By ANN ALLEN
Indiana Correspondent

AKRON, Inc. — When Rado Gazo, Daniel Warner and Kyle Newman first set up the CT test site at Pike Lumber Co., they worked four days a week.

Now that the lab is up and running, Newman works alone nearly 80 percent of the time, scanning logs and recording data. Gazo visits occasionally, as does Warner, who will fill in for Newman when he goes on vacation.

“It’s a very exciting project,” Newman said. “I like it because I get to go over all the information first.”

He delights in seeing the nuances of each log – a hole in a sugar maple where a tap once was inserted, or the path a beetle took from a decayed limb or shot from a long-forgotten target practice.
Since he is not a Pike employee, he does not operate any machinery except the CT scanner. Pike workers, however, do move the logs for him.

Newman, son of Kerry and Donna Newman and a 2005 graduate of Rochester High School, set out to study fish culture at Purdue University but switched his major after spending time in Purdue’s wood shop.

“Woodworking was always my hobby anyway,” he said. “I like this department because it’s the most like home. Everyone likes to be outdoors and have fun. I know everyone.”

As an undergraduate assistant, he helps five professors and Warner. In his spare time, he takes his love of woodworking to new levels, recently converting a 150-pound burl into a massive bowl.