Wanna whitewash this here fence?
Folks’ll come up to me when I’m workin’ on the foot lathe… the Spring Pole Lathe and I’ll always greet ‘em. “How ya’ll doin’?”
Naturally, they say “Fine. And you?”
That’s their first mistake!
“I’m tired,” Says I. “Been treadlin’ this here foot lathe all day long and I’m just bout worn out. Who here wants to give it a spin?”
There’s usually one intrepid soul that’ll step (or get shoved) forward and will take a turn at the foot lathe’s treadle. It’s not easy… about 35 to 40 pounds of force is required on every stroke. If the victi… er… volunteer is a young’un, I’ll reach up and grab the pole to assist. I have been known to hold the pole up to tease some of the young fellas, too.
Whilst they’re a treadlin’, I tell em about the history of the foot lathe and that a fot lathe operator was called a Bodger. A Bodger, I’ll say, was a person who turned chair legs and spreaders for Windsor chairs and so they had a reputation for only doing half the job… they didn’t finish out the chair. Since they’re just treadlin’ they’re only doing one quarter the job so they must be a Bod… or a Ger.
‘Course there was one fella that told me I had the easiest job around! I only use one leg and only cut on the down stroke… I’m only working 1/4 of the time!
So come on down and get yourself half a title and a little exercise! I’ll be waiting!
