{"id":1181,"date":"2010-01-18T18:27:02","date_gmt":"2010-01-18T22:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/?p=1181"},"modified":"2010-01-20T20:26:53","modified_gmt":"2010-01-21T00:26:53","slug":"woodworking-in-the-backwoods-at-the-end-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/woodworking-projects\/woodworking-in-the-backwoods-at-the-end-of-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Wood Turning in the Backwoods at the End of the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this guest blog post, Jim King takes on a tour, so to speak, of his turning shop down in Peruvian Amazon.\u00a0 I hope you enjoy his humor and enlightening pictures from a fairly primitive set up. <\/em> <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 Mark Stephens <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Typical<\/a>

Typical of the woods and turnings<\/p><\/div>\n

\"My<\/a>

My tools are made of car springs, old files, wrench handles, a broken off machete ....<\/p><\/div>\n

Wood turning is one of the oldest crafts in the world and has been done with very primitive but creative tools.\u00a0\u00a0 Most of the world does not have the big boys\u2019 toy stores for woodworkers as in North America, but woodworking still goes on all over the world.<\/p>\n

A typical Amazonian turning shop is a little rough around the edges.\u00a0 The electricity comes and goes and materials and tools may or may not be found.\u00a0\u00a0 One thing is very noticeable, and that\u2019s no one complains.<\/p>\n

I will show how wood turning gets done with tools that would be banned in many parts of the world.\u00a0 The carpenter shop shown and described here was mine in the Upper Amazon of Peru.\u00a0 Coming from a woodworking background where I had a sander for each problem and tools of any and all types I had to reinvent myself in the Amazon.\u00a0\u00a0 When you are in desperate need of a tool or machine to do a job and have a good bottle of rum to make the mind move, solutions just appear.<\/p>\n

Here is a photo of my lathe and some of the tools.\u00a0 The lathe was made of some pipe and iron from an oil company and cost almost $300 complete.\u00a0 It works well but the head stock and tail stock are about \u00bc inch from being aligned.\u00a0 Amazing but that creates very little problem.\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how many RPMs it turns; the plate on the motor was missing as it was probably stolen somewhere along the line.\u00a0 I would guess it to be about a five horse and it does go fast.<\/p>\n

Enjoy the pictures and commentary.<\/p>\n

HAPPY TURNING FROM THE JUNGLE<\/p>\n\n\t\t