Hey woodworkers:

Hope to see you this week-end at the woodworking show. Please stop by
the booth and say hello. We have a great show lined up and hope you
will be able to attend. Thanks, Mike from American Sycamore
for more information about the show and the one that might be coming
your way take a look at www.woodworks2003.com

On 8 Oct 2003 19:53:45 -0700, (Mike at American
Sycamore) Crawled out of the shop and said. . .:

Hey woodworkers:

Hope to see you this week-end at the woodworking show. Please stop by
the booth and say hello. We have a great show lined up and hope you
will be able to attend. Thanks, Mike from American Sycamore
for more information about the show and the one that might be coming
your way take a look at www.woodworks2003.com


Mike, you going to be in minnesota for the show the following weekend
i think it is?

Traves

Yes, he will be there, complete with booth. Mike and I are driving up
Thursday night.

-Dan V.

On Wed, 08 Oct 2003 22:14:13 -0500, Traves W. Coppock
newsgroups-AT-farmvalleywoodworks-DOT-com wrote:

On 8 Oct 2003 19:53:45 -0700, (Mike at American
Sycamore) Crawled out of the shop and said. . .:

Hey woodworkers:

Hope to see you this week-end at the woodworking show. Please stop by
the booth and say hello. We have a great show lined up and hope you
will be able to attend. Thanks, Mike from American Sycamore
for more information about the show and the one that might be coming
your way take a look at www.woodworks2003.com


Mike, you going to be in minnesota for the show the following weekend
i think it is?

Traves

On Thu, 09 Oct 2003 16:09:50 GMT, (Dan
Valleskey) Crawled out of the shop and said. . .:


Yes, he will be there, complete with booth. Mike and I are driving up
Thursday night.

-Dan V.



Awesome, look forward to meeting you both!

Traves, who wonders how many other closet wReckers are going to be
there?

In article , Traves W. Coppock newsgroups-AT-farmvalleywoodworks-DOT-com wrote:
On Thu, 09 Oct 2003 16:09:50 GMT, (Dan
Valleskey) Crawled out of the shop and said. . .:

Yes, he will be there, complete with booth. Mike and I are driving up
Thursday night.

Awesome, look forward to meeting you both!

Traves, who wonders how many other closet wReckers are going to be
there?


You mean at Indy, or the other one? I'll be at Indy, either Saturday with my
son or Sunday with SWMBO (who also is a ww-er, posts here occasionally as
IndyRose). Maybe with both of them on Friday eve...

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 02:15:04 GMT, (Doug Miller)
Crawled out of the shop and said. . .:

In article , Traves W. Coppock newsgroups-AT-farmvalleywoodworks-DOT-com wrote:
On Thu, 09 Oct 2003 16:09:50 GMT, (Dan
Valleskey) Crawled out of the shop and said. . .:

Yes, he will be there, complete with booth. Mike and I are driving up
Thursday night.

Awesome, look forward to meeting you both!

Traves, who wonders how many other closet wReckers are going to be
there?


You mean at Indy, or the other one? I'll be at Indy, either Saturday with my
son or Sunday with SWMBO (who also is a ww-er, posts here occasionally as
IndyRose). Maybe with both of them on Friday eve...


lol figures yur down there. . .im here in the minneapolis area

Completely new direction... just responding to the subject.

Did anyone else think this show was worthwhile? It was a fairly small show
with what appeared to be light attendance. However, every one of the
vendors and demonstrators were extremely informative and took the time to
offer advice. I brought my daughter with me to see if she would be
interested in working with a scroll saw. Every vendor we talked to offered
good and honest advice and spent time talking to both of us. The PS Wood
(aka Timberwolf bandsaw blades) vendor talked me through some bandsaw
problems I was having. The guy selling the magnetic featherboards gave us
a mini-lecture on laminated wood bending.


Maybe I'm just now getting enough experience to ask the right questions,
but it was probably the best $8 and 5 hours I've ever spent on woodworking.

In article , Jim wrote:
Completely new direction... just responding to the subject.

