Driving the Work - Lathe Headstock Centers

5 Ways of driving things in the latheWe've talked a lot about our folding treadle lathe. But let's not lose sight of the attachments, which also deserve our focus.When using a lathe, the work is driven by the headstock and supported, if necessary, by the tailstock. Bowls and similar pieces can be gripped or screwed on to the headstock and wouldn't need tailstock support. A long spindle can be held multiple of ways, but it is driven by the headstock, and the tailstock simply functions to support it. Old turning manuals show a million ways of holding the work. If you look at 19th century and pre-19th century depictions of lathe tools and attachments, you'll see a lot of effort devoted to driving the work. The reason is very simple: Turners of that era did not have our wonderfully made three- and four-jaw universal chucks. They also didn't have standard interchangeable tapers and threads. Modern wood lathes all have hollow spindles, so some-sort-of center tasked with holding the work…