In his short video titled Homebuilt Router Copier Lathe, Harris offers an overview of his homemade lathe duplicator. This rig is nothing more than a router motor attached to a platform that rides on drawer slides, offering two axes of operation. Harris just slips in a template, and a pin attached to the rig follows the pattern. In his video, Harris produces a small vase with ease.

 Shopmade Router Copier Lathe

I’ve heard lot of folks lamenting the disappearance of the traditional “shop class” from high school curricula in recent years, and it’s not without good reason. With very few folks left teaching kids how to craft with their hands, the art of woodworking is in its death throes – or so the thinking goes. One teenage British woodworker however, is emblematic of the types of young people who will most likely keep this craft alive for the foreseeable future.

Alex Harris has been woodworking for approximately six years, and began sharing technique videos like the one above, for no other reason than to share his journey as a craftsman. Says Harris: “Now, nearly two years later I believe that a number of particularly younger viewers have decided to get involved as a result of the videos which I posted.”

With more than 110 videos on his YouTube channel and some 190,000 subscribers, I’d say Harris has indeed piqued the interest of plenty of folks like me!

Harris’s is the kind of video that makes me feel hopeful that the craft of woodworking will survive the digital deluge of the 21st century.

Check out Harris’ website at:

http://thiswoodwork.com/

(Edit: 2/29/19 Harris’ YouTube audience has been growing, and we’ve updated some stats in this article to reflect that)

More from FineWoodworking.com:

• A Reliable Lathe Duplicator from Vega
• Cool Homemade Carving Machine
• Lathe Template Fixture