Etzgebirge lathe work called Reifendrehen

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

Carl Mesaros mentioned a German town where there are more wood lathes than families. Watch this guy and what he does.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoRJT9L-kf8&t=136s

[Robert Henrickson]

This the hoop, or ring, turning process I mentioned in the carousel thread. A good summary video of the process.

[Olaf Vogel]

Fascinating! Reminds me of some of the Japanese turners. Different techniques. But highly efficient.

And with the cost of labour in Germany, surprising that anyone still does this.

[Doug Rasmussen]

<p>
I used to do a similar thing for my kids. Rather than turn the profile I would make the profile in long pieces of wood with the table saw and shaper using various stock profile cutters, quite a bit easier than turning the largish blank. Their favorites were little cars. From an 8 foot 2 x 4 we would get enough cars for the whole neighborhood.</p>

[John Sincerbeaux]

Erzgebirge is an amazing town that is steeped in toy making tradition. It is where Stienert lathes have been produced for generations. Checkout Steinert lathes. About 4 years ago, Steinert bought the rights to the VB36 and now produces that lathe.
My VB 36 is the very first VB to be produced in Germany and was the flagship VB painted in Steinert colors.
My wife and took a trip to Germany to checkout The Steinert factory and met the Steinert brothers who are 3rd generation Steinerts producing their lathes.
Erzgebirge is really a magical town in an amazing part of Germany.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

there is so much that I would like to see in Germany, Switzerland and Austria that I would have to spend 4 months there. Ancestors came from South Western Germany and Alsace Lorraine, when it was still Germanic. A few were the Dutchy of Zweibrucken now part of Germany. One in particular was a Dutch Mennonite and escaped to Germany. His father was not so lucky and was executed in Amsterdam for being a Mennonite. They all came to Pennsylvania from Germany in the very late 1600's and early 1700's.