Thought you guys might like this video I found....

[Jack Gaskins]

This gentleman does some beautiful work and has one of the biggest wood lathes I have ever seen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knc0IT4PdFo

[Greg Just]

Vigil is amazing. Our club was fortunate to get to meet him and he was also at the AAW Symposium in June. Very personable guy and he does amazing stuff!

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is amazing. That lathe was hugh.

[Marty Eargle]

Truly amazing and inspirational stuff there. Don't know if I could keep my shorts clean with a chuck of wood that big spinning at me.

[Jeff Hamilton Jr.]

I've seen videos on Virgil before: what an artist! To think of, design and execute pieces like that is beyond most of our imaginations.

[Rick Markham]

Thanks for posting this, I really enjoyed watching him. Pretty awesome guy, that lathe is unbelievable... but I want to see his hollowing rig. I wish they would have shown the round spherical form in the background of one of the gallery shots, but the spherical walnut crotch was spectacular. I would really like to see some of his work in person, he certainly has flawless finishes.

[Jack Gaskins]

Can you imagine the hours he puts in just sanding one of his pieces. And in the video he is whereing magnification googles. Holy crap. I dont think I would have the patience to sand that large a piece. And did you see his gigantic microwave that he made himself.

[Russell Eaton]

very cool video, thanks a lot for sharing it.

[Paul Heely]

Amazing work. I bet cleaning up the mess takes almost as long as turning the piece, never mind the time spends sanding and finishing.

[Nathan Hawkes]

Thanks for sharing! I've seen a video of Virgil Leih's work before, but this is much more in depth. What a monster of a lathe!!! I'm in awe of it, and in envy of the shop space he has to work in!!!

[charlie knighton]

saw some of his work at st paul, it is awesome in person, good viedio thanks for sharing

[Jeff Fagen]

When I talked to him in St.Paul he explained how he uses a 4" grinder mounted on the lathe's tool carriage with a chain saw type blade for hollowing.He is all about safety.It's just a retirement hobbie for him but he funded his new cabin in Ely,MN. with sales of these forms some of which were around $5,000.

[Wally Dickerman]

That lathe is the perfect one for turning really big stuff. Wonder what it was designed to do. He did all of his rough turning with a chain saw and a power carver. I wonder if he ever uses conventional turning tools.

[Primvs Aebvtivs]

Just watched that video. amazed, to say the least! Lovely finishes on all his stuff, but you'd expect it, wouldn't you? He obviously spends a LOT of time doing it, and it's worth it imho.

[Josh Bowman]

Thanks, that was fun to watch, what great art. Who's going to be the first to gloat buying a fork lift?

[Rich Aldrich]

That is amazing. He is on the opposite end of the spectrum as John Keeton as far as size of turnings. His shop appears to be huge with some really nice equipment.

[Baxter Smith]

Pretty neat! Thanks for posting

[Bill Bukovec]

I met Virgil at the Excelsior, MN art fair one year and also saw the exibit at the Arboretum.

He has more energy than 99% of the people I meet.

He is as nice in person as he appears on the video.

I just hope I have that much energy when I'm 64.

[Ryan Baker]

That's some big stuff! Very impressive.