It started with a wood shop class at Hereford High School. Wood-turner Wyatt Elkins, who graduated from high school in
2023 and now attends Amarillo College, had made an exceedingly difficult chess board in the class. (“Never again on that,” he says, deadpan.) His instructor challenged him to make chess pieces for the board, and taught him the art of wood-turning—using a lathe to rotate wood while using specialty tools to shape and smooth it.
Elkins was hooked. He started making pens. He created intricately shaped candleholders. He started experimenting with different types of wood and researching wood suppliers.
“I never did get around to those chess pieces,” he admits.
Today, this student is slowly building up an inventory of products made from maple, walnut and cherry, along with more exotic woods like purpleheart and sapele mahogany. Right now his wood-turning is a hobby—“a little more than part time,” he says—that he would love to see develop into a full-time career. “I’d love more than anything to be running my own wood shop, my own store, with shelves lined with things I’ve made,” he says. Whether the business takes off or not, Elkins finds wood-working serves as a creative form of stress relief. “If I’m not having too great of a day, I’ll go out and try to make something.”
See more of Wyatt Elkins’ work on Instagram at @wyatts_woodshop and YouTube wood-working videos at @WyattsWoodshop.
