His first attempt at lathe turning was a matched pair of legs for a five-sided table for his daughter in 1979. His interest piqued, he pilfered some pieces of wood from his firewood pile and tried his hand at some candleholders. Feeling a touch of (very modest) success, he ordered a load of Black Walnut firewood, cut long and un-split, from a tree freshly fallen. From selected pieces of this some bowls were attempted. He was now irretrievably hooked. In 1989 a second, larger, lathe was added.

Norman concentrates on utilizing local woods from trees that have already been taken down for some other reason such as orchard turnover (old trees being replaced by young), highway widening, dead tree removal along streets, wind damaged trees, etc. The price of exotic, imported woods, dried and ready for use, is thus replaced by the costs of chainsaw use, band-saw blades and hauling heavy loads of green wood as well as the labor involved in mini logging operations. He has found the central Sacramento valley home to a fairly extensive variety of rather pretty woods.

All of Norman's turnings are done using hand held tools such as gouges, skew chisels and scrapers. Some of his pieces are finished with mineral oil and beeswax, and are suitable for daily table use; these bowls and plates can be washed with warm water.