Mike McKinney
wood
Mike McKinney is a fourth generation woodworker, who had the opportunity to work in a shop with both his dad and grandfather. His grandfather, Paul, was very supportive of Mike and was very pleased when they could work together. Paul made Mike his first workbench from an old wooden crate. As Mike grew up, he separated from woodworking and went into banking for a career.
In 1993, Mike visited an open house of a revamped wood shop with his dad, David. At this open house, Mike felt very inspired by the woodwork there, which he described as “rustic, natural edge, original.” After this experience he was interested in starting woodworking again, and bought a budget workbench as well as some tools. Through much trial and error, he taught himself how to turn wooden bowls. With the help of various woodworking groups he progressed his skill tremendously.
As he advanced in his career, Mike had less time to woodwork until he was at the point where he didn’t woodwork for years. In 2006 he found himself homebound during some snowy weather, where he rediscovered his love for woodworking. A few months later, he had a plan for a shop to be built and it was under construction.
Ever since the wood shop was built there has been very few days you can’t find Mike in the shop woodturning. He retired from banking in 2019 and now is a full-time woodworker, and hopes to continue to do so for many years to come.
