West Australian (Perth) Wood Show 2019

[Derek Cohen]

The Show ran Friday to Sunday, today - which is when I managed to attend. Some of the photos are taken early in the day. The plan was that I would do a few demonstrations (of hand tool use, plus run a master class on dovetailing), grab my prize (I did win something), and run. But there were so many interesting things to see, and I got chatting with old friends .. and then my wife turned up in the afternoon (presumably to ensure that I did not sell her new table ... no, there was a concurrent craft show on) ... and so on ...


https://i.postimg.cc/9MwFBBvj/Show1a.jpg


I took a lot of photos, but I will just show a few.


Old tools for sale!


https://i.postimg.cc/W4CstktY/Show10a.jpg


https://i.postimg.cc/k4SqSgbJ/Show11a.jpg


Isn't this cool ...


https://i.postimg.cc/prtxJMfD/Show13a.jpg


https://i.postimg.cc/7hM4Bt9j/Show14a.jpg


I did help ... pointed out a little bit of tearout ...it did bring a smile :)


My favourite is always the area where my friend Greg Miller (in the blue shirt) runs a green wood school, and always has a section for kids:


https://i.postimg.cc/ncGVTrwM/Show7a.jpg


https://i.postimg.cc/xdc00Rjb/Show9a.jpg


Where else do you see kids having so much fun with a shave horse!


https://i.postimg.cc/3xL856hT/Show8a.jpg


Just in case you think that Perth is stuck in the 1800s, there were plenty of power tools and machines for sale. But it is old hat. I know everyone is waiting to see the furniture.


Well, I did not win. My club mate, Ian Houghton won first prize with a chest called "The Three Americans" (the name went over my head). Interestingly for me, it was also a harlequin theme. A really stunning piece. The photos do not do it justice.


https://i.postimg.cc/dQ8JtDFn/Show15a.jpg


https://i.postimg.cc/rFMMdcFT/Show16a.jpg


https://i.postimg.cc/RZ0mRRHb/Show17a.jpg


Dovetailed drawers with suede bottoms ...


https://i.postimg.cc/ZKHZpgCd/Show18a.jpg


I got second place ...


https://i.postimg.cc/W4BPscfQ/Show19a.jpg


Third went to this heavily inlaid cabinet ...


https://i.postimg.cc/N09chjb6/Show20a.jpg

[Derek Cohen]

One other piece I will show is first place in the box section, which went to another club member, Martin Burgoyne. Martin had just returned from a course in Japan, the influence for this piece ...


https://i.postimg.cc/sX5CXHk1/Show23a.jpg


I did not understand it at first, and needed to read the display notice ...


https://i.postimg.cc/YCkS6Yrv/show24.jpg


https://i.postimg.cc/VkRkDvvD/show25.jpg


Hope you found this interesting.


Oh, my prize for second place was a HNT Gordon end vise.


Regards from Perth


Derek

[Tom M King]

Looks like a great show, but once again, you were beaten by flash instead of woodworking.

[Doug Dawson]

One other piece I will show is first place in the box section, which went to another club member, Martin Burgoyne. Martin had just returned from a course in Japan, the influence for this piece ...
Hope you found this interesting.


Indeed. Fascinating!

How would you value something like that for an insurance claim?

[Brian Harvick]

Wow, Derek !

Had I known you were occupied at a woodworking show I could have flown down to Perth, and run off with your Blue Spruce chisels and been back in Virginia before you knew it. That way I could have avoided the expense of buying my own. Besides, perhaps by some mysterious force (osmosis ?? ) some of your talent may have flown back with me. :>)

[Jim Matthews]

Izzat TG at the shavehorse, with a new "Gandalf" beard?

[Frederick Skelly]

Looks like a great show. Thanks for posting it Derek!

[Mark Rainey]

Good pics Derek!

[Geoff Emms]

Thanks for the photos Derek, you even managed to get my ugly mug in one. To answer your question Jim Mathews, the Gandalph bearded bloke at the shave horse is HTPSWA member Peter, at 7' the tallest man I've ever met.
Cheers,
Geoff.

[Scott Winners]

Could the "three Americans" be walnut, maple and cherry? Just an idea.

[James Pallas]

Congratulations on your award Derek. The awards given often times leaves one with a lot of head scratching time. The first place prize winner is very well done too. Sometimes we see one thing like the metal drawer guides an immediately dismiss the work as not “real” woodworking. Blinds ones judgement on what’s really there. To win second place at such a show is an accomplishment beyond what many could only dream about, me included. Well done.
Jim

[Brian Holcombe]

Thank you for sharing, the cabinet looks great.

Martin's boxes are stunning.

[Jim Koepke]

Yes, it was an interesting array of images.

Congrats on taking second place.


Ian Houghton won first prize with a chest called "The Three Americans" (the name went over my head).

My first thought on this was the woods may have come from North, South and Central America. Scott's observation, of it being three American woods, may be a better interpretation.

jtk

[Christopher Charles]

Derek,

Congratulations and well-deserved! And will be curious to see the new bench you build for that vise :)

And thank you for sharing Martin's boxes. There is a remarkable video on Suda Kenji on youtube for anyone who hasn't seen it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epCgloUe9dU

Again, congratulations for placing at the top at such a quality venue!