Did anyone else think this show was worthwhile? It was a fairly small show
with what appeared to be light attendance. However, every one of the
vendors and demonstrators were extremely informative and took the time to
offer advice.

[snip]

*Very* worthwhile. SWMBO and I took #2 son Allen (age 12) along. He griped and
moaned about it beforehand, but within fifteen minutes of getting there, he
had spotted Don Weber's booth, and was fascinated watching Don turn firewood
into chair spindles (frankly, so were we). Don sat him down on the shaving
horse, handed him a drawknife (I'm sure it helped that Allen was wearing a
shirt with the Boy Scouts logo), and showed him how to smooth and square a
walnut billet in preparation for turning. Allen spent the next _four_hours_
playing apprentice and assistant to Don, learning about working with green
wood and how to use a treadle lathe, and just generally seeing first-hand, in
a way that I could never have explained to him, that fine results can be
achieved with primitive tools.

That was worth the price of admission right there.

SWMBO got some hands-on instruction in lathe techniques from Don, too, things
that I had tried unsuccessfully to show her previously. Don's an excellent
teacher, much better than I am. And we both learned a lot about working green
wood.

I got to see and touch Woodline's router bits, finally settling for myself a
question that I had raised here a few months ago about their quality. The few
responses that I received, and the comments I found with a Google search, fell
into two distinct groups: (1) they're good middle-of-the road bits, and (2)
they're absolute stinking garbage not worth the powder to blow them to hell.

My conclusion, based on visual and tactile examination (but, I admit, no
actual use): they aren't absolute stinking garbage, but they aren't good
middle-of-the-road bits either.

+ On the Woodline 1/2" flush trimming bit, there is a visible difference in
diameter between the cutter and the guide bearing.

+ Someone on the wreck had claimed, a couple years back, that Rockler's bits
are made by Woodline; other than the fact that both brands are painted blue, I
saw no evidence to support that claim. Woodline bits are made in China; every
Rockler bit in my shop was made in Taiwan.

+ The Woodline bits are noticeably less smooth and less sharp than Rockler,
Woodcraft, Freud, or Amana bits, and don't even begin to compare to Whiteside.

I didn't buy any.

I did buy a dado set at the Ridge Carbide booth, after seeing that it makes
cuts just as smooth as a Forrest Dado King -- and with a flatter bottom -- for
almost a hundred dollars less. The Forrest dado set leaves tiny but still
noticeable "wings" at the bottom corners, but the "wings" left by the Ridge
Carbide set are nearly invisible. I also bought Ridge's special-purpose blade
for cutting dados for undersized 1/4" plywood (actually 5.7 mm); I have a lot
of drawers to make soon, and this will sure beat the daylights out of making
multiple passes with a 1/8" router bit. Got that *and* the dado set for almost
fifty bucks less than it would have cost for the Forrest dado set alone.

Once I actually use these guys, I'll post reviews.

I was very impressed with the cut quality of Ridge's table saw blade, too. It
looks every bit the equal of the Forrest WWII, at a significantly lower price.
Probably would have bought one, if I didn't already have a WWII. I bought the
WWII at the Indy woodworking show in January two years ago, but if Ridge had
been exhibiting there, and I'd been able to compare the blades and the prices
then, I think I would have bought the Ridge instead.

I was disappointed by the near-total absence of "big iron", Wood-Mizer being
an obvious front-and-center exception.

It was nice to see a *lot* more hand tools, and more woodturning equipment,
supplies, and demos than the January show (the one sponsored by Wood Magazine)
typically has. Didn't buy anything in that area, but came away with ideas...

All in all, I think it's a good adjunct to the larger January show. I'm glad
to have both of them here. I hope this one comes back next year.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

(Doug Miller) wrote in
. com:

In article , Jim
wrote:
Completely new direction... just responding to the subject.

Did anyone else think this show was worthwhile? It was a fairly small
show with what appeared to be light attendance. However, every one of
the vendors and demonstrators were extremely informative and took the
time to offer advice.

