RLG BIO

My life began in 1951 in Black Mountain, North Carolina, a small town about 15 miles East of Asheville. I grew up watching my Dad work with wood. Some of my first memories are of him working light construction, and sitting at the kitchen table carving out long gunstocks from curly maple using a pocket knife, a few chisels and a rasp. I'm sure this drove my Mom to distraction! Later in life he began making mountain dulcimers 'just for the fun of it'.
I remember asking my Dad how to carve a gunstock. He told me I just had to take off the wood I did not want. Trouble was, I didn't know what I wanted, and what I didn't! I've made my share of toothpicks since then! He also had an old scroll saw that I did my first cutting on - a scalloped valance for the local fire department kitchen.

I went to Western Carolina University in 1969, having NO idea what I was going to do for the rest of my life. Industrial Arts? Music? I played around with several different majors, changing from Music to Industrial Arts Education, then to Educational Media my senior year. I met my future wife while working in the School of Education one summer, married in 1974, and we both graduated WCU in 1976, she an accounting major, me with a degree in education.
After graduating WCU, I worked 5 years as a Media Technician/Specialist at Southwestern Technical Institute (later Southwestern Technical College) in Sylva, NC, then moved to Wake county to teach at Athens Drive High School in Raleigh, NC. All the time I was dabbling in some type of wood work. Making stereo speakers, small tables, teaching set design/construction for the TV and theatre classes.
After Teaching 3 years at Athens, I went to Durham Technical Community College as Media Specialist, staying there for 22 1/2 years before I retired.

About the hair:

What isn't turning gray is turning loose.

I bought my first scroll saw (A Delta 20" variable speed) in 1986 ,or thereabouts. This is a heavy sturdy saw with a large table and has been used so much that it has been rebuilt once and is still in use in my shop. It does have a bit of vibration to it, so I use it for cutting thicker woods, and less delicate items.

I eventually purchased a Hegner M22v. This machine is a joy to use. My only complaint with the Hegner is that the saw table is relatively small, but it is extremely smooth in operation, blade changes are a snap, and I can do very delicate cutting with it. It is easily portable, and is the saw I carried to craft shows.

Lately, I have found it necessary to use a magnifying light. Being extremely nearsighted and trying to follow a delicate pattern line is NOT a good combination. (Cataract surgery helped this problem immensely.)

Since I do more than just decorative wood work, occasionally I find myself hanging from a roof, up a ladder, or sticking up through someone's floor.

More often than not, a short renovation project will have several 'hidden' surprises that make for a short detour in the planned construction process. Such was the case in a recent kitchen remodel I did for a friend. When removing the old pine flooring, we discovered some rot hidden underneath, requiring removal and replacing of some subflooring.

Several hours later, we were back in the kitchen, putting down new subflooring in preparation for new tile.

My latest adventure was cutting some logs from an old (my childhood "Swing Tree") maple at my parent's home in Black Mountain, NC. It made some nice spalted maple lumber that I hope to turn into some keepsake projects. As you can see from the photos below, the wood is now cut and drying in Raleigh.