I still think of it as a shop. Red Oak Hollow, as awesome as the name sounds, is really just my workshop in a separate building near the house in Wamego, KS. We moved out here in August, 2014 and got the shop set up in an outbuilding about fifty feet from the house. As of December 2005, when still located in Purcellville, VA, I was in business doing custom architectural woodturning, things like balusters, newels, porch posts, and so forth. As of August 2014, I sold that part of the business and we moved to Kansas but still make things like bowls, bottle stoppers, and hollow forms as well as custom academic maces for colleges and universities. 

I am now using three lathes. My primary lathe is a Oneway 2436 with a 60″ bed extension and an outboard extension to the left of the headstock. I can turn up to about 7-foot porch posts as well as 48″ diameter specialized molding.

My secondary lathe is a Stubby S750, made in New Zealand and imported into the US. It weighs about 900 pounds. I got it in the Fall of 2002 and have found that it is a great piece of equipment which is quite versatile, allowing me to work even the oddest shaped piece of wood. I can turn pieces of wood up to 30″ across, if I can even lift them up on the lathe in the first place.

My other hand lathe is a small portable lathe made by Delta and called the Midi. Some other companies make a “mini-lathe” but Delta called theirs a “midi” because it has a bed extension available and because it is about 20 pounds heavier than its primary competition. The Delta Midi is a great lathe and I have carried all 77 pounds of it out of the shop many times to use for demonstration woodturning at craft shows and for woodturning club events. This is one of the early Delta Midi lathes but Delta beefed it up quite a bit, added some great features, and still calls it a Midi. The newer one is available through Home Depot. Both are great lathes.

Now that I am a full-time woodturner, I spend most of the day as well as many evenings and some weekends in the shop. You are most welcome to come visit. This is a working shop so please let me know ahead of time if you will be in northeastern Kansas and would like to come by.