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Fine Woodworking magazine featured Turner on its cover in February.

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Peter Turner in the shop behind his South Portland home with a recently completed ash side table that features his trademark candlepin legs. “My hands told me to do it,” he said of his decision as a young man to become a woodworker.

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Turner uses a file to shape the top of a table leg. Colleagues say his meticulous attention to detail is one of the qualities that sets him apart among woodworkers.

TO LEARN MORE about Peter Turner and to read his blog, visit www.petersturner.com

SOUTH PORTLAND — Earlier this year, Peter Turner's 11-year-old daughter, Morrigan, asked her dad for help with a school project.

She was making a model of a pyramid, and knew that her father, an accomplished woodworker, could help her figure out the angles.

"Dad, I love it when you get all measurey," she told him.

Turner laughed out loud. His daughter's comment was cute and affectionate – and completely honest.

Turner has been getting "all measurey" for a good 30 years now, as a maker of high-end, handcrafted hardwood furniture. He works out of the shop behind his house in South Portland turning out clean and graceful tables, chairs, benches and chests.

Lately, the 55-year-old Turner has received national attention for his work.

In February, Fine Woodworking magazine featured him on its cover in a story about his design and creation of an ash and hickory blanket chest. In the current issue, he's back in the magazine for a story about one of his side tables.

"My hands told me to do it," Turner says, explaining his calling to wood. "I do it because I love it."

His love affair with wood probably goes to his childhood. He remembers hanging out in his father's workshop. His dad made shelves and other pieces from wood, and Turner liked to watch him work.

As a young man, he showed up at the doorstep of the North Bennett Street School in Boston, a highly reputed craft school. Turner found himself increasingly drawn to beautiful, functional furniture, and decided to act on his interest.

Noting that he had little experience in woodworking, an admissions counselor advised him to go elsewhere for practical experience before enrolling, so he would get more out of his education. Turner followed the advice – but never returned to the school. He went right to work, and hasn't stopped.

Early on, he worked for a furniture company near Boston, repairing furniture and doing refinishing work. His job afforded him access to tools, so he would come in early and stay late to work on his own projects.

After a series of jobs working for others, he went out on his own. For the past 20 years, Turner has been making custom furniture.

As a designer and maker, he is known for his honesty and integrity, said David Upfill-Brown, a colleague at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, where Turner also teaches.

Since 2000, the center has hired Turner to lead the first few weeks of a nine-month introductory course. The skills that furniture makers learn in those early lessons are essential to the successful completion of the course, and there's no better instructor than Turner to teach them, Upfill-Brown said.

"It's because of his consummate attention to detail and his skills in the traditional sense," Upfill-Brown said.

'MADE IT HIS OWN'

Those skills are evident in any piece that Turner creates. His work is neat and tidy, with every joint precisely executed and aesthetically pleasing – characteristics that are inherent in New England-style furniture, Upfill-Brown said.

"He has the ability to do exacting work," he said.

Peter Korn, the center's executive director, said Turner's distinction as a maker rests within his ability to evolve a traditional design so it becomes unique and personal. "He's working in the traditional vocabulary of shapes and functions. But if you look closely at his work, you can see that he has made it his own," Korn said.

As an example, Korn pointed to the legs that Turner often makes for his tables and chairs. Turner shapes his legs like candlepins, with a bulbous middle section. The leg is flat at the top, takes on a circular form in the middle and tapers off toward the bottom.

It's a small detail that distinguishes his work and gives his furniture flair, Korn said.

Turner came up with the candlepin design while sitting...