[Todd Zucker]

Congrats! Tough competition.

I keep trying to find the word to describe what comes to mind when I see your table. In that particular photo, it looks "stubborn" to me.

And beautiful.

[Mike Allen1010]

Derek,

Thanks so much for sharing pictures of your show – all the work was extremely impressive! I've followed your build thread of the Harlequin chest with great interest and , and as usual both the design, wood selection and build execution of your chest set a high standard for the rest of us to aspire to.

I very much admire your competitive spirit and willingness to put your work on display by submitting it to jury judging at the show. Seems incredibly intimidating to me ------but I guess if I had your talent, it might not be so bad!

Cheers, Mike

[Derek Cohen]

Thank you all for your kind and supportive comments.

Mike, you are too kind and far, far too modest of your own amazing work - quite frankly, your builds demonstrate skills I do not possess. I follow them in awe.

What is evident from you and others is that we all here may differ in our personal tastes for furniture style, but we share a love for traditional joinery.

I wrote the following (well, part of it) at WoodCentral, where the forumites were voicing there disagreement with the judges rankings. It may be worth commenting about here .....

As to the furniture piece that was awarded first place, the maker is a very good woodworker, and he wins every year (except for 2017, when I won :) ). He works exclusively with veneer on chipboard or MDF. His veneer work is stupendous. We are good mates and I tease him that it is kitchen ware. We have an agreement that I will teach him dovetailing, and he will teach me veneering.

My wife argues that there should be one category for veneer work and another for solid wood. The competition rules state that they aim to reward design and craftsmanship, and to do so regardless of whether power or handwork is used. History tends to indicate that veneer is king. My view - which makes it difficult to avoid sounding like sour grapes - is that veneer used extensively can hide a multitude of sins and is not fine woodworking. It is just fine veneering. In my world, craftsmanship is about joinery and proportions and choice of materials.

Rather than become frustrated with this, I have made it my mission at my club to educate members about joinery and hand tools. I use machines as well, but I see how their over use can limit expression. Wide veneered panels look sterile. Machine joinery is not the enemy, but it can discourage flights of design fancy. A few weeks ago I gave a talk on the bow-fronted apothecary chest I built for the 2018 Wood Show (and which did not get a place). I think that it only dawned on members just how complex the joinery was. Many do not think about these aspects, or that many of the technical challenges of design were met by woodworkers over 200 years ago.

On to next year!

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Brian Holcombe]

In addition to presenting on joinery you could also begin to add veneer work into your pieces. Veneering requires an additional skill set and understanding. Veneer work makes a lot of things possible.

[Derek Cohen]

Brian, veneer or inlay? Perhaps both?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Brian Holcombe]

Both, but veneer more so. I’m not saying every surface needs to be decorated but I have not regretted the ability to veneer panels and work around a panel that doesn’t move for many designs.

[Patrick Walsh]

Idk

Personally I’m really not a fan of the winning piece at all.

Its just my opinion, we all have our preferences.

Your piece shoulda won imop. I agree those boxes oh man, maybe those shoulda won honestly.

I do a bit of veneer work at work from time to time, “nothing like that piece” but for whatever reason it doesn’t do much for me when put side by side with a solid wood piece of say the likes of Chris Hall.

I do agree having the skill is valuable if for no other reason to be well rounded..

[Matthew Hills]

Thanks for the photos Derek, you even managed to get my ugly mug in one. To answer your question Jim Mathews, the Gandalph bearded bloke at the shave horse is HTPSWA member Peter, at 7' the tallest man I've ever met.
Cheers,
Geoff.
I'd originally thought that was the photo that went with the caption: "Where else do you see kids having so much fun with a shave horse!"


Any idea why the first-place cabinet didn't use undermount slides?

Matt

[Brian Holcombe]

Idk

Personally I’m really not a fan of the winning piece at all.

Its just my opinion, we all have our preferences.

Your piece shoulda won imop. I agree those boxes oh man, maybe those shoulda won honestly.

I do a bit of veneer work at work from time to time, “nothing like that piece” but for whatever reason it doesn’t do much for me when put side by side with a solid wood piece of say the likes of Chris Hall.

I do agree having the skill is valuable if for no other reason to be well rounded..

Chris' work is just incredible, leaves me constantly in awe. Chris' work is the style of work I most admire, I certainly prefer it over veneer work on the whole.

Veneer comes in very handy at times and there are certainly varieties of work which are suited to it. As example, I make a box top with a 'locked in' panel, it's impossible to make in solid wood but very possible in veneer and actually I use veneer work most often in box making. Martin's work, shown above is most likely veneer work and I think that's quite beautiful.

For perspective on veneer check out the work of Craig Thibodeau, Craig is a master of veneer work.

This is just my opinion, but show's seem to lean toward a bit of extravagance. Last year I put a black lacquered chair into a local show, it was accepted and it sold. However it didn't win anything. I tended to think that if I gone with an exotic wood that was heavily figured it would have been a contender for a prize.