Crazy turner or so I think...

I vote for crazy, especially at the beginning. There are much safer ways to rough out a log. He was also wearing nothing in the way of protective gear. But from the looks of things, he's been doing things his way for a long time, so it must be a method he's comfortable with.
 
I would say he's a highly skilled professional using a lathe designed for the purpose, and tools that are adequate for the job. The lack of safety equipment did bother me. In my town there is a water-powered lathe about the same size - about 5m between centres, and probably 60cm capacity. Say, 30cm from the centre to the bed. It was used for making things like this man is using here. I wonder if they needed a steady rest for it.
 
I vote for crazy, especially at the beginning. There are much safer ways to rough out a log. He was also wearing nothing in the way of protective gear. But from the looks of things, he's been doing things his way for a long time, so it must be a method he's comfortable with.

I think the only protective gear that would work would be if he turned from inside a Abrams tank :eek:
He sure has brass.
 
They left out one very important step, How did he get that log up on the lathe in the first place?

Definitely crazy.
 
I think the only protective gear that would work would be if he turned from inside a Abrams tank :eek:
He sure has brass.

I think he is crazy period. As Bob said if things went wrong I am not sure any normal safety gear would help him.

In a lot of cases, injuries happen not from the entire pierce coming loose and hitting you, but from a chunk of the blank coming loose and whacking you in the face. Granted, he's roughing at pretty slow speed, so the velocity of any projectiles will be pretty low at the beginning of the process, but once he gets it round he's increasing the speed to the point where I'd sure want something covering my face.
 
Although I'm no turner, with all that vibration I wondered about the resistance of the end points as IMHO the one in the left of the turner looks rather thin to me. Also the lateral whack that he gives to the log to center it without loosening it or tightening it afterwards made me doubt.
 
Absolute insanity. That man is asking for death. When I quit farming I considered saving my old diesel tractor and using the PTO to run a giant lathe. But, after some figuring on how sturdy the lathe and rest would have to be it came to be in the several thousands of dollars for steel and welding. Plus the tools would have to be much-much larger. What he is using is just plain nutso.
 
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