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Steve Haddix

Joined
Aug 26, 2018
Messages
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Location
Brookeville, Maryland
While I've been a serious hobby wood worker since the mid-80's, it wasn't until late in 2014 that I was convinced to try wood turning and I was hooked. I find all of the various avenues to blend form, texture, color, technique, and finish to be highly rewarding. There seems to be a never-ending possibility to be creative, which likely explains why most of my pieces are one-offs. I had the fortune to work with exceptionally talented mentors from Montgomery County Woodturners here in Maryland who have helped me avoid mistakes, recover from mistakes, and generally accelerated my development as I seem to always push the edge of my capabilities. My son and my wife attended my first AAW meeting with me in Pittsburgh several years back and my son actually won a Jet lathe package in the kids program, while my wife recently started turning with me as well, so now the whole family is hooked. :)

While I had year off of wood turning for two wrist-surgeries and a shoulder repair, I'm back up to full speed. My first juried show at Montpelier Mansion earlier this year resulted in a second place award and an honorable mention, which was deeply meaningful to me given the incredible depth of talent on display in the show. While I am still early in my wood turning journey, I’m enjoying the camaraderie of the turning community and the satisfaction of completing pieces that I hope encourage others to try new directions with their own work as well.

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Bill Boehme

Administrator
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TOTW Team
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
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Location
Dalworthington Gardens, TX
Website
pbase.com
Welcome aboard, Steve. I hope that you've recovered from your surgeries. The recovery part certainly isn't any fun. I was out of commission for a couple years due to rotator cuff surgery that didn't heal the first time and had to be redone a year later. I think that the physical therapists must like torturing people, but in the end I thanked them. :D
 
Joined
Aug 26, 2018
Messages
4
Likes
28
Location
Brookeville, Maryland
Steve welcome to the forum. I was in the Chesapeake woodturners for many years before we moved back to Florida in 2004. Montpelier mansion is a great place for show.
Congratulations on your entries.

Al
Thanks Al. I also attend most of the Chesapeake club meetings and am in awe at the talent they have in the club. I was very fortunate to start turning in an area that has so many incredible artists who are happy to take time out to help a new guy learn the ropes. I'm actually demo'ing marbling techniques this month for Chesapeake, something that we had scheduled before the last AAW journal came out!
 
Joined
Aug 26, 2018
Messages
4
Likes
28
Location
Brookeville, Maryland
Welcome aboard, Steve. I hope that you've recovered from your surgeries. The recovery part certainly isn't any fun. I was out of commission for a couple years due to rotator cuff surgery that didn't heal the first time and had to be redone a year later. I think that the physical therapists must like torturing people, but in the end I thanked them. :D
Thanks Bill, the recovery part has been ok. I was able to get back into turning without creating any new issues, but I suspect I'll always have some lingering pain that can't be solved in both my wrist and my shoulder. At least I'm fully functional though! One of the surgeries involved cutting and splicing bone, and a second to repair the botched first job which had also caused some nerve damage in my hand, but I was fortunate and got most of the feeling back with only a little numbness left. Thankfully my occupational therapists were magic workers with minimum sadistic streaks.
 
Joined
Jan 24, 2010
Messages
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901
Location
Cleveland, Tennessee
Welcome to the forum. Congrats on the awards and recognition for your work. One of the best moves I made was to join AAW and a local chapter. Good thing your son won a lathe. Three people and two lathes will require that you draw numbers to see who turns and who watches.
We have a family in our chapter who has two lathes so there is always a lathe ready for whomever is ready to turn wood.
 
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