Years later, his son came home with a handmade wooden pen, and that stirred Louis’s emotions to get back into this craft. Shortly after, his wife Marcia bought him his first lathe, a full-size Delta, at Christmas. These machines help create and mold beautiful wood and acrylic pieces.

As Louis said, “I have a tremendous love affair with wood, and I want it to be fun. But, I also want to have instant gratification as well. The grains of wood intrigue me, and I can make stunning objects, which creates fascinating finishes.”

He gets this fulfillment from a hobby he considers, in and of itself, basically inexpensive, unless you make high-end pieces. “I can usually make a pen in less than an hour,” said Louis. For finishing purposes, Louis will often use cyanoacrylate “super glue” to give the pens some texture.

The tools that Louis employs are various skews, chisels and detailers, some made out of carbide steel. His wood choices include cocobolo; olive wood from Bethlehem, Israel; and snakewood (Brosimum guianense), which comes from a small tree in the forests of Central and South America. It is also known as one of the world’s most expensive woods in the world. For example, a one inch by nine inch piece of snake wood can cost anywhere from 30 to 40 dollars.

Some of the items that Louis has created are: flatware, pepper mills, cheese slicers, pens, bowls, toothbrush handles, oil lamps, wine glasses and many other items. He enjoys giving these items to family and friends as gifts.

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