Richard Altenhofen
My love and appreciation for wood goes back to my roots growing up in Oregon. My father was a sheet metal worker, but he did a lot of woodworking around the house and I learned much from him.
But I never really got serious about woodworking until much later in life when I could afford the power tools that are required to do the precision work I wanted. The furniture that I built is much appreciated by my family members. The Shaker style dresser with handcut dovetails will become family heirlooms.
One day I was reading an Arizona Highways catalog and noticed they were advertising pens made from mesquite. That launched me into buying my first lathe. It was a Sherline lathe, actually a small metalturning lathe. I modified it for making pens, and I was hooked.