My name is Tom Schmidt. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’ve been a professional Chef for my entire work life. In 1987 I moved to Germany where I lived and had a restaurant. In 2008 I got homesick for California so I moved back and settled in Windsor with my wife and son. In my off time from cooking I always had hobbies that involved working with my hands and being creative. Over the years woodworking a has turned out to be my favorite pastime, enough so that I stopped cooking and started putting my full attention into woodworking. I love the feel of looks of all different kinds of wood, seeing the colors, the interlocking grains, rings, knots, etc.. and bringing these out in my finished pieces. I do some cabinetry and furniture making, but my true passion is using the lathe. Often when I go in the shop to turn some wood, I’m not sure what the finished piece will look like. I’ll now if i want to make a bowl, a pen or a spice mill, but not until I start working with the wood do I know what the end shape will be. I often do not know what lurks under the outer layers of wood, and that’s when the creativity comes into play. Sometimes I’ll add resin to the cracks and voids to give the end piece a different look, and sometimes I’ll just leave them to show what nature has accomplished.