Pole-lathe Turners

Veronica Upton, James Sully, E. J. T. Collins

© Paul Felix

Further information relating to appendices, graphs, statistical data and

questionnaires can be found on the website: www.craftsintheenglishcountryside.org.uk
 Pole-lathe
Introduction
Turners
The pole-lathe is a primitive form of lathe operating on the reciprocating principle and is
powered by means of a foot pedal or treadle. Up to the mid-nineteenth century it was widely
used for the manufacture of mop and broom handles, brush stocks, chair legs, textile bobbins,
hollow ware and all manner of turned objects for use, manufacturing and the home.
© Museum of English Rural Life

© Museum of English Rural Life

Chair-leg turning on semi-automatic wheel lathe (c.1940)

making tool handles and kitchen and domestic wares from

Chair-leg turning on pole-lathe (c.1910)
By the 1920s, pole-lathes had been very largely superseded
by automatic lathes powered by steam, electricity or oil-
engines, and turnery transformed from a small workshop
or, in the case of ‘bodgers’ – i.e. chair-leg-turners in the
Chilterns – from a woodland or small workshop into a
factory trade. Among the survivals noted in the early 1920s
by Fitz Randolph and Hay in their report on the woodland
industries, were the 100 or so men employed at a large
timber yard at Wellington (Shropshire) turning wooden
bowls on pole-lathes, a few small firms of bobbin-makers
still using hand lathes in the West Riding, and the remnants
of a once thriving community of bowl-turners at Kingscliffe
in Northamptonshire. The inter-war years saw the virtual
disappearance of chair-bodging in the Chilterns, with only
9 bodgers at work in the Wycombe area in 1939. The last
practitioner, based at Hampden Wood, died in 1965. The
treadle lathe ceased to be used for bowl-turning in West
Wales from the 1940s, but survived in West Berkshire until
the death of George Lailey, the last of the Bucklebury
turners, in 1958.
The tradition of hand-turning on semi-automatic
lathes (as against pole-lathes) held up longer. Up to the
1960s, many rural districts had a local turnery works
locally grown birch, willow, alder, sycamore and ash. These
gradually closed until, by the early 1990s, a bare one or
two were still in production. In the north-west, the Stott
Park Bobbin Mill ceased commercial production around
1980. Whereas in the early 1950s more than 62 million
tool handles were made annually in England and Wales,
today they are almost all imported. A secondary effect of
the closure of the rural turneries was to destroy what in
many coppice-growing districts had been the last bulk
market for poles. The once thriving Chesham
(Buckinghamshire) beech wood industry had by 1980 been
reduced to just one or two small firms. One old-established
firm was forced to give up because of shortages of hand-
turners and the difficulty in attracting trainees. It closed its
doors in 1978 with a full order book.
Having been given a lease of life by the Arts and Crafts
movement at the end of the nineteenth century, and by
random survivals here and there in Wales and southern
England, pole-lathing then died out completely for a few
years from the mid-1960s until its revival at the end of the
following decade.
The renaissance was in large measure the achievement
of Mike Abbott, a science graduate, whose interest was
aroused by a chance reading of H. L. Edlin’s book on

