Woodturning: A Selection of the Works of John Linek

This full-colour photobook showcases a wide selection of John's work.

A short slideshow of some photographs from this book can be viewed on YouTube or by clicking on the author's Amazon link above.

To connoisseurs of fine woodturning John Linek needs little introduction; equal parts artist and philosopher (his favourite thinkers are Thomas Szasz, Erich Fromm and Friedrich Nietzsche), the works of this modern-day Renaissance man stand head and shoulders above the crowd, and make it clear why he well-deserves his reputation of being amongst those at the forefront of shape innovation and design for many years.

So it's surprising to learn that his introduction to woodturning was almost accidental. Although trained originally in fitting, turning, toolmaking and welding, John felt for many years that metal was too inflexible a material for any artistic use (he thinks differently now and has some ideas in that area). As it turns out piles of bulldozed trees (and their malleable wood) provided an opportunity for artistic expression and the impetus for the start of his woodcrafting career.

Making a path for a new line, power company workers had pushed aside and created piles of large, healthy trees in preparation for burning them. Seeing the waste set John to thinking about what he could make out of them. He was soon transforming them into bench seats, milking stools, solid barstools and butcher's blocks.

A bolt of encouragement came his way when one of his earliest pieces, a stool, won the Best in Show award at the Rotary Club of Beenleigh Arts Festival ("totally fresh", said the judge Jeff Shaw later), and from then on he was unstoppable.

In a natural progression he soon moved on to woodturning (he sold his first piece to a visitor even as he was finishing it on the lathe).

More competitions and awards followed. His work is now in high-profile public and private collections in Australia and overseas. Along the way he found time to help co-found the Brisbane Woodturners Society (in 1986 renamed the Woodturners Society of Queensland) and play a major role in launching their inaugural international woodturning seminar.

Always keen to experiment John has worked with many different woods including native Australian timbers such as hairy oak, giant banksia, Australian native ebony, mulga, gidgee, grey mangrove, Australian grass tree, beefwood, bloodwood, tree fungus (not pictured in this book), ironbark, macadamia, white cedar, silky oak, mallee, red cedar, Tom Russell's Mahogany, tallowwood, Burdekin plum, native western sandalwood, Australian tree fern, desert rosewood, wilga and forest oak amongst others, and a few exotic woods.

This book is useful for interior decorators, product designers, artists, collectors, art historians, educators, art critics and those in the woodcrafts amongst many others. It would be a valuable addition to any high school, university or trade school library. John is considered an early master of natural edge / live edge turning.

Table of Contents

Jewellery Boxes 2

Bottle Forms 60

Bowls and Platters 78

Eggs 160

Garden Dibbler 166

Sculptures 170

Perfume Diffuser 208

Garden Sculptures 212

Miniatures 216

Candlesticks 222

Open Forms 228

New Work 264

Woodturning Career 278