Name: Bill Wyko

How young are you? 38ish --- better known as 43

Physical description: 6'3" 220lbs

Where is home?
Tucson AZ. Been here 18 years and off and on about another 10 years. Born in Los Angeles and lived in San Diego for about 8 years

Family information:
LOML – been with her 9 years. I have a 16-year-old daughter who is a great kid, straight "A", goes to church 2 to 3 times a week; basically every parents dream. Unfortunately I only see her a couple times a week.

Do you have a website? If so, what’s the URL?
www.audio2000az.com you really should take a look at our site. Soon I'll have a site made for my woodworking.

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Vocation:
I'm the president of Audio 2000. We do mobile electronics at it's finest. We've been named one of the top installation shops in the nation 7 times.

Shop Overview:
My name is Bill and I'm a Tool-A-Holic. I have 2 shops. The one at home is almost done. It'll have a Powermatic Table Saw, a JET22-44 drum sander, a Porter Cable router system, A Rikon 14" band saw, Dewalt surface planer, of course the JET 1442vs lathe, a Dewalt surface planer, 12" Compound sliding miter saw, Incra top of the line router system, Incra 1000se w/ sliding table. JET dust filtration system, and JET mini lathe. Right now all this is crammed in my garage waiting the completion of the new shop

How many lathes do you own?
I own 2 lathes, a JET mini and a JET1442vs. I walked into WoodWorkers Source only to see a guy turning a little candleholder. Then I'm told it's on sale for 199.99. I figured a good cheap hobby..........BOY WAS I WRONG. I bought the books by Ray Allan and Malcolm Tibbetts and immediately started segmented turning. The 1442 was on sale for 899.00 so I figured it was a good investment in my future of wood turning.

How many turning tools do you have? Store bought; home made; favorites?
Right now I think I have 10. About half are Crown and the other half is from a Shopsmith I acquired a while back.

How long have you been turning, and what got you started in the first place?
Since mid December 2006 and as I said before, a guy giving a demo on a JET mini.

What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Rocky Road

What do you enjoy most about turning?
There's something about watching a roughed out piece of lumber turning into a work of art right before your eyes. Also the challenge of segmenting something into a beautiful design.

What do you enjoy the least about turning?
Running out of wood.

No kidding – especially when the piece is still on the lathe!

What was your first completed turned project? You get bonus points for a picture of it.
A curly Maple bowl. I couldn't find a pic of my first piece but here's a pic of my 3rd, 4th and 5th pieces ever. (I think that’s the numerical order)

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What’s your favorite individual piece that you have turned?
The ones with Turquoise are my favorite.

What’s your favorite form that you turn?
The individual one below is my favorite form but I'm working on one with over 2000 pieces that should take top spot very soon.

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What do you not turn now that you want to - or plan to - in the future?
I'm going to try to do the Chinese ball with one inside of another and I'm also going to turn one vessel inside of another

How do you take your Moxie? (Straight up? beer chaser? neat? with corn flakes?)
Not sure what Moxie is but I probably take it Straight up.

I see an opportunity here.

What’s your favorite form someone else turns?
Travis Stinson did a piece that looked like a Champagne glass with a natural edge and a lid with a finial. That was very elegant and done so tastefully.

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What’s your favorite individual piece someone else has turned, and why?
Malcolm Tibbetts or Ray Allan could both hold this place.

Malcolm’s work always pushes the envelope so it's hard to pick one but I'd say "Deception of the Cocabola" would have to be my favorite.

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Ray built one he could sit inside. (Scroll down the page)