Turning some random shape on a lathe is not at all that hard, either. Making 4 legs for a table by hand on a lathe and having them all match exactly? That is a quite bit harder and takes some practice and skill.
Hi Paul, I'm wondering if you can overcome the skill needed using a duplicator? WoodCollector talks a lot about lathes and mentions duplicators in his reddit profile:
http://www.reddit.com/user/thewoodcollector