Blue Ridge Country - November/December 2019 - 54

Byron Young
Woodturner

Charleston, West Virginia

ABOVE: Byron Young,
president of the West Virginia
Mountaineer Woodturners,
explains the different types of
wood lathes at their workshop.
FACING PAGE,
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP:
(Photos courtesy Byron Young)
Lidded vessel with blue gesso
and black spider paint.
Four-lidded box vessel titled
"Stairway to Heaven" of cherry
and walnut woods.
Functioning turned desk clock.
Walnut and maple birdhouse
ornaments.
Natural edge walnut bowl.
Cherry wood cremation urn.

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midst the lodges, cottages,
ponds and swimming pool,
picnic shelters, fields, trails,
campfires, chapel, meeting and dining halls, and a
covered bridge all surrounded by West
Virginia mountains sits the Craft House
at Cedar Lakes in Ripley. Since 1959 this
building has welcomed and celebrated the
rich history of mountain crafts. One resident group currently occupying a room is
the Mountaineer Woodturners.
This group of 60 members meets once
per month in a room full of lathes for
demonstrations and "to talk shop" according to president, Byron Young. "We
are a chapter of the national American Association of Woodturners (AAW)," he says.
"There are 400 chapters with some 14,000
members worldwide."
Young has been turning wood as a
hobby for 50 years. "I was a medic in the
Air Force back in the 1960s, and now I'm
telling my age," he says with a laugh. "It
seems like I've always worked with wood,
and I've really gotten into it in the last 20
years or so." In addition to creating his
own art, Young also teaches 10, week-long
classes throughout the year. "The students
are mostly retired folks, and people assume it's all men," he continues. "But
women take the classes, too. They're generally easier to teach; and it doesn't take

any particular physical strength like some
people might think."
Cherry, walnut, and maple are Young's
favorite woods to use. "They're plentiful,
and they're pretty," he says. "You can fall
into a trap with some of your specialty
wood due to the high costs. So we harvest locally. There are always fallen trees
from storm damage. And we help folks
by chopping them up, and clearing them
away. Most of my pieces are made from local wood." He adds, "I also like holly-it's
a beautiful blonde wood with a little gray
to it. And, box elder (a maple species) can
have a lot of bright red, which makes good
looking pieces."
In addition to wood choices, woodturners also have their own preferences
of finishing styles. "Galleries are asking
for a mixture of natural wood grain and
color these days. So I like to use stains,
dyes, and iridescent paints on my work,"
says Young. He sells at shows, events, and
several brick and mortar locations. "I'm
a juried artist at Tamarack [arts center in
Beckley], and I also sell in a little gallery
in the Finger Lakes region of New York
State." Young makes platters, vases, ornaments, trinket boxes, duck calls, toys,
and a variety of other items. "Functional
bowls and all kinds of natural edge items
are trending now."
Young's work was also chosen as an ornament for the Governor's tree in Charleston, West Virginia. "We don't get paid. But
it goes in the collection, and you get to
have lunch with the Governor," he states
with a grin.
While looking at his creations, Young
suddenly asked if I knew about the Golden Ratio. Well, I'm never ready for a math
quiz, so all that came to mind was the
Fibonacci sequence (because it was once
explained to me using a nautilus shell).
When he said, "Yes, it's there also" I was
certain he was just being generous. (I
Googled it later, and was shocked to see
that they are related!) "The multi-layered
piece I call 'Stairway to Heaven' is my
signature favorite because I was experimenting with the Golden Ratio, 1.618. It's
everywhere in the universe-in nature,
architecture, the human body, windows,
books and even the shape of our credit
cards. So even though the sizes are different within the piece, they follow this ratio. It took me quite a while to make, and

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Blue Ridge Country - November/December 2019

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