[snip]

*Very* worthwhile. SWMBO and I took #2 son Allen (age 12) along. He
griped and moaned about it beforehand, but within fifteen minutes of
getting there, he had spotted Don Weber's booth, and was fascinated
watching Don turn firewood into chair spindles (frankly, so were we).
Don sat him down on the shaving horse, handed him a drawknife (I'm
sure it helped that Allen was wearing a shirt with the Boy Scouts
logo), and showed him how to smooth and square a walnut billet in
preparation for turning. Allen spent the next _four_hours_ playing
apprentice and assistant to Don, learning about working with green
wood and how to use a treadle lathe, and just generally seeing
first-hand, in a way that I could never have explained to him, that
fine results can be achieved with primitive tools.

[snip]
It must have been your son I saw with the big grin on his face using the
draw knife....

The wood mag show should take notice and have a few more hands on things
for the kids. The vendors at that show would do well to involve them
too. As a result of the people giving the demonstrations talking with,
giving advice, and generally teaching my youngest daughter, I'll be
buying a scroll saw in the very near future. Something I wouldn't have
done if they hadn't got her interested it it.

jim

In article , Jim wrote:
(Doug Miller) wrote in
.com:

In article , Jim
wrote:
Completely new direction... just responding to the subject.

Did anyone else think this show was worthwhile? It was a fairly small
show with what appeared to be light attendance. However, every one of
the vendors and demonstrators were extremely informative and took the
time to offer advice.

[snip]

*Very* worthwhile. SWMBO and I took #2 son Allen (age 12) along. He
griped and moaned about it beforehand, but within fifteen minutes of
getting there, he had spotted Don Weber's booth, and was fascinated
watching Don turn firewood into chair spindles (frankly, so were we).
Don sat him down on the shaving horse, handed him a drawknife (I'm
sure it helped that Allen was wearing a shirt with the Boy Scouts
logo), and showed him how to smooth and square a walnut billet in
preparation for turning. Allen spent the next _four_hours_ playing
apprentice and assistant to Don, learning about working with green
wood and how to use a treadle lathe, and just generally seeing
first-hand, in a way that I could never have explained to him, that
fine results can be achieved with primitive tools.

[snip]
It must have been your son I saw with the big grin on his face using the
draw knife....

Probably so. Blond, 5'4", glasses, yellow tee-shirt, denim shorts?

The wood mag show should take notice and have a few more hands on things
for the kids. The vendors at that show would do well to involve them
too. As a result of the people giving the demonstrations talking with,
giving advice, and generally teaching my youngest daughter, I'll be
buying a scroll saw in the very near future. Something I wouldn't have
done if they hadn't got her interested it it.

Amen to that. The "Make-a-Memory" workshop was a step in the right direction,
I think, but we didn't do that. We had seen the references to it in the ads,
but when we got there and saw the signs hanging from the ceiling showing what
the kids would be making on the scroll saw (a duck, a dinosaur, I forget the
third one, all just block figures), the three of us looked at each other and
said "Naaah". Allen's *waaaaay* beyond that on the scroll saw: he just
recently completed a silhouette of the Eiffel Tower.

Scroll saws are great tools for kids. They can exercise all kinds of
creativity, and the chances of getting hurt are pretty slim. Glad to hear your
daughter has caught the bug too. I love spending time in the shop with my
kids. You'll get to enjoy that too now.

The Dremel scroll saw they sell at Lowe's is a pretty good starter saw. Not
very expensive, and quite workable. To control vibration, get a rubber pad (we
bought one at WoodsWork on E. Washington St) and bolt the saw down to a bench
or table with the pad in between. Make the bolts snug, but *not* tight.

Good places to buy blades are the woodworking shows, WoodsWork, and Winner
Woodworking on the SE side. Superior Distributing, downtown, probably has them
too, but I haven't checked. The library, and most of the woodworking stores,
have a good supply of books on scroll saw techniques, and WoodsWork has
_by_far_ the best selection of books of patterns, at all skill levels.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)