We All Know What A Lathe Is,

and here is a great program that lets you try one,

without going to the expense of buying one, just click onto WebGL Lathe Workshop, where you can try it out online, free! Select your material, spin the lathe with the space bar, and carve with your cursor, then watch the wood chips, or in my case metal spirals fly, I was trying to make a rod of the same diameter, but even more fun is selecting wood and trying to make a perfect ball, great fun.