148 Crafts in the English Countryside: Towards a Future

 © Paul Felix
Mike Abbott, pole-lathe craftsman, Herefordshire
woodland crafts, which contained some photographs of
bodgers. Abbott set up his first pole-lathe in the early
1980s, and in 1985 established Living Wood Training, an
organisation dedicated to teaching greenwood skills and
promoting their potential. In 1989 he produced the
definitive textbook, Green Woodwork, now in its 8th
printing, having sold 30,000 copies. The Association of Pole-
Lathe Turners was formed in 1990 with a founding
membership of 6, which has now risen to more than 550.
Originating out of the Green Movement of the 1970s, and
the search for an alternative lifestyle of sustainability
combined with craftsmanship, the pole-lathe is symbolic
of the woodcraft revival and its philosophy.
The essential feature of green woodwork is the use of
freshly cut unseasoned wood, preferably coppice or a
maiden tree, cleft along the grain for strength and ease of
working. After cleaving, the length of the wood is shaped
further using traditional hand tools, shaving horse and
pole-lathe. Where the original bodgers and mop-stick
turners had made rough semi-finished wares, the modern
pole-lathe turner makes whole items of quality furniture,
principally chairs, the best of which sell for hundreds of
pounds. Other products include bowls, platters and a wide
range of decorative items, from baby’s rattles and bobbins
to wooden containers made from birch wood by a
Gloucestershire turner and used by a fashionable Chelsea
restaurant for serving petits fours (Waitrose Food
Illustrated, April 2004, p. 26).
As with other greenwood crafts, there is no system of
certificated training in or outside the NVQ and Modern
Apprenticeship frameworks. Some 55 courses, aimed
mainly at enthusiasts, ranging from the introductory to the
advanced, are organised by or under the auspices of the
Association of Pole-Lathe Turners. Many of the leading
training providers offer green woodwork and chair-making
in their teaching programmes. Living Wood
Training, based at Clissett Wood in Herefordshire, is
running 14 courses in 2004, each of 3–6 days,
priced at £130–£250, together with personal
tuition at £60–£90 per person per day. Gudrum
Leitz, a leading practitioner and teacher, stages her
own series of courses each summer at the same
venue. A high proportion of respondents to the
Pole-Late Turners’ Survey have attended at least
one training course in the 5 years up to 2003 (see
Appendix A below).
The Association of Pole-Lathe Turners has
broadened its terms of reference to embrace the
greenwood crafts as a whole. A high proportion of
the membership comprises recent entrants from
the ‘new tradition’, drawn from a wide range of
social and occupational backgrounds, many of
them technical, scientific and managerial leading
professionals who derive a substantial income
from teaching and demonstration. Pole-lathe
turners are sometimes referred to as the
‘aristocrats’ of the greenwood industry, the most
educated and the most middle class. Abilities
range from the highly skilled with international
reputations, to the barely competent beginners.
All share the same high degree of enthusiasm for
the craft and its traditions.
The Membership of the Association, which
grew strongly over the 1990s, has now levelled off.
A feature of recent years has been a discernable
shift of emphasis from traditional to designer
wares, and historical exactitude to self-expression.
Pole-lathe turnery and furniture making are high
added-value crafts, selling mainly to better-off
customers. This exclusiveness is reflected by the
interest shown in the ‘Chairs 2004’ event held at
the National Arboretum, Westonbirt, in May. The
cost of tickets for the 2-day event, including meals,
was £135–£170, which sets the turners apart from
other sections of the industry.
Of the present membership, probably fewer
than 50 can be described as professional
woodworkers, depending on their craftwork for
all or a significant part of their income. For the
majority, it is a leisure-time activity, though many
make occasional sales.
Crafts in the English Countryside: Towards a Future 149
 Pole-lathe Turners
Analysis of Responses to
Pole-Lathe Turners’ Questionnaire
Personal profile
There were 25 responses from pole-lathe turners, 21 (84%)
of whom were male. Of respondents, 80% reside in villages
or the countryside, 20% in towns and none in cities. Pole-
lathe turners were asked how many years they had lived at
their present location and if they had moved there from
another part of the country. These answers revealed an
average period of residence of 22 years and a high level of
mobility; nearly two-thirds originally resided in another
part of the UK, 54% of whom had relocated to villages or
the countryside. The average age was 47 years, ranging
from a minimum of 23 to a maximum of 63.
Tessa Bunney
Bodgers at work
Professional profile
The questionnaire reveals disproportionately large numbers
entering the industry between the ages of 25 and 40
(60%), the youngest age of entry being 24 (4%) while the
remaining 9 (36%) entered in their 40s or later. The
average age of starting is 38 years and the average number
of years worked as a pole-lathe turner is 9, distributed
across age bands as follows and reflecting the newness of
the craft in its revived form.
Overall, working time is approximately equally divided
between chair-making (39%), treen, bowls, etc. (29%) and
teaching/demonstrations (33%), although those employed
full-time in the industry spend more in teaching/
150 Crafts in the English Countryside: Towards a Future
demonstrations (38%) and chair-making (35%), and less in
making treen, bowls, etc. (19%). Pole-lathe turners work an
average of 30 hours per week, but, where it is their sole
occupation, this average increases to 38. Nearly half of all
respondents have another occupation.
The overwhelming majority of respondents had no
formal apprenticeship (96%), are either self-taught or
learnt the craft by a combination of self-taught and short
courses. In all, 44% have/had a mentor to turn to for help
and advice. In view of the lateness of the revival of pole-
lathe turnery, in
© Paul Felix
the 1970s, it is
perhaps not
surprising that
only 32% of
respondents are
related to a
craftsperson. This
survey very
much mirrors
the membership
of the Association of Pole-Lathe Turners in that a high
proportion of respondents are from the ‘new tradition’.
Educational profile
Supporting the notion that pole-lathe turners are the
‘aristocracy’ of the greenwood industry, this survey found
44% of respondents declaring a university degree, 8% a
teaching qualification and 24% an HND or HNC. Training
courses are popular, indeed essential, amongst pole-lathe
turners, with 68% having attended a course in the past five
years and 60% expecting to attend one in the next five.
Leaving aside one individual who found course venues too
far away from his place of residence, the only reason given
for not attending courses was where craftsmen considered
their skills sufficient enough already. Despite their
popularity, more than a third of pole-lathe turners felt
training to be poor and nearly half just adequate.
Asked about specific skills, 40% believe there is a need
for NVQs and 60% for training in business methods; 64%
of respondents pointed to marketing as the area where
there is the greatest need for business training. Book-
keeping (24%), tax returns (20%) and website design
(20%) are also considered necessary. Although 68%
possess limited or more competent computer skills, 32%
confess to being beginners or totally ignorant.
 Business profile
The respondents were, on the whole, optimistic about their
business, with 24 (96%) declaring it to be growing or
stable, and 22 (88%), considering their workloads to be
‘just right’, and only 2 (8%) too heavy, and just one (4%)
with too light a workload. Nearly half have to turn down
offers of work. None reported their trading profits (2002–3)
to be lower than in 1996–7.
© Anne-Katrin Purkiss
Craft demonstration, Weald and Downland Open Air Museum
The most popular sales channels are home or
workshop (mentioned by 76% of respondents), and craft
fairs (72%). Also significant are word of mouth and
exhibitions (both 60%) and agricultural and horticultural
shows (56%). Less frequently used channels include
shops, subcontracting to dealers, garden centres and mail
order, although up to a third of respondents do regularly
use these channels. Most (84%), sell less than a quarter
of their output through middlemen, with two selling
between a quarter and half, and none more than 50%
through this channel.
Overall, 60% of respondents advertise their
products, with promotional leaflets (60%) and personal
websites (60% – a very high proportion compared with
other crafts) the most popular methods. Group websites,
parish magazines and Yellow Pages are used moderately,
but country magazines, newspaper and trade magazines
rarely so.
The undermining of markets by hobbyists is seen by
60% of respondents as the biggest threat to the future of
pole-lathe turning as a commercial occupation.
However, 56% are concerned about foreign
competition, 52% about falling standards of craft
skills, and 44% worry about declining public
interest in craft products.
Appendix A:
Survey of pole-lathe turners
Summary of survey results (25 responses)
Personal profile
1. Gender: 21 male (84% of total)
2. Average age: 47 years
(minimum: 31; maximum: 72)
3. Residence: city 0%; town 20%;
village 40%; countryside 40%
4. Average years of residence: 22
(minimum: 1 year; maximum: 63 years)
5. Percentage having moved from another part
of UK: 64%
Professional profile
6. Average hours worked per week: 30
(minimum: 10; maximum: 65)
7. Sole occupation turners: average 38
8. With another occupation: yes = 48%
9. Age of starting: 38 years
10. Related to a craftsperson: 32%
Training and educational profile
11. How the craft was learned: apprentice: 4%;
self-taught 40%; self-taught plus short course:
56%
12. With a mentor for help and advice: 44%
13. Qualifications: HND: 20%; HNC: 4%; degree:
44%; teaching qualification: 8%
14. Training course in the past year: 4%;
in the past 5 years: 68%
15. Expect training in next 5 years: 60%
Crafts in the English Countryside: Towards a Future 151
 © Dorothy Hollamby
Pole-lathe Turners

