Lathe Set Up

So here is a picture of what the small lathe looks like set up with the wooden pen "blanks". Blanks are basically just blocks of wood that you spin on the lathe. A little insight, you turn the lathe on to start spinning the wood, then you smoothly run your tool back and forth on the wood to carve it down to your desired shape and size. Some names of parts on the lathe in the picture from left to right are, the head stock, the tool rest and the tail stock. The head stock is where the mechanism is that actually rotates the lathe and the tail stock is the back of the lathe that slides left and right to accommodate the wood you're working with. The tool rest is the most important piece. This is adjustable in all four directions and provides you with a stable base for your tools so you can get nice and smooth strokes.