Name: Bob Hallowell

How young are you? 35

Physical description:
I’m a little teapot, SHORT and STOUT

Where's home?
I’ve lived in Dubois, Pa most of my life except for my 5 years in the Air Force during which I lived in Las Vegas, Denver, and England.

Family information:
I have a wonderful wife Heather, and 2 daughters Haley who is 14 and Aliza who is 5.

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Do you have a website?
I have a website but it’s not real good and I haven’t updated it for a while. I need to work on that.

Looks pretty good to me!

How come you don't live in Wyoming?
Not sure why, I hear there is some great fly fishing there!

Yup. Other stuff, too.

Vocation:
For the last 11 years I have been taking care of the cellular system in my area for a major cellular company. I fix and maintain all the radio and telco equipment so the calls can be processed. Can you here me now?

Nope.

Shop Overview:
I have my half of the garage about 12x28. I’m thinking about closing in my half so I can put some heat in it for the 10deg days! I have a tablesaw, planer, jointer, drill press, bandsaw, routers and the lot. Plus a lot of handtools.

How many lathes do you own?
My first lathe was a 14” Grizzly I bought used and had it for about 4 months till it basically fell apart. Then I bought the Palmgren and used it for about 7 months til Frankenlathe came along.

Right now I just own Frankie – who is a great lathe for me. It is an older delta prototype for the dl-40 from the 80’s that I got a few months ago, it didn’t come with the factory motor or stand. I bought a vfd and just got a Baldor vector motor and put on it. She has a 16” inboard and a 23” outboard capability with about 50” between centers. I don’t see me upgrading in the near future now. I would put this lathe up there with the 16” jet, so I will save those pennies for a Oneway or a Robust way down the road.

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How many turning tools do you have?
Um, more than I thought. Mostly store-bought but I have a scraper I made out of 1-1/8x ½ HSS that I use a lot. My favorite is the first bowl gouge I bought. It is a 3/8 v-grooved pinnacle. I use it for something on almost everything I turn. It is the only bowl gouge I can get a good shear cut with.

How long have you been turning, and what got you started in the first place?
A little over a year, I saw a used lathe in the local trade magazine and I told my wife that I should get it so I could turn legs and what not for me fl*twork. Never did I dream the vortex was calling so hard!

What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?
All of them as long as it’s not chocolate.

What do you enjoy most about turning?
Creating a beautiful piece of art. Plus it helps I can finish a piece in ½ to 5 hours instead of 10-80 hours of fl*twork

What do you enjoy the least about turning?
Cleaning up the shavings, but worse having my wife be mad at me for tracking shaving in the house all of the time

Do you belong to a turning club?
No. The only near one meets on the second Tuesday of the month and that is the same day I have a commitment to my church for a leadership meeting, and in my life, God comes first.

What was your first completed turned project? You get bonus points for a picture of it.
My wife and I both made a little bowl out of some 2x2 oak stock we had. I gotta tell ya her’s was nicer than mine.

What’s your favorite individual piece that you have turned, and why?
Probably the spalted maple HF I turned a few months ago

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Hang on while I swap out the typewriter ribbon.