I love woodturning and sculpture. I try to leave a bit of the natural character intact in all my creations. Please use the contact me form if you are interested in an item! You can also visit me on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/richwoodstudios/
It was my wife who suggested I buy a lathe. I had done woodworking off and on (mostly off after I had kids) until around 2010 when I reclaimed my shop in the garage.
I still do some flat work but I mostly turn. I very seldom buy wood since there is a lot of wood available from downed trees in our urban forest. I love finding wood in our neighborhood and making it into something beautiful that can be enjoyed for years to come.
In the early 80s, I was lucky enough to sit in on a lecture by James Krenov in California. I love his style of furniture making and we would venture up to Mendocino California every now and then and see his works and those of his students from the College of the Redwoods. At that time, I had a table saw and band saw in our little one car garage. I made some crude tables and knickknacks. Those machines moved with us from California to Colorado and eventually to here in Arizona in 1998.
My kids eventually grew up and I had more time on my hands. I declared victory in the garage and moved out all the junk from our 3rd bay and dedicated it as my workshop. I made several end tables and that is when my wife suggested getting a lathe since we had no more room for tables. How could I refuse!
I took a turning class at Woodcraft and purchased a little Nova Midi Lathe. I took another class at Rockler and made bottle stoppers for everyone for the holidays that year. I made a few pens and then started turning bowls.
One of my trips to Woodworkers Source just happened to coincide on a day when Jason Clark was demonstrating. I learned about a local woodtrurning club in Phoenix and knew I had to join. I also joined the AAW at that time.
The Nova was great to learn on but then I wanted to turn bigger and bigger chunks of wood and it just wasn’t working out on the small lathe. I then picked up a used Jet 1442. It was a big improvement but after some time I wanted to go bigger. This is when I picked on my Powermatic 3520B which I love!
My influences are, of course, David Ellsworth and Richard Raffin and am just amazed by all the talent that is out there including in our own woodturning group. As you can see from my site, my woodturning has not concentrated on any one style yet.