Milwaukee area Neanders

[Mark Baldwin III]

I've noticed a few others on here from my general area, so I just wanted to throw and idea out there. While I'm getting a handle on many of the basics, some techniques are coming at a pretty slow rate. I was wondering if anyone from the area would like to get together and talk shop and share ideas (or provide some instruction). My place, your place...either works for me. My house and shop are rather small, but on the bright side, I've managed to stuff a lot of tools in here! If a few people are interested, maybe I can talk to the folks at Woodcraft to see about meeting there.
BTW, one of my other hobbies is baking...so I will bribe you with treats:D (Everyone laughs at the baker until he shows up with goodies)

[Jim Koepke]

Mark,

Have you looked in the mentoring thread?

I think James is closest to you in Streator, IL.

Even if just a few of you from the local area get together, you are likely to have a great time.

I love baked goods and do a bit of baking myself.

jtk

[Dale Osowski]

I'm up for it. I'm located in Mequon and I'm pretty much a Japanese hand tool fan, don't use the Western tools to much anymore. I actually taught at Woodcraft years ago but I was a power tool junkie back then. I work out of a small studio of less than 200sf. I also enjoy building Krenov style planes with Japanese influences.

[Mark Baldwin III]

There's one! Let's see if we can get more.
Dale-I don't know a thing about Japanese tools, except that I like the chisels...well...I like the one that I have. I have several krenov planes, from a 5 1/2" smoother up to my 24" jointer. I just took 2 of them out of commission in order to build improved versions. It would be interesting to see Japanese planes, as I've never seen one before.
My shop is a whopping 77 square feet. Just enough room to continuously bump into things. Some of my tools and my sharpening table have migrated into the living room!
Once I'm done remodeling my kitchen (a week or so), I'd be glad to look into getting together.

[Dale Osowski]

This was my old shop: http://timberwerksstudio.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-old-shop.html I learned that I don't need machinery and sf to build quality furniture. I'll take a good plane over a sander any day ;-)

[Mark Baldwin III]

That's quite a shop, Dale. Everything except for the drill press would likely send me to the emergency room. I have a power tool phobia when it comes to woodworking (ok...not entirely, band saws are nice). You have some gorgeous work on your blog, neat and interesting stuff.
I agree with you entirely, hand planes are so much nicer than sanding. After having sanded the table I built for my kitchen, I never want to sand anything larger than a saw tote!