I was born and raised in San Antonio, TX and have been coming to Fredericksburg my entire life, for my family has a ranch near Willow City.  My grown up job is as a synthetic organic chemist at a not for profit research organization.  My foray into wood turning began about 5 years ago with the death of my father.  Growing up, I was surrounded by wood working and the associated wood working tools.  In his retirement years, my father became a prolific wood turner.  While he never actually taught me to turn, I got a feel for it by observing.  Upon his death in 2000, he had a finished piece on the lathe which I parted off and finished the bottom.  Shortly thereafter, I began to turn my own pieces and have become addicted.

I work mainly with native Texas woods; mesquite being my favorite.  In addition to mesquite, I’ve worked with pecan, mountain laurel, plum, honey locust, cedar elm, Arizona ash, bois d’ arc, peach and an occasional piece of FOG (Found On Ground) wood.  Most of the wood I turn is salvaged from wood piles or from tree trimmings. 

The various forms that I turn are dictated by the size of the wood, grain structure and the presence of defects (i.e. cracks, knots, bark inclusions etc.).  These can provide for some very dramatic effects in the finished piece, either alone or through augmentation with a variety of fillers. I find it particularly challenging to turn pieces of wood that most turners throw in the burn pile. 

None of my turned pieces are identical, as no two pieces of wood are the same.  The art of turning is being able to see the bowl or vessel that lies in that spinning chunk of wood.