Bodging on a pole lathe: the setup, the wood, and your first projects

1. What bodging is

The original bodger was the itinerant turner who worked at the woods, converting green beech and other standing timber into chair legs and rungs on a lathe light enough to carry between jobs. The craft name survives for anyone turning green wood on a pole lathe: no motor, no dry lumber, no dust extractor — foot power through a spring pole or treadle, and sharp hand tools doing the cutting.

• Green wood cuts clean and fast — fibers shear wet instead of crumbling dry, which is why bodgers never waited for seasoning.
• The lathe is portable and silent — a pole lathe breaks down to a frame, a pole, a cord and a tool rest; it lives in a shed, not a shop.
• The trade is chair work — legs, stretchers, spindle backs; household pieces like rolling pins and potato mashers make the same skills useful.

2. Tool rest: height, gap and angle

The rest is the one part of a pole lathe you touch every cut. Set it level with the spindle centerline for gouges, and about ⅛″ (3 mm) above center for skew chisels and parting tools, so the bevel rides where the cut happens. Keep the gap to the workpiece at ⅛″ (3 mm) — close enough to brace the tool against a catch, far enough that the running blank never strikes it.

• Angle follows the cut, not the tool — swing the rest to present the tool's bevel square to the work; a rest locked parallel for every cut forces bad presentations.
• Rest stock — 1″ × ½″ (25 × 12 mm) mild steel bar is the standard; seasoned hardwood 1½″ × 1″ works for a first build and is replaced when it chips.
• Overhang — the rest should carry at least 2″ past your tool travel at each end so you never finish a cut off the support.
• Everything on this card is dimensioned on the printable tool-rest setup card — tape it inside the shed door.

3. The spring pole: wood, size and cord

The pole is the return spring. Treadle down and the cord wraps the foot-wheel; the pole bends and stores the pull that winds the work back up. A dead pole makes every cut a fight against the mechanism.

• Species — hazel and ash are the classics: straight-grained, light, and they flex thousands of cycles without taking a set. Willow and split bamboo work in a pinch; anything brittle or knotty is a repair job waiting.
• Size — a sapling around 2″ (50 mm) at the thin end, mounted thin-end-out, and long enough (typically 6–8 ft) to flex over the lathe's height.
• Cord — historically leather or braided cord; today a length of nylon mason line or a bungee cord (the common modern swap) does the same job and resists stretch-out.
• Geometry — cord drops plumb from the pole tip to the foot-treadle string; keep the treadle pivot to cord a bit over half the treadle length so the stroke stays smooth.

4. Green-wood blank sizing

Blank sizing is where new bodgers waste stock: green wood moves as it dries, and both ends give up length to mounting. The working rule — ¼″ oversize on diameter, ¾″ of waste at each end, rounded up to the nearest ½″ — is precomputed here and built into the project planner.

Both allowances are already applied — the planner printable uses the same sizing rule, so a plan row and a bought-in blank never disagree.

5. Beginner path: first four projects

1. Potato masher — one straight spindle, one diameter, a bead or two; the whole piece practices roughing-out and consistent sizing with a parting tool.
2. Rolling pin — a long tapered spindle: teaches riding the rest along the work and keeping a line true over 10″+ of length.
3. Stool legs & rungs — the real bodging work: matched pairs, tenons with a parting tool and calipers, and drying-time planning (turn tenons slightly oversize; green shrinkage makes the joint).
4. Chair-back spindles — gentle curves and coves with a spindle gouge; by this point rest height, pole tension and sharpening are habits, not checklists.

Green-wood turning safety notes

• Face shield every session — a green blank can let go at the pith or a hidden check with no warning; safety glasses are not face protection.
• Speed to the blank — pole lathes are slow by nature, which is their safety margin: keep it that way, and never motorize the impulse without redoing every mounting.
• Hand-spin the work first — a full revolution by hand proves the blank clears the rest, the cord and the bed before you commit your feet.
• Bevel faces the wood, hands behind the edge — cut with the bevel rubbing, and never let a finger cross the path the tool would take on a catch.
• Sharp tools, no loose cloth — stop the lathe to clear shavings; sleeves rolled, no gloves at the rotating work, no jewelry.
• Log the setup — run the tool-rest setup card and the project planner so every session starts from a checked rig, not memory.

Frequently asked questions