Here at The Woodworkers Club, we’re lucky to have many extremely talented instructors. Roman, one of our resident instructors, teaches pen making here once a month (click here to see a list of all our classes) and you can see a few of his pens for sale at our front counter.  He also donates many of his pens to our Turn for Troops program in November.

When did you first get into woodworking?
    As a young boy.  I learned from my dad.

What’s your favorite part of the creation process?  
    Trying something new.

Why pens?
    My daughter Milyssa, wanted to make something for my dad, and she wanted to learn how to turn.  So she decided to make him a pen. She enjoyed the process and the outcome so she continued making pens.  When she gave the pen to my dad he was impressed with it and noted that he had never turned anything on that small of a scale.  So he decided to start making pens. Meanwhile, I changed jobs and wanted to have pen that matched my company’s color scheme, so I decided to make myself a pen, and I haven’t looked back since.  I call myself the 3rd Gen Pen Turner with my daughter being the 1st gen and my dad the 2nd.

Do you make anything besides pens?
    I make anything I can.  When I want something my first thought is “Can I make it myself?”  I used to have a casino entertainment company so I made most of the casino tables and storage equipment.  If you were to ask my kids, they would say that I make tools to make tools. I love making jigs. If the process involves repeated steps, I probably have some type of jig to accomplish it.

What is your home shop/set-up like?
    If you ask my wife, she’ll say a mess.  I currently occupy the entire basement of our house.

What are some tools you can’t live without?
    All of them.  But most notably, table saw, band saw, drill press, lathe, router, router table, disk sander, pressure pot, vacuum pump, air compressor, stabilization chamber…  Thought I was kidding, when I said all of them?

What is your favorite piece you’ve created?
    Very hard to say.  The item which took the most time and brought in the most value for me, would be a 14ft craps table.  There are a couple of resin & wood bowls, a few pens, my router table.

What is the best lesson you’ve learned that took your craft to a new level?
    Don’t be afraid to fail.

What woodworkers inspire you/do you look up to?
    Number 1 is my dad.  I like to explore YouTube for ideas, Steve Ramsey – Woodworking for Mere Mortals (lots of jig ideas), Zac Higgins – NV Woodwerks, Curtis O. Seebeck – TurnTex.