I was born and raised in the Appalachian Mountain region of Virginia. From my earliest childhood memories, I was always tinkering with things. This natural curiosity eventually led to an Engineering degree and a 35 year career with a major oil company. In 1984 I was given an old wood lathe and this began my woodturning adventure.

Initially, I learned woodturning the hard way, standing in front of my lathe with a book in one hand and a dull turning tool in the other. My first woodturning “how to” book was, “The Practical Wood Turner” written by English master turner Frank Pain in 1956. If you can find a copy of this book it is an interesting treatise on woodturning.

Over the years, I was fortunate to have been instructed by such notable woodturners as Dale Nish, Ray Key, Jamie Donaldson and numerous others. I have also been helped along the way by many other talented woodturners who unselfishly shared their vast knowledge with me.

In recent years most of my turning focus has been to create one-of-a-kind pieces of wood art, sold by commission and through galleries and selected juried art and craft shows. My work is held in a number of private collections and has been displayed at the Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts in Houston, TX.

I am a member of the American Association of Woodturners (AAW), a past member of the Gulf Coast Woodturners Association (GCWA) in Houston, TX, and have held the offices of Vice-President, President and Past-President of the Hill Country Turners (HCT) in Kerrville, TX. I’ve been a woodturning instructor at Majestic Ranch Art Foundation, Boerne, TX, an instructor’s assistant for many years at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC and have instructed and mentored many beginning woodturners.