Greetings.
My parents named me William after my Father and Grandfather, my Marines named me Doc and I have been turning wood into chips, shavings. and sawdust for most of my life. I come by it honestly. After he finished 20 years of active duty in the Navy, m father spent 25 more as a reservist and teaching at our local vocational high school. He taught woodworking, electrical shop, small engines, and a few other topics. In the summers he and another teacher opened a small custom furniture/cabinetry shop. I spent a lot of summers at that shop. I started my own journey with an old Dremel single-speed scroll saw and a set of hand-me-down carving knives. I built a ton of birdhouses, carved a lot of small figures and birds, and even built a couple of cabinets myself. About ten years ago my dad bought out another shop mostly for the wood and as part of the haul, there was this old craftsman wood lathe, for which he had no use. I took the lathe and got it to run, put a new chuck on it, and made my first turnings. What a disaster. Had no clue what I was doing. I bought a couple of books on turning pens (I'm a pen junkie but that's another story), bought the pen "starter set" from PSI, and made my first useful items. I found "Woodturning" and "Woodturning Design" Magazines at my local B&N and was immediately hooked. I still turn with that ancient craftsman beast but I'm looking to move to a Jet or a Laguna Midi. I don't turn anything that would be considered an "object d'art". I turn utilitarian pieces; pens, bottle stoppers, a few pepper mills, and candlesticks. I am in awe of the beautiful bowls and vases I see here and in the pages of the magazines. In addition to turning, I scroll, carve and build wooden models. In the real world, I retired from the fire service after 25 years and now I am the Safety Manager for a small in-patient care facility. Thanks for looking. we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...
Doc
My parents named me William after my Father and Grandfather, my Marines named me Doc and I have been turning wood into chips, shavings. and sawdust for most of my life. I come by it honestly. After he finished 20 years of active duty in the Navy, m father spent 25 more as a reservist and teaching at our local vocational high school. He taught woodworking, electrical shop, small engines, and a few other topics. In the summers he and another teacher opened a small custom furniture/cabinetry shop. I spent a lot of summers at that shop. I started my own journey with an old Dremel single-speed scroll saw and a set of hand-me-down carving knives. I built a ton of birdhouses, carved a lot of small figures and birds, and even built a couple of cabinets myself. About ten years ago my dad bought out another shop mostly for the wood and as part of the haul, there was this old craftsman wood lathe, for which he had no use. I took the lathe and got it to run, put a new chuck on it, and made my first turnings. What a disaster. Had no clue what I was doing. I bought a couple of books on turning pens (I'm a pen junkie but that's another story), bought the pen "starter set" from PSI, and made my first useful items. I found "Woodturning" and "Woodturning Design" Magazines at my local B&N and was immediately hooked. I still turn with that ancient craftsman beast but I'm looking to move to a Jet or a Laguna Midi. I don't turn anything that would be considered an "object d'art". I turn utilitarian pieces; pens, bottle stoppers, a few pepper mills, and candlesticks. I am in awe of the beautiful bowls and vases I see here and in the pages of the magazines. In addition to turning, I scroll, carve and build wooden models. In the real world, I retired from the fire service after 25 years and now I am the Safety Manager for a small in-patient care facility. Thanks for looking. we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...
Doc
