lumberjocks.com/topics/5356
General also makes a line for sit down use, but expensive top of the line stuff:
http://www.general.ca/site_access/access_en.html

__________________
Some people collect tools, I collect wood Now as complete trees, too!
http://texaswoodlot.blogspot.com
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frankp

I would say scroll sawing would be a good option. You can do incredible projects without much need for large parts and the saws that I've seen are almost all capable of being mounted at a height that would be usable from a seated position.

__________________
"I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!"

--Theodore Roosevelt

Mike Gager

well you didnt mention why you need to work sitting, i assume back or leg injuries?

anyways try to get a tall rolling drafting chair, they are like a regular office chair but they go up a lot higher since most mechanical draftsmen use large boards and do a lot of work at standing height. with one of those you could probably do just about anything you want

here are some on amazon http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=1069142

i have one in my shop and roll all over the place with it


you will probably have to redesign some of your workstations to allow you to use them while sitting but shouldnt be too difficult

Gerry KIERNAN

Hi Waldo

Have a look at wood intarsia. The pieces are all small, and so you can use smaller tools, like a small bench sander, band saw, scroll saw, spindle sander, etc. It is still enjoyable woodworking, but most of it could be done sitting down. For assembly work you could use a drafting style table that tilts toward you. You could also look at making small boxes, jewellry cabinets or tool boxes.
I do not know what you have for equipment, but some of it could probably be lowered or modified so that you could use it safely in a sitting position.
Mike's suggestion of a rolling chair makes good sense too, so you can move around between your equipment in a sitting position.

Good luck finding a new hobby.

Gerry