I learned to use a metal lathe at the University of Washington in Seattle while pursing my PhD in Electrical Engineering, focused on robotics. I turned my first bar of Timascus™ in March of 2004, and have been making rings, pens and more recently, spinning tops ever since.
In 2014 I made my first precision spinning top. I thought I would end up making a few for friends and family, and that would be it. Over three years later, I have made over 250 custom tops on my Logan 1917 manual lathe in my garage shop located west of Portland OR. In 2017 I collaborated both with Massdrop with a design I licensed to them and with Joshua Dawson on the Ho'onalu Tugsten Spinning Top we launched on Indiegogo.
The amount of interest in and support of my work has been truly humbling. I appreciate you taking the time to check out my store here on Big Cartel.
Sincerely,
Mitch