Me? I'm good. I am in love. Don't tell my wife—I love her too, but... I'm in love with wood. It's as simple as that. After over thirty years as a young, and then not so young, urban professional in the visual arts/communications arena, I made a move to the Hoosier National Forest to "homestead." Working from the woods became my way of life until I eventually retired from that world.
I always enjoyed nature and advocated for the natural world in word and deed. However, nothing prepared me for living deep in it. From growing a significant portion of my food in the way it should be grown to learning the ways of the land and its inhabitants, I was overwhelmed—in a good way. Highly recommended.
We heat our small home with wood. There's nothing like the radiant warmth of a real fire. Collecting down and standing dead trees for firewood made me truly see wood. I fell in love with the grain patterns, the way the stress of a branch or bifurcation would change the normally symmetrical patterns into something much more fractal. This, I believe, started my love affair with wood.
Over the last 17 years living in the forest, I built sheds for firewood, tractor & tools, chicken coops, and a new well house. I even constructed a large, steep-slope, south-facing shed for our solar panels. During these years, I acquired a small sawmill to produce lumber from the fallen trees, aiding in these endeavors.
At this point, I was hooked. Wood, and what can be done with it, became a driving force in my life. Furniture came next, starting simply and rapidly growing into a passion for traditional techniques and materials, of which I had an abundance.
Many masters of woodworking on YouTube became my first teachers. Later, an old friend took me under his wing. While I learned a whole lot from him, he discouraged anything to do with bowl turning—which, like any good student, I obeyed. Until I didn't.
Now, with only a year into bowl turning, I am deeper down the rabbit hole than ever. I'm on my third lathe and can't seem to stop. Well, the spring will bring gardening, so there will be a slowing. There is also a long list of furniture and house-related woodworking projects too that I can't wait to get started on.
I always enjoyed nature and advocated for the natural world in word and deed. However, nothing prepared me for living deep in it. From growing a significant portion of my food in the way it should be grown to learning the ways of the land and its inhabitants, I was overwhelmed—in a good way. Highly recommended.
We heat our small home with wood. There's nothing like the radiant warmth of a real fire. Collecting down and standing dead trees for firewood made me truly see wood. I fell in love with the grain patterns, the way the stress of a branch or bifurcation would change the normally symmetrical patterns into something much more fractal. This, I believe, started my love affair with wood.
Over the last 17 years living in the forest, I built sheds for firewood, tractor & tools, chicken coops, and a new well house. I even constructed a large, steep-slope, south-facing shed for our solar panels. During these years, I acquired a small sawmill to produce lumber from the fallen trees, aiding in these endeavors.
At this point, I was hooked. Wood, and what can be done with it, became a driving force in my life. Furniture came next, starting simply and rapidly growing into a passion for traditional techniques and materials, of which I had an abundance.
Many masters of woodworking on YouTube became my first teachers. Later, an old friend took me under his wing. While I learned a whole lot from him, he discouraged anything to do with bowl turning—which, like any good student, I obeyed. Until I didn't.
Now, with only a year into bowl turning, I am deeper down the rabbit hole than ever. I'm on my third lathe and can't seem to stop. Well, the spring will bring gardening, so there will be a slowing. There is also a long list of furniture and house-related woodworking projects too that I can't wait to get started on.
