Can you make your own lathe for wood-turning?

Yes, you can build your own working lathe.
The question is - do you really  want to?

Obviously you want to (at the moment) because you're here - but do you really need the hassle?
Why spend time and effort making a thing you'll never really use - when you could just go and buy one (and not use it).

You'll tell yourself things like  "it's cheaper if I build my own" - and spend your idle time  dreaming of all the things you will be able to make ... chisel handles, billy clubs, basically anything that's round and not too long will be yours for the making. Are you going to turn bowls on your home-made contraption - well most probably not. Why? - because bowl turning requires some actual skill, and some more specialised chisels than what you probably have, and a nice bowl blank (a suitable chunk of wood) which you also probably haven't got on hand. Also, seriously, who wants a wooden bowl anyway?

So realistically what can you build to satisfy your insane urge to make your own lathe (and without getting yourself seriously injured in the process)?

At this point a sensible person realises it's going to be much easier to just find someone with a lathe and spend an afternoon with them making round wood. Eventually the urge to build this strangely fascinating device passes. The great thing about this plan is that people who have their own lathe probably also have skew chisels and roughing gouges and face masks and dust extractors and all the other bits and pieces that wood turning requires... including wood. Of course, being the stubborn type that you are, you won't be taking the easy way out of your self-imposed challenge. Read on.

So basically there are a few different ways to tackle this. 

• Build a pole (or spring) lathe. Ridiculous - but no more ridiculous than your stall at the country fair you will be using it at. While demonstrating how to make furniture out of fallen branches you will meet many nice people who will wish they had as much free time as you seem to have. On the other hand, actually feasible to build in a short period of time.
• Grab the first high-speed electric motor you can find, add wood and sharp metal. This is definitely a favourite approach amongst youtubers wanting to share their passion for homemade lathes and unguided missiles. If there was ever a time for using eye-protection, this would be now.
• The circular saw/electric drill combo. The fact that this contains everything that scares me about the previous direct drive option, and a spinning circular saw as well, just doesn't sit right with me. Yet I know people who have built these, they do work and they can make square wood round with amazing speed.
• The treadle lathe. Truly a thing of beauty and elegance. If you ever get the damn thing finished you will be enjoying wood turning long after the rest of the world runs out of fossil fuels.
• You build an actual belt-driven lathe.  This seems a bit desperate really, and is a step away from just going and buying the lathe. Since they sell lathes at the same place you will be visiting to buy your chisels, fancy waxes and polishes, speciality sand-papers and so on. You should probably just leave this page now.