Characteristics of a Wood Show

Wood shows are a lot of fun.  Show hours are spent talking to customers about woodworking and free time is spent checking out the city.  For the most part, the crew working the show (usually four of us) sticks together.  Here are some pictures taken during some of the past trips I’ve taken for woodworking shows with Lee Valley.

I saw this antique table saw at a Woodcraft store.  Apparently, a customer had brought it in that day to sell and the owner of the Woodcraft store had bought it.

Inspiration can come from anywhere.  In this case, it came from working with limits.  We had been demonstrating dovetail saws and hand planes all day so were left with short scraps riddled with kerfs and curly shavings.  With the help of some of the other staff, I put this piece together.  I called it Endurance because it survived being shipped back in my suitcase.

At another show, I practiced my sawing skills by creating this finger joint.  Each finger was equal to the saw’s kerf.

At a later show, I was using a shoulder plane and filled the throat nicely with a shaving.

It reminded me of this Bridge City Tool Works picture.

During shows, we always ate well.  One hotel we stayed at was across from an In-N-Out Burger restaurant and every night, after eating dinner with the Lee Valley crew, I walked across for a burger.

On this occasion, I stuffed my face with waffles over breakfast.

I usually leave for shows with an empty suitcase and return with a full one.  After this show, my suitcase contained:

• one LED light;
• two boxes of pocket hole screws;
• a few woodworking books;
• an aluminum rule;
• a router fence; and
• a 10′ x 4″ dust collection hose.

The router to go with the fence didn’t fit in my suitcase so I checked it separately.

Another time, I found a great deal on some 24″ Jet parallel bar clamps so I bought eight of them.  I hadn’t thought about how I would carry two bags and four boxes of clamps (two per box).  Luckily, my coworkers were happy to help.

Every show has some memorable moments.  I wonder what kind of memories I will have of Woodworking In America 2011…