The French beginning to construct and shape on lathe, we hear, reading desk (7)
I believe the answer is:
lectern
'reading desk' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'the french beginning to construct and shape on lathe' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'le' ('the' in French).
'beginning to' suggests taking the first letters.
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'shape on lathe' becomes 'tern' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
The initial letter of 'construct' is 'c'.
'le'+'c'+'tern'='LECTERN'
'we hear' is the link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lectern that I've seen before include "Slanted stand for a book" , "From which speaker delivers" , "stand in church" , "Desk for a standing reader" , "rest of a vicar?" .)