This is my old shop at my friends Tom & BettyJane's 18th century barn in Woodbury, Ct., in tight quarters. Probably most original shops were like that.
The lathe bed beam in the foreground has mill sawn marks shown, it is oak, I think black oak, as is the tail stock. The bed beam toward the wall is beech, as is the head stock. Notice the large chamfers (2 1/4" wide) on the end posts. The head stock end post is chamfered on the inside only above the bed beam, and the outside is hewn. The tail stock end post is chamfered above and below the bed all around ! All the rest of the lathe is hand planed. Picture freshly planed oak, beech and white pine, literally white, 250 or so years ago. I know I've given it more use in my first thirty years, now fifty years than it originally had because of one 'dead give away feature' - the point on the tail stock center. Having had knowledge of metal lathes I knew the tail stock point should come to a nice tapered point, so, I filed it as such. Twenty years ago it suddenly looked as it did in 1972 !This man built himself a lathe to be proud of, me too!