Chris Wright
(Spinner)
Manager & Administrator
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I
have been turning for four and half years now, running
Woodturner's Resource for nearly as long. WR began
as an endeavour for my local club to give back to
woodturning on a grand scale. We wanted to create
a website that took the best of the existing ones
(not many at that time) and bring those aspects
together into one great website that others could
visit and learn from. Now, I'm the only one of the
founding members to stick with it and it has become
almost as much of a passion/addiction as woodturning
itself. Since then we have added many new features,
expanded the website and brought on some really
great and dedicated guys to help run things. Without
Phil, Rev and Ned, it would be nearly impossible
to run things and keep new content coming.
I started woodturning in January
2002 on a whim after asking for a cheap lathe and
tools for Christmas. It looked kind of cool and
I was in search of a new hobby after playing with
painting, writing, wood carving, pottery, drawing,
wire bending and many other crafts. Woodturning
has become my passion, nearly a way of life. The
people I have met along the way have mostly become
good and life-long friends through the common tie
of our art & the desire to share it with others.
I try to branch out and try as many aspects of turning
as I can and begun to incorporate carving, air brushing,
and hopefully soon segemented turning. My specialties
lie in hollow forms and boxes, I love the difficulty
of combining good artistic forms with calculated
joins & fits. There are too many woods in the
world to turn them all, but I'd like to spin as
many of them as I can before I can't hold a gouge
any longer.
I currently live in Los Angeles
with my dog Chloe. Between the two of us we log
the equivalent of a part-time (sometimes full time)
job in the shop each week. In my "spare"
time, I enjoy shooting pool, hanging out with friends
and teaching turning demonstrations to anyone wanting
to listen to me for a few hours. This summer I will
begin giving live demos in Monrovia at the local
arts walks and at the Pasadena Rockler store on
advanced techniques. Should be a fun summer!
Thanks for visiting Woodturner's
Resource, I hope you enjoy the website. If you have
any questions, comments, suggestions, etc. feel
free to stop in the forum and drop us a line. :-)
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Philip
Peak
(PhilipE)
Moderator &
Featured Artist Scheduling |
I
was born in 1957 in Evansville Indiana and lived there
until 1975 when I left for what would become a 21
year naval career. I would eventually achieve the
rank of, and retire as, Chief Petty Officer. It was
during this time that I became interested in woodworking.
The Year was 1987, the place was Okinawa Japan. A
guy I worked with, after I had complained of not having
anything to do, told me about the woodworking shop
they had on base and suggested I look into it if I
was interested. I took his advice and I am glad I
did. It was run by an elderly Okinawa man who I only
knew as Nakasone san (san is a term of politeness
and respect in Japan while I am not sure what it means
but leaving it out is a major insult). At first, I
didn't like Nakasone san, I thought he was rude and
impatient and to a point arrogant but, after a couple
of months I found myself admiring the man for his
knowledge and his skills. When it came to wood, there
was nothing this guy could not do. I learned more
from him during those two years than I can remember.
I almost cried when I had to say goodbye to him. It
was here in Okinawa that I first got exposed to woodturning.
A project I was working on required 5 large spindles.
Since there was no place to buy such things I was
going to have to make them. The shop had a lathe,
so Nakasone san showed me how to set it up and use
some basic tools (I have no idea what they were but
I assume it was a spindle gouge and a scraper).
It was kind of fun but after that project, I never
used a lathe again until many years later, in fact
it was either 1992 or 1993 and I was on the island
of Guam. By this time my life had changed quite a
bit, for one thing I was married to my beautiful wife,
Jeanne. One day, after looking at one of my new woodworking
books that I had just gotten in the mail, Jeanne asked
if I could make these acorn boxes that were turned
on a lathe. Remembering my Okinawa experience with
a lathe I said, maybe. I checked out the nearby Air
Force base's hobby shop to see if they had a lathe
and tools, they did, so one Saturday afternoon I went
there and made a couple of acorns boxes, they were
not great but the wife loved them and I again enjoyed
myself but never touched a lathe again until early
2001.
I retired from the Navy in 1996. From 1996 to 1998
I worked as a cable TV installer and repairman and
then in Jan 1998 I got hired by the US Postal Service.
