Three Craftsmen from Barrow, Alaska

About the Guys 

A note from Guy One

About ten years ago I moved to the arctic with Gal One and Baby Girl One to teach woodworking to the local population of high school students. I did my student teaching with Original Guy and then took his job.  After all the students that I have had in wood shop, I still love working with wood. I teach school in Barrow, Alaska located above far above Arctic Circle.  When I step out of my house there is not a tree in site for 800 miles (hence the "no wood" part of our title).

I am the carpenter in the mix, the things that I turn usually end up being very large or very odd. Bowls are my thing the bigger the better, but I have an elegant side of me as well. In the last couple of years I have started turning bottles. Now you might be saying to yourself "bottles?" "what on earth does he mean?" I take a glass bottle cover it with wood, and then turn it on the wood lathe.

Let me say something about the other Guys:

Guy Two has been in the arctic for 23 years. He is a very smart scientist, or at least he thinks he is. Guy Two started tuning wood about 18 years ago after attending a class on wood turning in Provo, Utah and he turned wood at the Barrow High School Wood Shop in the evenings with the Original Guy, before I took the job. Guy Two turns thin stem goblets, boxes, and world class bowls (at least that what we tell him). You will never meet a man with a bigger heart.

Guy Three. Now this is an interesting fellow, he retired from being a wood shop teacher for 20 years in Oregon and Lower Alaska (Hooper Bay), where he met Gal Three who was not quite retired. She still needed 8 more years to retire, Guy Three told Gal Three he did not care where they went as long as he could build a house, but when that job came to be it was in Barrow, Alaska -  400 miles north of the arctic circle, not a place to build a house.

Guy Three is very good at making "glue ups" AKA "segmented creations." He has the talent for envisioning the final peace before he makes the first cut. Guy Three has taught all of us lots of woodworking tricks. He is also an expert potter capable of throwing pots over 14 inches high.

I hope that you enjoy the site.

Sincerely,

Guy One