Age: 67
Location: Seminole, OK
Smoking a pipe off and on for 40+ years.
All of the male members of my family on my father's side have either been professional carpenters or hobby wood workers. I love working with wood. My brother and sis-in-law had a glassware shop in a mall in Overland Park, KS in the mid-70s. There was a pipe shop a few doors from them and they had a carver-in-residence by the name of Kerry Wathen. I watched him for a while and was hooked. I messed with it on a strictly hobby level for several years until I started my own aerospace business in 1984 and had to give it up for lack of time. I got the bug again 4 or 5 years ago and started amassing equipment and supplies. I'm getting close to finally retiring and am looking forward to MAKING MORE PIPES!
I am a Navy veteran, Vietnam era. By trade I am a aircraft lighting engineer. My wife Sheila and I have been married for 42 years and have a son living in Colorado. My daughter sadly succumbed to heart disease 2 years ago. We have 5 wonderful grandchildren that I am in the process of spoiling rotten.
No, I am not a red-head. The handle comes from an award winning BBQ sauce I developed and marketed a number of years ago. Found out real quick that keeping up with the marketing end of it is a full time job. The name came to me in a dream one night and pays homage to Oklahoma's red soil and native Americans.
Premal says add pics so here are a few from past work:
