Has anyone went to the Columbus show yet? Is their very many venders? Can
you find good deals? I have never been to the show and wondered if it was
worth my trip over tomorrow or Sunday.

I went yesterday. Thought I'd get there early, 11:30am (show started at
noon) and maybe get a closer parking spot. Didn't happen, place was packed
by then! The crowd did subside somewhat around 4:00pm though. There are
some good deals, but most things are just a little below retail. However,
you will get some extras thrown in. Plenty of vendors, although not as many
as in past years. If you've never been, JUST GO! Be prepared to deal with
a little traffic, a bit of a walk to and from the show (and in the show),
and a good size crowd of people. Enter the show, go to the pretzel stand on
your right, get a cold one, and shop! --dave



"buick 58" wrote in message
...
Has anyone went to the Columbus show yet? Is their very many venders? Can
you find good deals? I have never been to the show and wondered if it was
worth my trip over tomorrow or Sunday.

aaaarrrgghh!! I bought a set of inserts for my Incra router lift from the
Incra booth and they DON'T FIT. Theylook righ, but are larger. WTF???
Looks like I'll be driving another 60 miles, fighting the crowd and traffic
AGAIN to take these back. Damn, I was looking forward to spending the day
in the shop. --dave


"Dave Jackson" wrote in message
link.net...
I went yesterday. Thought I'd get there early, 11:30am (show started at
noon) and maybe get a closer parking spot. Didn't happen, place was packed
by then! The crowd did subside somewhat around 4:00pm though. There are
some good deals, but most things are just a little below retail. However,
you will get some extras thrown in. Plenty of vendors, although not as
many as in past years. If you've never been, JUST GO! Be prepared to deal
with a little traffic, a bit of a walk to and from the show (and in the
show), and a good size crowd of people. Enter the show, go to the pretzel
stand on your right, get a cold one, and shop! --dave



"buick 58" wrote in message
...
Has anyone went to the Columbus show yet? Is their very many venders? Can
you find good deals? I have never been to the show and wondered if it was
worth my trip over tomorrow or Sunday.

I went on Friday. Wanted to get there at the open (Noon) but got there
around 1 pm. Just in time for the Wood Magazine talk about how to make their
mantle clock....learned some interesting tips from the guy giving the
lecture. Also got a free Wood Magazine (even though I had it already from my
subscription), JET tools 2006 catalog, a bunch of sample stains.

There aren't alot of 'deals' going on. Just priced a little below retail
like Dave stated. There are a lot of vendors that throw in extras to get you
to buy the product. For example, I stopped by a booth and the guy was
demonstrating one of the tools that will cut the outer casing of a wire and
stip it. I always wanted one since it will help with wiring the shop and
such. For the price I wasn't biting...guy through in a small set plus a
bigger set at no cost. Couldn't pass it up.

Forrest Blades was there. First time I stopped by their booth, never was
looking for them before now. Found out that for their blades you need to use
a stiffener because of the thin kerf. Also found out it would cost about
$135 for the blade and stiffener....looked online later that day and saw the
blades and stiffeners being sold for about the same price...no deal from
them.

There are also vendors that don't have anything to do with woodworking...like
my example above. For the second year in a row, saw the vendor with the
'brooms' that have the rubber heads with little 'fingers' on
them...supposedly picks up anything...yah right...not too many carrying them
around this year like there was last year.

I did see the pretzel stand Dave mentioned...unfortunately since I wasn't
drinking, I had to settle for a pretzel and a coke.

As in the past, any bandsaw demonstrations for roller bearings, the person
cut reindeer...although the pattern change a little and the reindeer got
fatter but it was still a reindeer.

There are a couple of lumber dealers with booths there trying to get you to
buy from them. The best I think if the Frank Miller Lumber. Just over the
state line in Indiana but they deliver to Columbus for free. Lady stated it
takes about 1 week for delivery. They seem to have a lot of order from the
Columbus area and when they get 'enough' to make it good for them, then send
the truck...must be getting a lot if a truck comes once every week.

If you want a list of vendors, just go to www.thewoodworkingshows.com and
select Columbus. There will be a link to a map showing the floor layout and
where each vendor is.

If you got the flyer in the mail from them, don't believe the $4 parking that
it shows on the back. Parking on Friday was $5 or $12 for all three days.
Good thing about the flyer is that there is a $2 off coupon on back. If you
want to bring your spouse or someone you can call your spouse for the day, go
the the website above and print a 'spouse gets in for free' coupon.

There were a couple of booths in the back with people from various
woodworking clubs in Ohio. May be of interest to someone.

Lots of lathe turning going on in the back.

This is just a quick review of what I saw. Of course you have your big
hitters also: Delta/Porter Cable and DeWalt. Mikita had a small setup in the
far back corner. Shop Fox dust collectors were being demonstrated by
NoSawDust.com.

