Ornamental turning

Ornamental turning is a type of turning, a craft that involves cutting of a work mounted in a lathe. The work can be made of any material that is suitable for being cut in this way, such as wood, bone, ivory or metal. Plain turning is work executed on a lathe where a transverse section through any part of the work comprises a plain circle. Ornamental turning, also called Complex turning, is executed on a lathe with attachments which convert that plain circular section to variants of outline; these range from a simple series of cuts taken at intervals around the work (so producing grooves or bumps on the surface) to non-circular movements whereby the whole of the circular shape is removed to give a completely different form. Such shapes are achieved by various means, the principal ones being:

Ornamental turning is believed to have originated in Bavaria in the latter part of the 15th century when it consisted mostly of rose-work, being done by using a cam or template (called a rosette) mounted on the lathe spindle and allowing the to rock under tension of a spring or weight, to follow the contour on the edge of the rosette: also the spindle was allowed to slide to and fro endwise under tension of another spring, or weight, to follow the contour on the face of the rosette. Thus, as the work was rotated it rocked and traversed so that the cutting tool produced wavy lines upon the surface or the cylinder. Before the end of the 18th century, cutting tools were generally hand-held or clamped to a fixed 'rest'. The slide rest, which allows the cutter to slide along the rest under control of a leadscrew, although invented before 1480, was not in general use until much later. It is clear from surviving examples of their work that the skill of the early turners was highly developed.

In response to growing interest by wealthy and great patrons, including several of the royal families of Europe, two great works on the art and science of turning were published in France:. Meanwhile, turning technology was being developed in England where the practice of arresting the work from point to point (by a division plate) and applying a revolving cutter (held in an improved slide rest) was employed. By the beginning of the 19th century John Jacob Holtzapffel had established his workshop in London and built a reputation as a maker of high-class lathes and tools. Many of his customers were among the monarchs and nobility of Europe and England became the world centre for the pastime of ornamental turning. The Holtzapffel firm continued to make lathes until 1927 by which time they had produced a total of 2557, serially numbered, many of which were equipped for ornamental turning. Other engineers copied or varied his designs but none were so prolific in their manufacture.

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