Don Groesser Woodworking

From the artist:

My love of woodworking probably originated with my dad and grandfather. My grandfather came from upper Michigan where there were plenty of trees and projects. I’ve been told that he and his father built the family farm house and outbuildings. I can remember working with my dad on all kinds of building projects that my brother and I would help him with.

That’s when my love of wood started. For the past 40 years I have always had some type of woodworking shop. Today I am grateful to have a shop that is unbelievable and would be the dream of any woodworker. We’ve made a lot of Christmas gifts throughout the years and all types of building projects. My largest one was building a barn on my home property in Weeping Water (it’s still standing!) and doing a lot of remodeling. My brother and I always had a project going.

As I worked throughout my career in Information Technologies I was always sitting behind a desk. On the weekends and evenings I would have to do something with my hands or I would end up going crazy. Woodworking was a release that I really needed and enjoyed. It wasn’t until I actually retired from my “real” job that I really began consistently building furniture, segmented vessels, and bowls. If you give me a photo of something I can figure out how to build it.

My work with segmented vessels started when my wife, Debra, and I were at an art gallery in Texas which had a lot of segmented wooden vessels for sale. I was totally fascinated with the process of building those type of vessels. I researched on the internet and found a lot of different ways of making segmented creations. From there I began experimenting with different techniques and since have refined the process in my own way. It’s a very mathematical and tedious process. I’m a type A personality…for me to sit and make all the little pieces necessary, glue them together and put them on the lathe is very relaxing. It’s just magical to me to see the amazing results. I just get lost in the creative process and lose track of time.

I hope you enjoy the final products as much as I enjoy making them. Thank you!