Karl




buick 58 wrote:

Has anyone went to the Columbus show yet? Is their very many venders? Can
you find good deals? I have never been to the show and wondered if it was
worth my trip over tomorrow or Sunday.

The stiffener is advised for anyone's thin kerf blade. Not all Forrest
blades are thin kerf.

"Karl" wrote in message ...

Forrest Blades was there. Found out that for their blades you need to
use
a stiffener because of the thin kerf.

Well, I went again today. I exchanged the router table inserts for the ones
I needed then more shopping/beer. Ended up coming back with a PC 7518. It
was the last one Delta had. Just got her dropped into the router table this
eve and will try it out on making some raised panel doors tomorrow when I'm
sober. Oddly enough, I didn't spend near the $ this year as I did the last
few years. I usually start saving in the fall so I have some $ to spend
there, usually around $1000. This year I had $1000, but only spent $600 or
so. First time I actually came home from the show with money left! Either
my shop is now pretty well equipped, or it was because LN wasn't there this
year, I dunno which. I was, however, really looking forward to getting a #4
from them. I do think the show is steadily going downhill. There are more
and more vendors pushing stuff that isn't WW related. The brooms you
mentioned, the hot/cold massage therapy (or whatever it was) etc, etc. If
it keeps up like this, I swear I'll only spend one day there next year!
In any case, I did manage to get to Woodwerks in Gahanna as well. They
have sort of a mini WW show there this weekend with a couple vendors
(Bessey, Jet and very few others). They give 10% off most everything in the
store, so it's worthwile to go if you need something from them (or Rockler).
No beer, but free popcorn! --dave





"Karl" wrote in message ...
I went on Friday. Wanted to get there at the open (Noon) but got there
around 1 pm. Just in time for the Wood Magazine talk about how to make
their
mantle clock....learned some interesting tips from the guy giving the
lecture. Also got a free Wood Magazine (even though I had it already from
my
subscription), JET tools 2006 catalog, a bunch of sample stains.

There aren't alot of 'deals' going on. Just priced a little below retail
like Dave stated. There are a lot of vendors that throw in extras to get
you
to buy the product. For example, I stopped by a booth and the guy was
demonstrating one of the tools that will cut the outer casing of a wire
and
stip it. I always wanted one since it will help with wiring the shop and
such. For the price I wasn't biting...guy through in a small set plus a
bigger set at no cost. Couldn't pass it up.

Forrest Blades was there. First time I stopped by their booth, never was
looking for them before now. Found out that for their blades you need to
use
a stiffener because of the thin kerf. Also found out it would cost about
$135 for the blade and stiffener....looked online later that day and saw
the
blades and stiffeners being sold for about the same price...no deal from
them.

There are also vendors that don't have anything to do with
woodworking...like
my example above. For the second year in a row, saw the vendor with the
'brooms' that have the rubber heads with little 'fingers' on
them...supposedly picks up anything...yah right...not too many carrying
them
around this year like there was last year.

I did see the pretzel stand Dave mentioned...unfortunately since I wasn't
drinking, I had to settle for a pretzel and a coke.

As in the past, any bandsaw demonstrations for roller bearings, the person
cut reindeer...although the pattern change a little and the reindeer got
fatter but it was still a reindeer.

There are a couple of lumber dealers with booths there trying to get you
to
buy from them. The best I think if the Frank Miller Lumber. Just over
the
state line in Indiana but they deliver to Columbus for free. Lady stated
it
takes about 1 week for delivery. They seem to have a lot of order from
the
Columbus area and when they get 'enough' to make it good for them, then
send
the truck...must be getting a lot if a truck comes once every week.

If you want a list of vendors, just go to www.thewoodworkingshows.com and
select Columbus. There will be a link to a map showing the floor layout
and
where each vendor is.

If you got the flyer in the mail from them, don't believe the $4 parking
that
it shows on the back. Parking on Friday was $5 or $12 for all three days.
Good thing about the flyer is that there is a $2 off coupon on back. If
you
want to bring your spouse or someone you can call your spouse for the day,
go
the the website above and print a 'spouse gets in for free' coupon.

There were a couple of booths in the back with people from various
woodworking clubs in Ohio. May be of interest to someone.

Lots of lathe turning going on in the back.

This is just a quick review of what I saw. Of course you have your big
hitters also: Delta/Porter Cable and DeWalt. Mikita had a small setup in
the
far back corner. Shop Fox dust collectors were being demonstrated by
NoSawDust.com.

Karl




buick 58 wrote:

Has anyone went to the Columbus show yet? Is their very many venders? Can
you find good deals? I have never been to the show and wondered if it was
worth my trip over tomorrow or Sunday.