By
Michael O'Donnell
I, Michael O'Donnell, first started woodturning in 1970 from my croft
on Dunnet Head, Scotland the most Northerly point on the British
mainland. Within the year I left my job as an Engineer with
Rolls Royce to take up woodturning full time. For the first
10 years I did traditional wood turning making: spinning wheels,
spinning chairs, three legged stools, bread boards, and salad
bowls. I sold all my wares from the croft to tourists and
to locals.
Then, around 1980, I became affected by the dust produced from
the kiln dried West African hard woods I was using. Luckily,
about this time I heard of green woodturning, changing to
this form of woodturning immediately for health reasons
as it produced less dust. With my change in product, making
decorative wooden bowls, I had a change of market, so I
started selling to shops and galleries further south. My
wife Liz, an art teacher, started decorating the bowls enhancing
them further.
Soon, I found I was in demand at home and abroad to demonstrate
and write articles on green wood turning, which was gaining
in popularity. I've written two books on the turning, the
latest, "Green Woodturning" soon to be published. I've demonstrated
in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, USA, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand. Also, I run courses from my workshop.
While teaching woodturning, I found the area most people had difficulty
was in sharpening. In order help them I devised a jig that
they could mount in front of a high speed bench grinder
to give to give set angles quickly and easily. I realized
that this jig had commercial potential and went into partnership
with my son, Cullen, forming C&M O'Donnell in 1994 to exploit
it. After very good reviews by British woodworking magazines
we expanded from selling direct to the public by mail order
to also supply retailers world wide.
Email
us for details, or have a look at our web
site.
