Production pastimes

Weaving, painting, welding, carving, you name it. Outside of work, Los Alamos National Laboratory employees moonlight as makers of everything from watches to wine. Meet six employees who take their hobbies just as seriously as their day jobs. 

Bo Folks

• Special materials machinist, Finishing Manufacturing Science
• Sculptor

In the living room of his 900-square-foot home, Bo Folks creates and reproduces jewelry and figurines. “My favorite subjects are animals, dragons, and symbols from around the world,” he says. “I love researching my subject matter so I can make it as accurate as possible.” Folks used to sculpt using clay or stone. He would reproduce his creations using lost wax casting, a process that is more than 6,000 years old. “But now,” he says, “I primarily sculpt on a computer using electrons and pixels.” He brings his creations to life using 3D printing, “a process that is younger than I am,” he notes.

Folks says his experience as a sculptor has informed his work as a machinist at the Laboratory. “I’ve built up a foundation of skills that are highly uncommon in an advanced manufacturing setting,” he says. “Therefore, I often have a unique perspective to bring to a problem.” Folks is quick to note, however, that “sometimes the simplest solutions are best.” ★

Stephanie Frankle

• Research and development scientist, Integrated Design and Assessment
• Woodworker, quilter

When Hurricane Hugo hit the East Coast in 1989, Stephanie Frankle and her husband, Chris, were in graduate school at North Carolina State University. “We were able to help some homeowners out by removing large trees,” she remembers. “One of Chris’ undergraduate professors had a sawmill, so we had wood planks cut.” 

The planks enabled the Frankles to fully embrace woodworking as a hobby, and the unused planks came with them when they moved to Los Alamos. Together, the couple builds furniture, which Chris sands and Stephanie finishes. Some of their creations, such as an adjustable-height sewing cabinet, are custom-built for Stephanie’s other hobby: quilting. “My perfectionist nature comes out in woodworking, whereas I am able to take a more relaxed approach to quilting,” she says. “In very different ways, both allow me to put the world away and come back refreshed.” ★

Janet Herrera

• Program manager, Program Assurance Office
• Vintner

Janet Herrera lives in her childhood home in El Rancho, New Mexico, where she and her husband have planted 300 vines that supply about 2,000 pounds of grapes most years. Those grapes are picked, cleaned, crushed, and eventually turned into wine that’s bottled right in Herrera’s kitchen. Although Herrera doesn’t sell her wine commercially, it is enjoyed by friends, family, and those lucky enough to receive it as a gift.

Herrera grows several French-American hybrid varietals that tolerate New Mexico’s cold winters and loamy soil. “A lot of people hear that we make wine and think it’s so romantic,” Herrera says. “Really, we’re farmers, and it’s a lot of hard work.”

Even so, Herrera wonders if perhaps someday she’ll expand operations. “Maybe we’ll even build a small tasting room to share our passion with more people,” she says. “But for now, we’re happy where we’re at—it’s been great fun.” ★

David Katonak

• Research and development engineer, W76 Systems Engineering
• Horologist

Even as a kid, David Katonak had an interest in the way things worked and how interactions and movements between small parts could produce larger movements. “I grew up in the country, and my family was quite a ways away from the nearest town,” Katonak explains. “So, we had to learn to fix things, and we always had dirt bikes or tractors to work on.”

In 2019, when Katonak inherited a grandfather clock in need of refurbishment, a new hobby was born. Katonak has since taken a clock repair class and built up a collection of vintage clocks, pocket watches, and watches. At his in-home workshop, he has developed the tooling and taught himself the skills necessary to repair and service the timepieces, and he even assembled a watch from parts that he carefully researched and sourced. “I think the end goal is to get to a point where I can repair and service my parents’ grandfather clock,” Katonak says. “I feel some attachment to that clock, and being able to do that would show a high level of skill.” ★

Tom Nizolek

• Research and development engineer, Finishing Manufacturing Science
• Machinist

Tom Nizolek restores used metalworking and machining equipment. “The machines in my collection,” he explains, “were made between the 1890s and the 1980s, with many originating from the surge in industrial activity associated with World War II.”

Recently, while rebuilding a metal cutting shear, Nizolek discovered a plaque covered in grease that revealed the machine had been purchased by the Atomic Energy Commission (the predecessor to today’s Department of Energy, of which Los Alamos is a part) and used at the Nevada Test Site (known today as the Nevada National Security Sites, where Los Alamos conducts many experiments). “To give this piece of equipment a new lease on life—along with many other tools that literally built America’s industrial might—is very satisfying,” Nizolek says. “After I have restored a machine, I know exactly how all parts of it work, and I almost always learn something new about mechanical design.” ★

Jesse Salazar

• Research technologist, Nuclear Materials Science
• Leatherworker

When Jesse Salazar’s son wanted to try leatherwork, Salazar got him a starter kit. Soon thereafter, the boy lost interest, and the kit went into the closet. Later, Salazar was shopping for a leather belt but couldn’t find one he liked. “Then I remembered that starter kit,” he says. “I took it out of storage and made my own belt—that was the beginning of my love for the craft.”

In addition to belts, Salazar makes everything from purses to pistol holders. “Designs for these items percolate in my head,” he explains. Using a pencil, he draws a design on leather, then dampens the hide and uses a swivel knife and stamping tools to carve and imprint the pattern. Lastly, he oils the leather before adding any special finishes. “With a cup of coffee and my favorite music on the radio, I just let the process flow,” he says. “Day-to-day challenges disappear and a sense of tranquility sets in.” ★