Hello from Trevor & thanks for visiting my little web site.

Lets start at the beginning. Once upon a time…………………………….

Some history – I grew up in an environment where it was normal to build your own stuff and we attempted to repair anything that was broken or damaged. There were always tools around as repair was always preferred to replacement of broken items. I guess that was the start of my love of tools & using my hands.

About 45 years ago whilst visiting my wife’s godfather (a very accomplished wood turner who could make or repair almost every project to which he put his mind and hands), he offered me an opportunity to try to turn a scrap on his wood lathe – and so it began! My coach and mentor had a bucket load of patience and with his guidance I managed to turn some cylinders including a toilet roll holder & rolling pin.

As short while later I watched my coach turn a slimline pen – I was hooked!

Over the ensuing years, I managed to acquire a small lathe and a few, mainly second hand well used tools, I also learned an enormous amount by making errors, wrecking projects, using various products especially glues for purposes for which they were not intended, and not sharpening my tools as often as I should ……..but heh! that’s all part of the learning process.

I worked in an office and found that being able to get out into my shed for a short time, sometimes only 20 minutes, to do a little preparation or turning was an amazing way to blow off the stress of a busy work day and the finished products gave me a good amount of joy and satisfaction.

Now I have a collection of what I consider very nice tools, a fair amount of experience & still get enormous pleasure from turning mostly small items, pens etc. I have also been fortunate to make some good friends & contacts along the way and have been very lucky to watch and learn from some amazing artists.

I still enjoy turning pens & have tried almost every style pen kit I could find. The web site is intended not to make me wealthy, but to share the items that I’ve made and hopefully provide a few dollars towards more supplies, blanks & kits to keep me entertained and feed my turning addiction.

Thanks for visiting troubleandstrife.com.au