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I was born in Salford in 1954 and moved to Maghull, Liverpool in 1967.
I left school at 15 and served my time as a maintenance engineer. I worked as a maintenance engineer for nearly 30 years in a number of different places including a short stint in Australia. I decided (with the help and support of my wife) to go self employed as a wood turner. Although I have had no formal training, my engineering background gave me the confidence to try things out.

I bought my first lathe in 2000 and started turning all sorts of wooden things, I eventually started to specialise in exotic woods especially Australian Burrs.
I really enjoy using the different colours of the burrs and designing unusual pieces. Everything I make is a ”one off”

I joined The Art and Craft Guild of Lancashire in 2001 and with their experience and support I have enjoyed exhibiting my craft around the country. I now concentrate on supplying my work to a number of Art Galleries in the North West and have

About Australian Burrs

Australian burrs are probably the most beautiful woods in the world and can be very large. This picture is of a tree with many small Jarrah Burrs. In maturity Jarrah Burrs reach up to 12,000 pounds. The burrs will by sliced off the tree without damaging the tree.

Australian burrs are gathered by companies licensed by the Australian government. There are only a few such licenses granted. This is a precaution to make sure that trees are not damaged in the gathering process.

Burrs are like tumors growing on the side of the tree. These tumors are caused by insects or virus. In carefully removing them no damage is done to the tree and will improve the health of the tree.

The Australian burrs I work with are Red Mallee, Brown Mallee, Grey Mallee, Jarrah, Coolibah, Red River Gum, York Gum, Gimlet and River Gum plus any others I can get my hands on