collectors, and tool suppliers developed the symposium format for the exchange of information about the craft. This community was a kind of prototype for the artisan-based maker culture active in the 21st century. The community organizes regional, national, and international symposiums publish journals, and hosts traveling experts at club events. Most publications and DVDs are of the DIY variety, including numerous YouTube videos. History The archaeological record of woodturning is limited to illustrations because wood is a fiber prone to rot. Egyptian monuments illustrate a strap used by a helper to rotate the lathe while another worker cut the wood. Early bow lathes and strap lathes were developed and used in Egypt and Rome. The Chinese, Persians, and Arabs had their variations of the bow lathe. Early lathe workers would sometimes use their bare feet to hold cutting tools in place while using their hands to power the lathe. Bow lathes continue in use right up to the present day, and much of our information about them comes from watching turners use them. Between 500 and 1500 A.D., turned wooden vessels served as the everyday bowls and cups of most of the population of Europe. Our knowledge of these humble vessels comes from bowls excavated from shipwrecks, such as the Mary Rose and the Oseberg burial ship, or dug out of deep wells, where they were preserved in an anaerobic environment. Much of this ware was turned from green wood on a spring pole lathe. Finely crafted drinking bowls, known as mazers, were produced in very limited quantities from dry wood, then decorated with silver-gilt central bosses and rims. As early as 1568, a separate flywheel powered a lathe via a drive belt. A master would cut the wood while an apprentice turned the crank on a huge wheel, often several feet in diameter. This was a continuous revolution lathe, which led to adaptation to external power sources such as water, steam, and electricity. This lathe evolved into the 'queen of machine tools' which made it possible to turn parts for other machinery. The Holtzapffels developed ornamental turning lathes from the continuous revolution lathe combined with metal-working innovations like the automatic slide rest. These lathes worked from geared patterns to cut designs in hardwoods such as ebony. They were favored as a hobby by European princes, meriting a mention by Tolstoy in War and Peace (1869). Woodturners in London organized