The original Red Oak Hollow is a valley a few miles outside of Kewanee, IL, bisected by a gravel road with a small stream and oak trees throughout. I grew up in Kewanee and, when we were kids, my mom used to take my friends and me out to Red Oak Hollow for the day. She would drop us off with canteens and knapsack lunches and we would play for hours among the trees and along the stream. We climbed trees, looked for arrow heads, and just did fun boy stuff. I thought Red Oak Hollow epitomized everything good in life - sharing the great outdoors with friends. In researching the internet recently, I looked up "Red Oak Hollow" to see if this web site would appear. It didn't, but to my surprise, a great story about the same Red Oak Hollow appeared, written by Bernie Howe of Kewanee who also enjoyed spending time there. I recommend it to you for more information about the place which inspired the name of my woodturning business. I had hoped to be in Kewanee this past summer for my high school reunion (40 years!) and had hoped to visit Red Oak Hollow to get a photo or two to share with you when I return. However, as it happened, I was unable to go. My sister was there this summer, too, and she and her husband visited Red Oak Hollow to take some pictures for me. She reported, and the pictures confirmed, that Red Oak Hollow in the years since I ran there as a boy, has changed. Imagine that! From an open valley filled with oak trees and a meandering stream, the Hollow has changed to one pretty much filled with brush and nearly impossible to walk through. That is disappointing but is also life. Nothing is as sure as change, but that makes life exciting. If I can return to Red Oak Hollow sometime, I will certainly share the experience with you.
When I started making woodcrafts, I realized that I needed a name for my new enterprise and, loving wood as I do, the name Red Oak Hollow popped into my mind. I adopted the name and adapted the game to my woodworking hobby, which has evolved from cobbling a few boards together as a kid to making things as an adult which people actually recognize. And what fun it is! I have slowly evolved, too, from making square things like bookcases, shoe cabinets, folding tables, and children's rocking chairs to making round things like bowls, platters, pens, and more. And now, as of December 2005, I have transitioned once again to a different kind of woodturning referred to as architectural woodturning. I am now in the production business, making everything from a single drawer knob to match those on a chest of drawers to a couple hundred balusters for a restoration project on an old house. This is all custom work for folks doing both restoration and new construction. As I get into it more, I will provide some photos of some of the things I produce so you can get a better idea of what I am now doing.
My initial transition from "square" to "round" occured in 1996 when I became aware of the Capital Area Woodturners (CAW) in the Washington, DC, area. Living in northern Virginia, I attended a woodworking show near Dulles Airport and saw members of CAW demonstrating the craft of woodturning. The guys were friendly so I attended one of their meetings, then another, bought a used lathe, and got hooked!
Thank you for visiting my web site. It is a great pleasure to share my story with you and I invite you to browse through the other pages as I continue to develop this site with additional information and pictures of some of the things I have made. Many are for sale. I also do specialty turning of favorite family wood to make keepsakes to pass down from one generation to another. For more information on that, please see the Special Turnings page.
For now, please enjoy browsing the rest of this Web Site and let me know if I may be able to provide something for you for yourself or as a gift for a wedding, graduation, Christmas, or other special occasion.