Wood turning is really original thought and ability reflected into wood through the skill of a tool. It is the final state of patience and attention in wood, the remarkable form a master brings out through his labour.
How many people can you find today practising this trade at the lathe with love and patience? Those left in the craft are almost countable on the fingers of one hand, because wood turning too has sadly taken its place among the trades on the verge of disappearing.
We talked a little about the craft with İsmail Işıkçeviren, who has carried on wood turning for five generations in the Bedesten Bazaar — Konya's most important centre of trade and life for centuries.
Let us look at the history of the wood-turning trade and also draw on the experience of our master.
The History of Wood Turning and the Spinning Wheel
The spinning wheel was most probably invented in India between AD 500 and 1,000. In the Middle Ages it travelled through Central Asia to Europe and replaced the spindle used for spinning thread. The first stage in mechanising the spinning of thread was to place the spindle horizontally so that it could be turned by hand by a large wheel.
The great wheel is an example in which the fibres are held in the left hand while the wheel is slowly turned with the right. Holding the fibres at a certain angle to the turning spindle produces the desired twist.
The first improvements appear in the 16th century. These continued until 1790, when the first wheel with a spindle turning on its own axis appeared in the United States. In more modern wheels, mechanical methods were used to turn the spindle and draw the fibres, and it became possible to run several spindles at very high speed at once.
In newer technologies this speed was increased further still using friction systems, air-jet and open-end systems.
Kinds of Spinning Wheel
The Great Wheel
The great wheel is one of the oldest types. The fibres are held in the left hand and the wheel turned slowly with the right. It suits the long-draw spinning technique well, because in that technique generally only one hand is active and the other can turn the wheel. Wool is usually spun on the great wheel.
The Double-Drive Wheel
Instead of one large wheel it has two small ones. The second wheel, between the first and the spindle, consists of two cylinders — one smaller — that turn together on the same axis. The first wheel turns the smaller of the second pair, and the larger of the second turns the spindle.
This wheel is smaller in size but, like the great wheel, is used by hand in a two-stage back-and-forth motion.
Spinning wheels are simple machines, often used for drawing water from wells, at looms in textile mills and, in the past, for spinning wool. Thanks to the wheel it is possible to obtain thread from wool.
The Treadle Wheel
Wheels of this kind are driven by the user's foot rather than the hand. The user sits and turns the wheel with a crank arm and treadle attached to the driving wheel. In this way both of the user's hands are free for spinning.
Here the drive wheel is heavy and, thanks to the momentum of its rotation, the speed hardly varies, which helps produce an even result.
What Is Wood Turning?
Humanity's curiosity to improve, beautify and make useful the tools and implements that met its needs gave rise to wood turning, as it did to many other trades.
The trade is also known popularly as "haratlık". Wood turning is one of the rare crafts to have survived to our day. Levelling work once done with simple cutting tools came in time to be done on lathes. Alongside the handles of cutting, piercing, scoring and breaking tools, the wooden shafts of arrows, the legs and rails of tables, chairs and lecterns, some wooden parts of musical instruments and a variety of children's toys began to come from the hands of the masters working at these hand lathes.
The Journey of Raw Wood on the Lathe
The trigger board keeps the strap coming from the straight side of the bow either taut or slack. The turner winds this cord once around the piece of wood he is going to turn, then clamps the wood between the iron points of the side pieces. Then, passing through the machine, the pieces take shape in the master's skilful hands and the products emerge.
Before the wood is worked, the first stage is to clean off the excess that they call burr. For this they use a knife called a "gürez", the tip of which is shaped like a half-moon. Once the roughness is taken off, the wood is given the desired form with knives. Finally it is polished off with the finest sandpaper.
Here all the skill falls to the master turner. Working both hands and both feet with great dexterity, they make tools and implements of remarkable beauty and offer them to those who appreciate them.
I Started the Trade at My Father's Side at the Age of Five
The master turner İsmail Işıkçeviren said that wood turning is his ancestral trade. It is a craft passed from generation to generation.
"I, İsmail Işıkçeviren, am trying to keep a trade that has spread from generation to generation from disappearing. I began coming to my father from the age of five and learning at his side. My grandfather taught my father. I came to the trade at five. Now, at 54 and with two grandchildren, I am trying to keep the craft alive."
Our master describes the things they make like this:
"Every wood has qualities of its own. So different products come out of each. Zurnas and pulleys are made from wild apricot, because it has no grain and is very easy to work. From oak we make spinning tops, railing posts, mortars, pestles, chair parts — things that need to be durable and strong.
On the draw lathe we make cigarette holders, garlic crushers, pulleys, hammer handles and handles of every sort. That said, the wood turners' favourite wood is the plane tree. So much so that, as the masters say, God seems to have created this tree for wood turners. What gives them the most trouble is oak: it is durable and very hard, and naturally it works whoever is working it just as hard.
Oak, much used for handles, is called 'zindiyan' in the dialect of Gaziantep. We make oven peels, rolling pins and bread boards. Another product we love making is the spinning top. The present generation hardly knows them. But when we were small we played with tops. With baby walkers and bouncers and other toys children enjoy, we add a little to their delight."
Do You Have Hope for the Future of Wood Turning?
The future of this trade, along with much else, is tightly bound to the survival of our forests. The few remaining master turners, however much they depend on wood, are in a trade under threat from technology. Although wood turning is not much valued in Konya today, a certain group of people still appreciate what we make. But we cannot find the apprentices who would carry the trade forward. No apprentice wants to work in dust and dirt.
Our master İsmail Işıkçeviren said that this trade, like many others, will take its place in the dusty pages of history:
"As the fifth generation carrying on within our own family a trade that came from our forebears, we practise wood turning. With the new generation coming up, wood turning has come face to face with the danger of disappearing. The generation after me will not be able to carry this trade on. Apprentices do not come anyway. Most prefer to work in industry. Young people generally prefer work where they can be comfortable, without dust and dirt. So as a master I cannot find an apprentice for the trade. There used to be many masters working at it. But in Konya they have dwindled to a number you can count on your fingers.
Some of our fellow citizens see work made by hand and by the labour of the eye as worthless; as someone who has given years to this trade, that saddens me. For now this banister work fills my spare time, and thanks to those who know the worth and value of hand-turned wood I earn my pocket money. So far the Lord has not left me hungry, has not left me exposed, has not made me dependent on anyone — and, God willing, will not from now on either."
Despite his advancing years, Master İsmail does what he can and does not break away from the trade. So that the craft does not vanish, he comes after the dawn prayer and works until evening on his handmade pieces. Sometimes he buys tea for his fellow tradesmen, and sometimes he simply enjoys drinking his tea in the scent of wood.