Woodworkers: Dave Sterling

Wood Worker

Sterling Turnings

Phone: 1-804-755-6087

Consider the staircase spindle. Those elongated wooden supports climbing the steps like a disciplined army in uniform. An old house might have a dozen or more that seem to have been stamped from the same cookie cutter. But try finding a single replacement. Often renovators lumber through salvage shops in search of missing house parts -like the ordinary spindle-only to find near matches that won’t do. That’s when it may be time to turn to a wood turner like Dave Sterling. He’s helped restore the original fabric of old buildings by reproducing everything from spindles to porch posts. "I’ll turn whatever comes though the door," he says with a laugh. "As long as I can get it on a lathe, I’ll turn it."

What attracted you to this field?

Just doing it. I’d been working in cabinet shops before I met anyone who turned wood. After working at it for three years, I took a class with Rudi Osolnik in Parkman, Ohio. He was an expert who made the bowls that Eleanor Roosevelt sent to Queen Elizabeth for her wedding. Although I concentrated on bowls in the beginning, Rudi taught me that anything that could be put on a lathe could be turned: pickets, columns, balusters, bed posts, newel posts, porch posts, you name it. I fill a specialty niche of architectural reproduction.

What’s changed in the field since you started doing what you do?

A lot of the work has become automated. Some machines cut a profile that’s been computer programmed. But there are limitations to that, so there’s a real need for hand work. Computer operated machines require set up time and you have to produce a significant quantity to justify the costs involved.

Project you’re proudest of:

A large set of intricately turned staircase spindles for an early plantation in Virginia. I am also proud of an 8-foot baseball bat for Busch Stadium in St. Louis which included baseballs, 14 inches in diameter.

Most unique commission:

Working on the reproduction of the Susan Constant, a ship that brought the first English settlers to Virginia in 1607. I worked alongside some of the best shipwrights from around the world. One of them won the lottery while we were making stanchions, beams, perrell beads and pins. He was so committed to that work that he refused to leave! I enjoyed figuring out how craftsmen in the 18th century made things by hand, without the machines available to us today.

Why does what you do matter?

I can duplicate missing architectural elements and replace things that can’t be found, ensuring that homeowners do a good historically-accurate renovation.

Range of services you offer:

Porches, railings, columns, table legs, finials, whatever fits on my lathe. I typically use cypress, redwood, mahogany and, for exterior applications, maple and poplar. But, I did turn brass once, for an old-style store shingle that needed just the right ornament. As I say, if I can get it on the lathe...