The Lathe and the Mandrels

This is the lathe.  After the piece of wood has been placed on the mandrel (metal stick between two points) is spins really fast.  During the spinning, one shapes the wood with various lethal looking tools.

Some are for making curves or spindels others are for gently shaping.  Kinda cool looking and extremely sharp edges.

 These are several mandrels after they have come off the lathe.  They have some shellac applied to seal the wood.  This is the stage before finish and assembly into their letter openers or pen hardware.