Life ain't always beautiful, but it's a beautiful ride . . . Gary Allan

    Like many people, I spent a lot of years trying to figure out what it was I'd like to do when I grew up. As a (younger) kid, I was briefly introduced to woodturning in 7^th/8^th grade shop class. My Dad later purchased a lathe (and did some terrific spindle turnings - especially after taking a class with Russ Zimmerman when he was up in Putney, VT) and would let me play around on it when I would come home from college for a visit, but I never had much time to figure out what I was doing. One of my Dad’s fishing buddies, Captain Harry Phillips, who ran the Pilot II out of Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, used to turn free spooling wooden fishing reels, called Sidewinders, and use them to catch Blackfish (Tautog), Sea Bass and Codfish. They're a load of fun to use. So being a fishaholic, I often daydreamed of combining my passion for fishing with what little I knew about woodturning when I eventually retired from the Navy (June 2005) to make high quality Sidewinders (scroll down to see the finished product below) out of exotic woods for sale. So with that in mind, I jokingly asked my parents for a mini lathe for Christmas in 2002. They of course bought me something much more, a really terrific 16" Nova 3000 lathe, in my opinion the best medium size lathe (along with the Nova DVR) on the market. Well, as my idol - my father - has always said, fate eventually takes a hand, and in November 2003, after retuning from a Persian Gulf deployment and finally building a bench to set up my lathe, a new Woodcraft store opened nearby in Virginia Beach. I was like the proverbial kid in a candy store and by January 2004, I was taking every Woodcraft class I had the opportunity to take, was "donating" most of my money to Bill and Heather Caillet at Woodcraft, and discovering areas of woodturning I never knew existed . . . and I learned the word “burl”. With the help, encouragement and mentoring of people like Jack Spillane, Bill Caillet, and Myron Curtis, my knowledge, passion, and desire to challenge myself expanded exponentially. I am indebted to each of them. I also constantly searched books and the internet for information on woodturning and inspiration from people like Cindy Drozda, Skip Bellock, Kim Blatt, Mike Kornblum, Dale the Burl Guy Brobst, David Chapman, Richard Raffan and others. I also scoured the internet and eBay for wood, specifically exotic burls, and quickly (proudly I might add) I became addicted. As my passion for turning grew, I sought out the master himself, David Ellsworth, and other exceptional turners like Kim Blatt, Bruce Hoover and Tom Crabb for instruction to improve my technique and form. I would encourage anyone interested in turning to take David's class as early as possible. He is an extraordinary teacher whose technique is unmatched, is self-admittedly low tech, and will teach you (if you pay attention and practice what you learn) skills and a woodturning philosophy that will serve you a lifetime.

So that, in a nutshell, is my story. Fortunately for me, I have a wonderful wife, Seiko, who was so anxious to meet me that she ran through my brick mailbox with her car in August 2002 - domo arigato gozaimashita! She has been unbelievably supportive of my passion and desire to be a professional woodturner and tolerant of the wood chips and dust Ringo and Kai (not me) track into the house from my shop. Aishiteru!