The Best Wood Lathe for 2024

Wood lathes are a great hobby pastime which can be very rewarding, letting your imagination run wild as you watch the chosen wood blank change from just a block of wood into something truly creative.

Woodturning is best described as the art of transforming a block of wood, stock or a blank as they are also known as, into usable objects or display pieces.

The person performing this task is known as the turner, the chosen wood is held in position on the wood lathe by either a faceplate, chuck or clamped between the headstock and the tailstock.

Often seen as a hobby or craft pastime wood lathes are also used in industry, although the industrial machines are generally fully automated.

Wooden items such as bowls, spindles, candlesticks, egg cups, lamps, chair and table legs can easily be made. Architecture, furniture restoration, and cabinetry making are also connected with woodturning, the wood lathe is often used to produce new parts for broken or damaged furniture, sculptures, and other detailed ornamental features.

A large variety of power tools are available to help you with your woodturning projects, these include scroll saws for intricate cutting of wood, band saws for cutting thicker wood stock and wood blanks.

Essential items for use with wood lathes are of course the turning tools, these are often bought as a set to help you with your woodworking creations. If buying turning tools individually then I would recommend you invest in a 1/2 inch bowl gouge, 1/2 spindle gouge, spindle roughing gouge, skew and a parting tool.

As the wood chippings and wood shavings start to pile up as your woodworking skills progress, the type of wood chosen becomes more important to you.

Walnut, Oak, Cherry, Maple, Rosewood, Spalted Maple, Elm, Sycamore, Pear and the beautiful Cocobolo wood are just a few of the many varieties of wood available.

When you’re turning you start to see the beautiful wood grain features become visible as you work the stock, the deep natural wood tones appearing as your latest project starts to take shape.

The finishing process involves, sanding sealing and polishing the wood to really bring out the wood grain features. Waxing is often used on the wood and can be brought up to a beautiful shine using a polisher or buffer.

We’ve chosen and reviewed the best wood lathes out there, and we’re sure there’s one to suit your own individual requirements and needs.

The Best Wood Lathes Reviewed

Editor’s Choice	Distance Between Centers	Brand
Best Full Size Wood Lathe	40 Inches	Jet 719500 JWL-1640EVS 1.5 hp Lathe
Best Reasonably Priced Full Size Wood Lathe	46 Inches	Grizzly Industrial G0462 Wood Lathe with DRO
Best Midi Wood Lathe	20 1/2 Inches	JET JWL-1221VS Wood Lathe
Alternative Pick for a Midi Wood Lathe	16 1/2 Inches	Delta Industrial 46-460 Wood Lathe
Best Mini Wood Lathe	18 Inches	Excelsior Mini Lathe
Alternative Pick for a Mini Wood Lathe	12 inches	SHOP FOX W1704 Wood Lathe

Best Full Size Wood Lathe: Jet 719500 JWL-1640EVS Wood Lathe

With a massive 40 inch between centers, you’ve got just about every woodturning project from wooden bowls to spindles covered here.

With an electronic variable speed control system, this powerful 1.5 HP lathes running speed can be set from anywhere between 40 and 3200 RPM, giving the user an incredible amount of speed options to choose from.

So you’ve found your favorite speed to work at on the many various different types of wood now you want to get those precise, evenly spaced features cut into the workpiece. Not a problem, there’s a really handy 36 position indexing feature that’s adjustable in 10 degree increments to help you do just that.

This newly designed model features a sliding headstock, this is such a great feature as this enables the user to find a much more comfortable working position, making it a very versatile and user friendly machine to use.

As you’d expect from a top class piece of machinery, this thing is big and heavy, size wise your looking at 57 x 31 x 28 inches and as for the weight, it comes in at 300 lbs.

Don’t be concerned about the weight of this lathe as that’s not a bad thing when it comes to working with precision equipment. Let’s face it, the last thing you want is the lathe jumping or moving about when you’ve got it fully loaded with stock.

If you’re serious about getting a top quality woodturning lathe for your home workshop or workplace, then you won’t go far wrong with this choice.

And guess what?

It comes with a 5 year warranty for your peace of mind.

