Here's My Workshop!
by John Perrella
Grahamsville, NY
Click on any picture to see a larger version.
I am a woodworker residing in the Catskill Mountains of New York. I am surrounded by forests composed of wonderful eastern hardwoods which is the raw material for what I create. I am a bowl turner and designer and maker of furniture. The wood for my projects is harvested here, then sawn on a portable sawmill, dried in a drying shed and finally brought into the shop for use.
My studio consists of an extensive woodshop where I create hardwood furniture and turn bowls on a lathe.
All the wood for my projects is obtained from native hardwood trees here in New York. These are some of the finest hardwoods in the world. Species I like to use are black cherry, red maple, white ash, sugar maple, american beech and black birch.
Harvesting is done with a compact tractor fitted with a small winch made in Sweden. This small machine minimizes adverse impact on the environment. My forestland is managed to provide firewood from the culls, wildlife habitat for deer and the myriad of other animals that live here, biological diversity of species and high quality hardwood lumber from the best trees.
I use a portable sawmill to make boards from the raw logs. These boards are air dried for several years before use.
My woodshop houses a jointer, planer, table saw, lathe, dust collection system and a myriad of other tools. Here lumber is cut, planed, joined, and fabricated into useful and beautiful products. The primary tool I use for turning bowls is a Powermatic lathe - a large, heavy machine that enables me to be as precise and creative as my imagination and effort will allow.
With this wonderful forest resource combined with lots of equipment and skill I create one of a kind pieces that are functional and pleasing to the eye.
You can email John at
jgperrella@gmail.com
or check out his website at
www.katrok.com
.
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, featuring many of the
shops that we have featured in previous editions of Wood News.
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