Turned wood describes wooden components or objects shaped on a lathe, a machine that rotates the wood while the turner shapes it with chisels and gouges. Turning produces symmetrical, rounded forms such as legs, stretchers, spindles, balusters, finials, bowls and boxes, and it is one of the oldest woodworking techniques.
In English furniture, turning was a separate trade from joinery and cabinetmaking for centuries, and the skills of turners can be seen in the heavy bulbous legs of Elizabethan tables, the bobbin, ball and barley-twist turning of the seventeenth century, the spindles of Windsor and ladder-back chairs, and the elegant reeded legs of Regency furniture. Small turned objects, known as treen, include bowls, cups, boxes, snuff boxes and kitchen utensils, often made from sycamore, boxwood, lignum vitae and fruitwoods. Early turning was produced on pole or treadle lathes and shows slight irregularities, while later machine turning is more uniform. Crisp, well-proportioned turning is a sign of quality and craftsmanship.