What We Like:

• Sliding Headstock – This is a great help to the user, finding a work position that feels comfortable helps to make for a happy woodworker.
• Electronic Variable Speed Control – Gives the user speed options of between 40 and 3200 RPM which is perfect for precision working.
• 5 Year Warranty – That’s a long time, and great to have for your peace of mind.

Check the latest price on Amazon.

Best Reasonably Priced Full Size Wood Lathe: Grizzly Industrial G0462 Wood Lathe with DRO

With an incredible 46 inch between centers, you really won’t have any problems fitting large stock in, even when it comes to the largest of woodworking projects.

This powerful 2 HP motor offers the user 10 speed settings of between 600 and 2400 RPM to cater for the most demanding or not so demanding turning jobs.

Outboard turning is also possible with the Grizzly making this a really good choice for anyone that likes the flexible working options that a movable headstock brings.

Not only that but you also get some truly great swing distance too, boasting a swing of 16 inches over the bed and 13 inches over the tool rest.

This 17.5 x 63.2 x 20 inches machine really does pack some weight, made with precision ground, cast iron bed and cast iron legs, at 354 lbs this thing will stay right where you put it. It won’t start to wander even when you are working it hard.

This really is a top performing woodturning machine, if our top choice full size wood lathe is just out of your budget range, this will definitely be your next best option to go for, that’s for sure.

What We Like:

• Big Capacity Machine – A massive 46 inch between centers to cope with just about any woodworking project.
• Great Speed Options – 10 speed options available between 600 and 2400 RPM to help you achieve precise working control.
• Heavy Duty – Oh yeh, this thing is heavy, at 354 lbs it’ll stay exactly where you put it.

Check the latest price on Amazon.

Best Midi Wood Lathe: JET JWL-1221VS Wood Lathe

Powered by a 115 volt, 1 HP motor with a variable speed control option that allows the user to select optimally designed turning speeds ranging from 60 – 3600 RPM and even changing direction from forward to reverse is a nice and smooth transition.

Getting great results from your woodturning projects is down to how well you can work with the chosen wood.

This midi lathe boasts an over bed swing of 12.5 inches and an over tool rest swing of 9-9/20 inch giving you plenty of scope to work with.

To help you get consistent, detailed results in your turning jobs, there are 24 indexing positions to choose from, so no shortage of options here.

As we always say with wood lathes, it’s great when they pack some weight.

This super impressive midi wood lathe does just that, with 129.8 lbs to its credit, this thing is as solid and stable as they come.

Just to make sure you’ve got the room available to fit in your new woodworking buddy, you’re going to need a space big enough to accommodate this 32.8 x 14.6 x 21.2 inch and plenty of room for you to move about freely.

You get what seems to be a standard offering from Jet when it comes to warranties, and that’s a very impressive 5 year warranty with this model.

If you have the budget for this fantastic top quality woodturning lathe, then you won’t be disappointed when you buy it.

This lathe has so many top class features you’ll probably never need to buy another lathe, ever.

An official Jet manufactured extension bed is available from Amazon which extends this woodturning lathe to 43 inches.

With such a big bed size transformation, you now have a lathe that can do so much more, meaning much bigger woodturning projects are now possible.

And that’s the great thing about these Jet made lathes, you get so many options to help you get the setup just how you want it.

And in case you want to keep that workbench clear, there’s a Jet lathe stand that’s available to buy on Amazon as an add on.

This makes the perfect choice should you wish to adapt this midi lathe even further to your own requirements.

What We Like:

• Speed Control – That’s what this lathe is all about, control. You choose the speed that you want to work at, you are in total control.
• Lots Of Options – So many options to help you get the results you crave for, 24 indexing options for that fine detailed work.
• Solid And Sturdy – This is a 129.8 lb solid and super stable woodturning machine.

Check the latest price on Amazon.

Alternative Pick for a Midi Wood Lathe: Delta Industrial 46-460 Wood Lathe

This powerful 1 HP motor, midi lathe from Delta produces a turning speed of 1725 RPM which is controlled via an electronic speed controller with 3 pulley speed ranges available.

A swing capacity option of 12 .5 inches is possible with this lathe making it the largest swing capacity of any woodturning lathe in its class.

