Welcome to Ed’s Woodturning

Welcome everyone. My Name is Ed Pretty. I have been a woodturner since the age of 9 when my father introduced me to the craft. I began to take the craft seriously at the age of 39 when a few of us formed the Fraser Valley Woodturners Guild in 1988. Since that time I have gained experience producing architectural woodturnings for builders and also enthusiastically pursued the artistic aspect of the craft. My work at this time is purely of an artisitic nature. My goal upon retirement from the fire service was to have my work displayed in a gallery and was successful on my first jury application to the Wood Coop Gallery on Granville Island. To everyone’s dismay, the Wood Coop had to close but my work has now been accepted in three other galleries; The Arnold Mikelson Mind and Matter Gallery in White Rock, BC, the Circle Craft Gallery in Vancouver, BC and The Little Cricket Gift Gallery in Fort Langley and Maple Ridge, BC. I presently belong to the Fraser Valley Guild as well as the Greater Vancouver Woodturners Guild (GVWG) and the American Association of Woodturners (AAW).

The purpose of the gallery page is to eliminate the need to carry a portfolio of my work with me wherever I go. Although my work is presented in the galleries, people often ask me in discussion for photos of my work. This site was orignally created to fulfill that purpose.

When we were putting the blog together  it occurred to me that the site could be so much more than a simple showcase.  I realized it was also an ideal opportunity to host a forum for woodturners. To that end I will be hosting discussions on just about any aspect of woodturning from wood selection to finishing as well as discussions about wood lathes, woodturning tools and other related tools.

If you are new to woodurning, I welcome your questions. In response to the need for instruction in basic woodturning skill, I established a Focus on Fundamentals program for one of the Guilds to which I belong. I have demonstrated these basic skills as well as other advanced skills to several groups, so am attuned to the needs of both basic and advanced turners.

I will be posting various articles and comments related to virtually any woodturning topic. I suspect that discussion relating to those posts will initiate questions and discussion that will provide ideal needs-based learning opportunities. If I know turners we can expect comment from all skill levels, providing a lot of knowledge in one place.

I hope that you will enjoy this blog. I am enjoying putting it together and know that as it progresses, I will enjoy it even more. Thanks for visiting!

As always, I encourage your comments and questions, so please refer to the tag line at the bottom of the article to post a comment.