My problem with Woodworking in America!!

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Christopher Landy

That’s right! You read correctly!

I attended Woodworking in America 2013 this past weekend. This was my second WIA. It’s been a few years, but I have to say I thought perhaps things had changed since I last attended. But no, same as before.

Allow me to explain.

I started Friday off by attending a class called Timber! by Roy Underhill. Roy had an 8’x 24″ log that he turned into a square beam right in front of our eyes. While he did break a sweat, he was able to keep up his classic witty repartee. Naturally he used nothing but hand tools: an axe, an adze, a froe and a mallet. Who owns these tools?? Roy used his regular “camera tricks” to make it look easy and to make matters worse he make it look like sooo much fun!

Roy

Next attended Peter Follansbee‘s class on carving wooden spoons. Boy, again with a guy who can split a log with his froe and carve up a spectacular utensil in no time, all while telling amusing antidotes and make it look so easy that apparently even I could do it. Don’t be fooled though, Peter “cheats” and uses green wood. Oh sure, green is easy, Peter! I’ve been struggling a lifetime with hard, dry wood, not to mention dull tools. Oh, and if I had a hand made knife made from forged steel and made my own handles I bet I could make it look that easy too.

Peter

I needed a break and headed down to the marketplace. They really needed to trim down the number of vendors! Who has the time to spend with all these amazing toolmakers? Not to mention the amount of woodworkers roaming the floor? You can hardly move one booth without running into someone and spending thirty minutes in chatting about tools wood or just sharing a laugh. Who has time for this?

I spent the end of the day at an online forum of bloggers, the people who keep me entertained with woodworking content throughout the year. Sure it sounds great to put a face to a screen name or an avatar, but its entirely another thing to spend three nights swapping stories and sharing libations late into the night.

The gurus of the online woodworking community.

Saturday morning I popped around to several classes, unable to make up which one I wanted to attend and then spent the afternoon with Chair Maker Peter Galbert in his class “A Windsor Chair, From Log to Living Room”. I have to say, I feel a little sorry for Peter. He spent the entire afternoon giving away all his secrets of how he builds his beautiful windsor chairs. Step by step, he demonstrated how he uses his froe, splitting a log, shaping and steaming it into the arms, creating the seat and the spindles, even his tricks for alignment and assembly. Another one who made the building process seem fun and attainable. Peter- pretty soon everybody will be building Windsor Chairs!!

Peter

So what’s my beef with Woodworking in America? I left Sunday with a rush of enthusiasm that I could hand hewn enough logs to build a barn, carve a kitchen full of spoons and fill my house with Windsor chairs. Of course, in order to do that I am going to need a lot of new tools! Oye.

As if that weren’t enough I had intended to take a nap and catch up on episodes of Dexter on my plane ride home. Instead I found myself reading “Home Building and Woodworking in Colonial America” cover to cover (I picked it up while chatting with Joel from Tools for Working Wood).

Now do you see my problem?

I guess my biggest problem with Woodworking in America is I need to wait a whole year for WIA14!

The “new” tools I picked up at a tag sale this morning for $12.

A penny saved is…..well, perhaps a finger saved!

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Christopher Landy

I attended my first Woodworking in America back in 2010, and had an amazing experience. I learned a ton in the classes, enjoyed strolling the marketplace and of course hanging out and bonding with so many fantastic woodworkers.

So the next year I was determined to go again. Although it would be tight, I had saved the money to go, but then a little thing called ‘work’ got in the way and I had to change my plans. Luckily I had yet to sign up or make any travel arrangements. Pretty bummed, I decided to take the money I had saved to go to the show and put it to good use. I decided it was time to start saving for a new table saw. I had my eye on a SawStop for some time but couldn’t see spending that much money on a tool for myself (instead of on my kids). Just about all of the large tool purchases I have made have been bought entirely though some other means: thank you Amex points! My Powermatic 14″ bandsaw, for instance, was literally bought from my coin bucket (something we have done for years! We bought an antique bed years ago, with $600 worth of pennies. It’s amazing how it adds up!). And so my SawStop savings began.

Jump ahead a year, and once again I was determined to attend WIA. Work had been good to me and I was able to afford the trip. I did not procrastinate and I booked the conference, the flight and a hotel several months in advance. But the weather had other plans, Hurricane Sandy came barreling into NY that week, wreaked unbelievable havoc and my flight was therefore cancelled. Our family was safe, and WIA was the least of my worries. I was grateful to the folks at WIA for their understanding and reimbursing my funds (which went straight into the saw bank).

The Saw Bank! (The cheap saw in front was to cut the top off.)

The kids and I broke it open shortly after that to see how sweet our pot actually was and to see where we stood. Kids love counting money, BTW! I have to admit, I didn’t drop just my coins in the bucket. There were plenty of days where bills were shoved in, days where I didn’t eat lunch or I had some per diem left from a business trip or I would just wanted to feed the beast!

Teaching my kids some math!

So, it added up, but I had my eye on a 3hp Contractor saw and the pot was not deep enough yet.

Nearly a year passed and the kids and I cracked open the “safe” once again. I had been even more diligent about stashing money away and it paid off. This time I had not only enough for the SawStop, but the accessories I wanted. Wahoo!

So it took a few weeks before I was ready to order it. I wanted to give the shop a really good cleaning and rethink some things. This saw was going to take up a much bigger footprint in my tiny shop. I also needed to add a 220v outlet, and I’ve been in the middle of several other big projects around the house.

Goodbye old friend! You were quite good to me as I grew as a woodwoodworker. the good news is your are going to a good home, with some good friends.

Good-bye old friend! You were quite good to me as I grew as a woodworker. The good news is your are going to a good home, with some good friends.

Wow! My tiny shop looked huge without a table saw in it. I did have a minute where I thought, “maybe a nice Roubo instead…”

Finally I bit the bullet and ordered the saw I had saved up for for so long. It took just over a week to come into my local Woodcraft over in Springfield MA.

I took the day off and went an picked it up.

The only time I ever threw my back out was the day I tried to put my old saw together by myself. Not again. This time I had the assistance of my friend David, in return –he got the old saw. A great deal for both of us!

So last weekend I finished assembling the Sawstop after saving my pennies for two years.

And next weekend I will be attending Woodworking in America after waiting for two years!

I can’t wait to take classes, stroll the floor and of course hang out and bond with some great woodworking friends.