For accuracy and precision, this lathe features a forward and reverse function. This is such an excellent feature because when you are sanding wood, being able to rotate a turned piece in both directions is the only way to achieve a really smooth finish.

This really does help you to achieve that superior, professional looking finish to your woodturning projects.

Cast iron construction gives strength and stability to this lathe and weighing in at a very respectable 97 lbs, you’ll certainly appreciate that weight when you are turning larger pieces of stock.

Size wise you’re looking at 36 x 11 x 17.8 inches for this wood lathe, so that’s a very reasonable size for a midi lathe, and just about right for fitting in that space you’ve prepared in your workshop.

If you wanted to keep that work bench area clear, then a Delta industrial stand for this lathe is available to buy on Amazon.

Included with this lathe:

• 1 x 6 inch tool rest
• 1 x 10 inch tool rest
• 1 x 3 inch chrome faceplate
• 1 x tool rest base
• 1 x knockout bar
• 1 x live center
• Wrenches
• Manual

Delta are renowned for making top quality woodturning lathes, they are so confident in the build quality of their machines that they include a 5 year warranty with this midi wood lathe.

What We Like:

• Powerful motor – This 1 HP motor really produces some power, giving a very impressive top turning speed of 1725 RPM.
• Big Capacity – A big swing capacity of 12.5 inches is possible with this very versatile midi wood lathe.
• Long Warranty – You get a 5 year warranty included with this midi wood lathe, giving you peace of mind.

Things to Consider:

• Great Priced Machine – If a midi sized woodturning lathe is what you’re after, and our best midi wood lathe pick is just out of your budget range, then go for this lathe, you won’t regret it.

Check the latest price on Amazon.

Best Mini Wood Lathe: Excelsior Mini Lathe

With a 1/2 HP, 370 watt motor supplying the power, this versatile mini wood lathe has 5 available speed options of 760, 1100, 1600, 2200 and 3200 RPM.

Bowls of up to 10 inches in diameter can be made with this lathe, as well as spindles up to 17 3/4 inches. This lathe is perfect for making chair legs and small table legs.

And with a distance of 18 inches between centers, you really will be spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing projects to work on.

The cast iron body provides the foundation for a solid working platform, weighing in at 80.5 lbs this mini lathe is really stable, the weight helps to keep working vibration down to the absolute minimum.

Supplied with a 6 inch and a 3 inch tool rest along with a 3 inch faceplate, you’ll soon be on the way to woodturning glory.

A bed extension for this Excelsior mini wood lathe is available to buy on Amazon if you feel that you’d like to expand the capabilities of this lathe even further.

What We Like:

• Versatile Machine – Plenty of scope with this woodturning machine to expand its capabilities. An extension bed can be bought as an extra, which transforms this mini wood lathes abilities even further.
• Great Speed Range – 5 speed ranges 760, 1100, 1600, 2200 and 3200 RPM to give plenty of control on your woodturning projects.
• Great For Decorative Turnings – Great for spindles, table legs, and chair legs.

Check the latest price on Amazon.

Alternative Pick for a Mini Wood Lathe: SHOP FOX W1704 Wood Lathe

Powered by a 1/3 HP variable speed motor, it offers the user speed choices of between 700 and 3200 RPM. This mini wood lathe has a 12 inch between centers measurement and an 8 inch swing over bed, which gives the user plenty of scope for a vast array of woodturning projects.

This sturdy, cast iron wood lathe is designed to sit on a workbench and is supplied with two tool rests, a 4 1/2 inch and a 7 inch tool rest.

For the bowl making enthusiasts, you’ll be pleased to hear that a 5 3/4 inch faceplate is included with this lathe.

What We Like:

• Great Speed Options – This may be a mini woodturning lathe but it certainly provides plenty of speed options for the user.
• Great For Benchtops – Great for use on a benchtop, measuring just 7.1 x 27.9 x 13.7 inches.
• Good Warranty – 2 years warranty included, that’s good to know that your investment in this product is protected for 2 years.

Check the latest price on Amazon.

Other Worthy Mentions

These woodturning lathes didn’t make it into our top picks section, but we think they are definitely worth a mention.