I 'discovered' woodturning as a hobby in 1985, with an attachment for an electric drill: by Christmas I knew what I wanted - a proper lathe, and from then there was no turning back - well, not until March 2006, when I progressed to a lathe with a reverse facility, a Wivamac DB1200 Vario (see Links page).
I had lessons from Douglas Hart at Totnes, Devon; and John Sanders at Chard, Somerset: and I learned chairmaking with Jack Hill. In between, I attended day seminars with many of this country's leading woodturners, and read just about every book, and watched every video I could get on the subject.
(Here I'm using an inshave tool to shape the seat of a smoker's bow chair.)
By 1994, when the opportunity came to retire (aged under 50) from the day job, my hobby became a business. For three ‘seasons’, - 1997 to 1999 - I was resident woodturner at Stapehill Abbey Craft Centre, between Ferndown and Wimborne.
When the 'New Forest Marque' (see link on my ‘home’ page) was introduced in 2005, I was accepted as an 'approved user' and in January 2007 I was accepted onto the Register of Professional Turners.
I prefer, whenever possible, to use locally-grown timber - knowing where the tree grew seems to add some aesthetic value to whatever I am making. This means that I acquire timber wherever I can, and season it myself. An old rule of thumb said that the drying process takes (depending on species) a year to a year-and-a-half for every inch of thickness, so I need to keep quite a large stock.