Meet Douglas Heck of Doug's Turnings
Douglas Heck works primarily in wood from Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Nearly all the wood he uses he collects and processes himself, working from the whole log to finished pieces. The bulk of Doug’s work consists of turned pieces, turned on a modern lathe.
One of his early goals with woodturning was to turn and finish the piece entirely on the lathe, allowing for no wood removal or sanding after it is removed. This requires Doug to determine and develop methods to secure each piece to the lathe so that how the piece was mounted is undetectable in the finished form. Once a piece comes off the lathe, he only has to sign the piece and apply oil.
Doug is self-taught through reading and regular practice. He looks for inspiring shapes to influence his designs, often admiring great pieces of pottery and glass. In creating many one-of-a-kind pieces, the shape of the raw wood dictates some of the limits of what can be created, but Doug finds it amazing how much latitude he has within those limits to show off the beauty of the wood.
Doug has always had a fascination with the beauty of wood. His fascination has deepened in response to working with ever-increasing species of wood and looking more deeply at the texture and grain of the wood as it is exposed in the turning process. Doug shares his love of woodturning through his classes, Learn to Turn.
Doug is married to Susie, who is deeply into all things plants, including caring for her bonsai trees. Doug is a bee keeper and enjoys lots of time with his grandchildren.