Hey Fred Holder - congrats!

Fred:

Just saw your article in the international version of Woodturning. Nicely done! I didn't know we had an internationally known author in our midst!

I always wanted that little Vic as I had a friend that got one. At the time he got his though, the castings were more than I paid for my Jet mini, and his didn't come with a motor! He wound up getting a motor from one of the surplus guys mentined here from time to time, but with an extra pulley he was still in the $550 - $600 range many years ago. To compare, I got my Jet mini when it first came out in '97 -'98 for +/- $249 at Woodcraft.

Probably due to the competition it has now, but the Jet mini can be had for less now than when it was introduced 10 years ago.

One day when I grow up, I would love to have a big Vic. One of the guys in my club has a 300 series, and it is a monster. But it runs so smooth I think you could turn a seam ripper on it.

Anyway, good work. Went you went down under did you bring back or ship any kinds of good turning wood?

Robert

Hello Robert,

I've been writing for Woodturning magazine in the UK since about 1995 and for six years I wrote a monthly column while Mark Baker was editor. After Colin Simpson took over, he didn't want a monthly article "Letter from America", so I only wrote occassionally. My last article for them was about our visit to the Vicmarc factory, where we picked up our new VL100 evs lathe to use at the Down Under Turn Around on Phillip Island near Melbourne in Australia. It took three months to get the lathe home, but it now holds a place in the shop and is a lovely little lathe.

I've had two books published by GMC Publications in the UK: "Making Screw Threads in Wood" and "A Guide to Work-Holding on the Lathe."

I also wrote an article for the New Zealand magazine (it has gone through several name changes, so I'm not sure what it is currently called) for a couple of years.

Does that make me an international author? Also, "More Woodturning", which I publish ten time a year, is distributed world wide.

My newest book, which should be available in June 2007 will be published by Linden Publishing in California. It's title is: "The Woodturners FAQ Book". It is aimed at beginning woodturners, but will have a lot of information of interest to intermediate woodturners also. It is basically a Question and Answer book. I hope to have copies with me at The Utah Woodturning Symposium and at the AAW Symposium in Portland this year. Maybe I'll see some of you people at one of these events. I am demonstrating at the AAW Symposium this year.

Fred Holder