Turning

Turning shapes wood by spinning a blank at speed on a lathe while a cutting tool -- a gouge, skew chisel, or parting tool, held or rested against a tool rest -- removes material as the wood rotates past it. Because the workpiece does the moving rather than the tool, turning naturally produces round, axially symmetric shapes: bowls, spindles, table legs, tool handles, and pens are all turned work.

Spindle turning mounts the blank between two centers (headstock and tailstock) and shapes it along its length -- chair and table legs, handles, pens. Faceplate turning mounts the blank on one end only, usually for bowls and platters where the piece needs to be hollowed from one face. The two use different tool techniques and often different lathe setups, and most turners specialize in, or at least favor, one over the other.