Here is a tool project that a volunteer craftsman at the mill took on. It was an abandoned semi automatic pattern lathe that could cut things like axe handles and such. The tool had stopped being used in the early 1900s, and was in a corner of the shop. By modern safety standards, this vid made me hold my breath several times, and if it was me that was in charge of the current mill as the historic site it is today, I never would have let this guy set up the incredibly dangerous ankle to knee height exposed belts like this, even for testing! The 3/4 door sized bed on the top of this moves it's full length, and all the large exposed sprockets have to be reached over to operate the machine!. This is much more than an industrial accident waiting to happen, more like a series of accidents, that could take both your leg off at the knee AND your whole arm off at the same time in two totally separate accidents. 

All in all it is a fascinating tool though, and I am glad there is at least a single one in operation in the world....


http://www, youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MNOY--z...