Keywords: Back-knife lathe (Carpentry and Joinery, 1925).jpg Back-knife lathe This is a form of automatic lathe used for mass-production turning of complex shapes such as staircase spindles lamp standards etc Rough turning of the square blank is done with front-mounted tools on the saddle C in the usual way Once roughed the pre-arranged and pre-shaped back knives K are lowered vertically on the carriage H under the action of its weight This forms a repeatable profile often a complex curve As the knife edge is skewed cutting only occurs at one point at a time reducing the forces on the lathe 7 54 IV Specialized lathes |