Be careful. Once you get caught in the wood turning vortex it is hard to get out!
Your father's skill shows in the foot rollers. If you ever build a custom rod you have a good resource for turned cork handles!
Back when, I enjoyed many hours standing in front of the lathe. The whole process was enjoyable, from sniping for wood, rough turning, sharpening chisels, to trying new techniques. I even used to follow the tree service trucks to get some pretty good sized logs. I had a large pile of rough turned & sealed blanks all dated to keep the process going. Sold maybe 40 or so bowls, boxes, & bird houses per year at a friend's annual garage sale. When we moved to the current place I had to get rid of the lathe and big bandsaw because we just didn't have room for it.
Here is a pic of some stuff I still have around. All except the square shaped one was from "found" wood. BTW, the mushroom shaped boxes always sold like hotcakes. The one shown is eucalyptus, which is very abundant around here.
