Unleash the Beauty of Wood

     In 2012 my wife and I bought a house that had a 24’X48’ shop. It was filled with wood working tools, 5 lathes, saws, sanders, and a lot of other items that I had no idea how to operate. I had never had a shop class in school and can’t drive a nail straight. The couple that we were purchasing the home from could not close on the house until they sold everything in the shop. To speed things along we purchased everything in the shop. I had full intentions of selling everything and getting an old car to restore.

     Several weeks after we moved in, we had a party and a friend that does wood working showed up and was amazed at what we had purchased. He was in for the weekend so the next day we went out to the shop and we put a piece of wood on a lathe and I started making chips. I turned a spindle from cedar and we found everything in the shop to make a lamp, minus the shade. That lamp set on the table by our front door to this day. Needless to say I was hooked.

     I took a class at Wood Craft on how to make a pen and I was off and running. Next I found Gulf Coast Woodturners, and that was when I really got the turning bug. Everyone in the club was so helpful, and I took every class I could. Our club is full of great turners that are willing to help new turners and the club brings in several national turners each year that normally have hands on classes during the week. I was advancing my skills and having a great time. I also picked up a bad habit of purchasing shops from people that wanted to get out of wood turning or from the family of someone that had passed away. My shop has been up graded with better equipment and now I have a large selection of hand tools. To top things off my wife won the Vicmarc VL300 lathe at SWAT one year.

     I was having fun, but I was still mostly a self taught wood turner. That all change in November 2017. Stuart Batty was coming to our club to demo and had an open day for a private lesson at someone’s shop. Another club member and I had Stuart come to my shop for the day.  This was eye opening. We didn’t do a project like all the other classes I had before. He taught us the push cut method of turning. This was what I had been looking for and I didn’t even know it. Learning the proper method of how to use the tools and how to sharpen them properly was amazing. He was coming back to Houston the next month so I had him back for another day with another club member. In January of 2018, I went to Las Vegas for a week long class with him. Since then, Stuart has been back to my shop several times and I have been in 2 more week long classes with him. All together I have spent over 30 days learning from him. It’s the best money I have ever spent on wood turning.

     I was very happy to be able to take one more trip to Las Vegas in 2024. Christian Brisepierre was having Jean Francois Escoulen come to his shop for a week long class. I had been playing around with multi-axis turning and this was a great class to really learn how to take multi-axis turning to a new level. There are many other great turners that helped me along the way, so many that I could not begin to list them all, in fear I would leave some out. I now enjoy teaching new turners the push cut method, and doing demos. I have expanded my hobby by learning to stabilize and cast wood.  In 2024 I purchased a saw mill and I’m learning to cut wood for turning. 

     I still can’t drive a nail straight or make anything that is flat and square.

     If you are in the area please give me a call and come by my shop. You can make a pen, and as always the first pen is FREE.

John Schlobohm

AKA Wood Butcher