I started turning in our basement when I was about 15. A friend and I where tinkering in my father's workshop when he noticed an old wood lathe buried under a pile of boards. At his encouragement we cleaned it up and he showed me how to turn a spindle. I spent the next few months practicing and experimenting to learn how to use the chisels that we found with it. I didn't think is was odd that while most boys where out playing ball,  I was in the workshop trying to learn how to use those tools. In the next 40+ years I did lots of turning, (mostly metal and always at work)  After I retired in 2002,  I uncovered the lathe again (It had ended up in Dad's barn). Hauled it to the new workshop I had just built and started turning again.  I have been turning for 8-16 hours most days since,   I enjoy turning bowls the most and have found pleasure creating segmented wooden bowls patterned after the Indian bowls that we have seen in the southwest. I always have a few in the works as it sometimes takes me months from the design and drawing stage to completion. I enjoy studying the stories behind the bowls and trying to come up with ways to produce them in wood.   In addition to segmented bowls I also do many shapes of one piece bowls from  exotic and local woods.  I make pens, tops, rolling pins, key chains, kaleidoscopes, jewelry, vases and cutting boards.  Platters are next! Gaius "Doc"  Hanawalt Doc's Web Site

This handmade wooden bowl is 9" in diameter and 4" tall. It has 177 pieces. The woods used are Curly Maple, (also called Tiger Maple) and  Black Walnut. It is finished with several coats of hand rubbed oil.  The shape is Hopi, the feature ring design is my own.

I was ask by a shop in Durango Colorado to make a bowl with Turquoise.  This was my response.  I made a couple of these each one being a little different from the others,  There are 211 pieces in these bowl, 24 are turquoise.   The woods are Curly Maple from Pennsylvania and Bloodwood from South America. IT is 8.75 around and 4" tall. The finish is hand rubbed oil. Next he wants me to try one with gold or silver in it!

This is my attempt to produce an Indian Zig-zag design.  The woods are Cherry, Black Walnut, Purpleheart, Ash, and black and white veneers It is 8.5" X 4" and contains 244 pieces.

There are several handmade pens and pen and pencil sets on display at the gallery

TO INQUIRE ABOUT THE AVAILABILITY AND PRICE OF THE ABOVE ITEMS PLEASE CONTACT THE GALLERY AT:   814-375-5834

Doc Hanawalt