Our goal is to bring you the finest in woodturning lathes and accessories.  We pride ourselves in listening to you, our customers and non-customers, and incorporating the very best of your ideas into our product line.

We recognize that when you buy Robust lathe, you buy the lathe of a lifetime, and we pledge to do our best to make that dream come true. Lathes are made to order, and you can expect a lead time of 8-16 weeks. Please call or email for a more accurate time frame. Lathes can be purchased direct from us or from one of our woodturning professionals, all of whom are committed to woodturning, just like you.

 

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All Robust lathes and accessories are made in our own machine and fabrication shop in Barneveld, Wisconsin. What we do not make ourselves is made to our specification by nearby manufacturers. For instance, all of our castings come from either Washburn Foundry or Austin Foundry, both family ran businesses here in Wisconsin. We certify all Robust products have a domestic content of over 85%, but most are more than that.

Robust was founded January 1, 2004 by Brent and Deb English and is a limited liability corporation. Way back in 2013, Kurt Hertzog wrote a great introductory story about us for Woodturning Design Magazine. We’ve made a lot changes since then, but it’s still a good read.  Check it out here.

Here are some acknowledgements of those that have positively contributed to Robust’s business model and products over the years, in roughly chronological order:

·        Bob Falk: got Robust founder Brent English into woodturning as an adult and first suggested making a lathe.

·        Bob Falk, Dave Hiller and Eric Mathews: served as a focus group during early design phases.  In particular, Dave suggested the need for a “tailstock solution”, which led to the design of the Tilt-Away™.

·        Five AAW Chapters: answered survey questions about lathe design.

·        Trent Bosch and David Ellsworth: reviewed early lathe designs.

·        Dennis Baker: suggested that Robust adopt a “boot strapped” business model.

·        Marc English: helped with color selection for the lathes.

·        Don Geiger: many contributions on customer relationship management.

·        David Ellsworth: modeled a “quick release headstock” mechanism, which was modified and adapted to the American Beauty headstock.

·        David Ellsworth: Encouraged the design of a “seated turner” lathe which led the Independence (no longer manufactured) and eventually to the Scout and Universal Stand.

·        Anonymous woodturner: suggested the name “American Beauty”.

·        Steve Sinner: encouraged putting hardened rods on top of toolrests.

·        Anonymous woodturner: suggested a gas shock for the Tilt-Away.

·        Alan Lacer: encouraged the use of a ring style drive center and reviewed the design.

·        Rick Stone: prototyped a lamp arm design we adopted.

·        Trent Bosch: contributed to the parabolic flute design used in our bowl gouges.

·        Matt Monaco: contributed to the design of our skew chisels.

·        Reed Gray: provided the basis for our “S” style toolrests.

·        Nick Agar: encouraged the introduction of our “Shear Scrape” toolrests.

We’re sure there are others of note, and will add to the list as our memory is refreshed.

Thank you, Brent and Deb English