16. Reasons for not needing training: already skilled: 32%; 26. Do you advertise products/services? yes: 60%
too expensive: 0%; too far away: 4%;
27. Methods of advertising:
course not on offer: 0%
% of all % of those
17. Adequacy of training: good: 16%; adequate: 44%; respondents that
poor: 36% advertise

18. Need for NVQ: 40% Yellow Pages 12 20

19. Need for training in business methods: 60% Newspapers 4 7
20. Topics in business methods: book-keeping: 24%; Parish magazines 20 33
computing: 12%; computer-aided design: 4%; Countryside magazines 4 7
e-commerce: 12%; website design: 20%;
tax returns: 20%; marketing: 64% Trade magazines 0 0

21. Computer skills: non-existent: 16%; beginner: 16%; Personal website 36 60

limited competence: 56%; more competent: 12%; Organisation/group website 24 40
advanced: 0%
Promotional leaflet 36 60
Business profile
22. Business: growing: 56%; static: 40%; falling: 0%
28. Allocation of professional working time:
23. Compared with 1996–7 trading profits are higher:
Average Max Av. sole
64%; similar: 32%; lower: 0% occupation
24. Sales channels ranked with scores: Chair-making 39 95 35
Scored 1–7 % of total
Treen, bowls, etc. 29 98 19
Word of mouth 6.0 60 Teaching/demonstrations 33 100 38
Craft fairs 5.11 72
Home or workshop 5.3 76 29. Worries about future of pole-lathe turning:
Agricultural/horticultural shows 4.71 56 Score out of 4 % of total
Other 0.71 28 Markets undermined 2.9 60
Shops 4.38 32 by hobbyists
Exhibitions 4.07 60 Foreign competition 2.8 56
Subcontract to dealers 3.5 24 Declining public interest
in craft products 2.7 44
Garden centres 3.33 12
Falling standards of craft skills 2.4 52
Mail order 3.0 16

30. Workload: too light: 4%; just right: 88%; too heavy: 8%
25. Proportion of sales through middlemen
(% of respondents): 31. Having to turn down offers of work: 48%
0–25%: 84
26–50%: 8
51–75%: 0
76–100%: 0

152 Crafts in the English Countryside: Towards a Future