In March 2000 I transferred to Albany GA. It was here
I was bitten by the woodturning bug. My family now
included a son and two daughters. One day while walking
around the Sears tool section I saw a small lathe
made by Delta. I thought how cool this thing was and
how it would fit perfectly in my little 10' by 10'
building. After going back and forth on deciding whether
or not to buy it, I finally broke down and bought
it and a small set of 6 tools. The rest as they say
is history. I still have that Delta Midi and a whole
lot more tools. I still do a bit of flat work when
I need to, in act I have most tools a regular woodworker
would need but they are there mainly to support the
main tool, the lathe. In May 2004 I transferred to
Louisville KY. We live in a small town called Charlestown
in southern Indiana about 15 miles from Louisville,
if you’re out this way, your welcome to stop
in and say hello. |
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Rev. Doug Miller
(RevDoug)
Moderator & Events Calendar |
I
live in Hardinsburg, KY with my wife, Connie, of 26
years and son, Christopher, who is 4. As my sign-in
name suggests I am indeed a pastor. My obsession with
wood began as a child. Both grandfathers worked with
wood. The natural progression took place. My dad did
what he could as he collected tools over the years.
His hobby work really took off after my grandfather
died and dad got the tools. My first serious dealings
with woodworking started in 7th grade shop and continued
through highschool. They thought I was crazy when
we moved and I took all pre-college classes except
for shop. Graduation came and my woodworking days
virtually ended for several years due to lack of a
shop or money to start one.
In 1991, Connie and I returned to Louisville, where
my parents lived, and my woodworking time returned.
A project here and there, and before anyone knew it,
I was at it full force. One thing led to another and
sooner than later I had been re-introduced to the
joys of woodturning. Now I have most of the tools
I need to do all the flat work that I used to enjoy
so much. But those tools basically act as tables to
hold the turning work I'm working on. My lathe is
a Nova Mercury. Yep, it's a mini. My max is about
8 1/2" diameter when I turn outboard. I have
a "big lathe" on the drawing board. Some
day I'll that monster up and running. Then I'll be
able to turn with the big boys, at least turn the
big boys (bowls of major diameter that is).
To say that I'm addicted to turning is an understatement.
I travel for wood, as most of you know. I've been
known to look through trach piles for pieces of wood
that can be turned. In fact, a friend was talking
about burning down an old barn. I begged that I be
given a chance to go through it before it is burned
so that I can cabbage some of the timbers. I'll turn
it for pens, bowls, and goblets. You simply never
know what you find when you begin to spin some of
that old wood.
Woodturner's Resource is a great source of information
and inspiration for me. I have been a member here
since the beginning and have really found community
here. When the offer came to manage the events calendar,
I was more than eager. Then when the idea of being
a moderator came up, Chris thought I might have enough
on my plate. I assured him, and all our our members,
that I read every post anyway. Therefore, I miaght
as well be a moderator. Thing is, we don't have to
do much. A minor correction here and there and most
of the work is done. I hope you've found community
here as easily as I have. Just jump in, ask your questions,
make your comments, give your ideas. The more you
participate, the more you'll find yourself in a family
of folks who enjoy the some of the same things you
do, wood and all its various uses. |
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Ned Appenzeller (nappen)
Moderator |
Growing
up in South Carolina, I was a typical kid primarily
interested in school and sports. In High School I
lived for cross country and basketball. I was too
short to play college ball and cross country isn’t
very lucrative, so I took an army scholarship and
moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane, followed by
second army scholarship and Medical School back in
South Carolina. Since graduation, life has been pretty
irregular, with a move every 2 to 3 years. I completed
an Internal Medicine Internship, moved to Oklahoma
with a short stop in Cuba, then to San Antonio where
I completed my Emergency Medicine training, then to
Germany, Kosovo, San Antonio, Kansas and now South
Georgia, where I happily live with my wife and three
children.
Needless to say there has never been a lot of free
time, and I didn’t pick up my first wood working
tool until my second time in San Antonio, four years
ago. I freely admit I was terrible, but my kids still
have the first toy shelves I made them. I had never
seen lathe or new any turners. Only when a friend
in Alaska sent me a photo of some of his lathe work
did I decided turning was what I wanted to do, so
about two and a half years ago, I bought a bad lathe
and started butchering scraps. I still seem to be
doing that, just on a bigger more expensive machine.
I try to use mostly waste and scrap wood. My interest
in segmented turning stems from this, and I get all
my flat wood from local cabinet shops and my green
wood from the side of the road. I love to experiment,
but have a very short attention span so the lathe
is a perfect outlet. For me, the lathe is pure escapism
and is about nothing more than creating and item and
seeing what people think. I like to watch people hold
something and try to figure out how it was done. My
only wish is that I had the time to continue to practice.
My other interests include fishing and boating, running
and playing with and bragging about the kids. |
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