Kelvin Burton's Wood Craft Profile

My Dad when I was growing up in Napier was a builder and I had the job after school of cleaning up the workshop where the house framing and joinery were prepared. I discovered that a couple of guys were running a bowl turning business next door and managed to convince them to let me have a try! Skip forward a decade and while building our own house we needed curtain rod finials so I decided to try making them myself … after first constructing a rudimentary lathe on which to perform the task.


I lived in Texas for 33 years after moving from NZ with my wife and family to work with the Christian charity “Mercy Ships” where I was part of the IT team. We have 3 daughters and now have 3 grandchildren. Unfortunately, while we were still in Texas, they were living in Australia 🙁 
 
I (re)started turning in 2009 after a visit to NZ where I saw a couple of woodturners at work and was encouraged by one to “not leave it too long”. I discovered that the nearby city of Tyler, Texas had a woodturning club and so I joined up and thus became an avid turner.
 
Having family in NZ and Australia we traveled there often and I always tried to connect with another turner while there. I turned 72 in May (2022) and retired in October 2022. I spent the next 12 months preparing for us to move back to New Zealand which we accomplished in October 2023. I have joined the Geyserland Guild of Woodworkers in Rotorua, NZ and am enjoying getting to know a new group of woodturners!