Bill Grumbine
07-25-2006, 10:30 PM
Greetings everyone
Another Five Barns picnic has come and gone, and we are recuperating from all the activity. This one was a little more hectic since we had a week of Bible School in front of it and I had to preach in church the day after, but it was a lot of fun for us, as it always has been in the past.
The crowd was a little bit smaller than the last one. We figure somewhere around 80 people showed up. There were a few last minute cancellations and a few people that did not show, I think mainly because of the weather. There were dire forecasts of heavy rain, and people reported torrential downpours as close as 10 miles away, but it was sunny and breezy with low humidity (relatively speaking) for most of Saturday. We did have some heavy rain and lightning on Friday and Saturday nights, but the main part of the picnic was rain free.
The big event for this year was the planing contest, with some very nice planes donated by some very nice people. Lee Schierer gets the credit for a lot of work organizing that event. We also had demonstrations on turning, marquetry, plane iron sharpening (lots of that going on!) and handsaw sharpening. There were also mini demos of hand plane techniques going on all over the place.
Many cold drinks were consumed, and there were tons of good food to be had from all over the place. We had people showing up from as far south as Texas, as far north as Toronto, from Minnesota in the west and New Jersey in the east! Once the tools were put away for the evening, many of us settled in to quaff some ale and solve all sorts of problems. It was very nice sitting in the shop watching the electrical storm with the big doors open while drinking some beer. One clap of thunder arrived simultaneously with the bolt of lightning, making that the most spectacular part of the evening. We ran around unplugging machines as quickly as possible after that one.
I am posting some pictures here for your viewing pleasure. If you do not recognize some people or their names, remember that many lurkers show up for this thing, and we are multicultural here - we invite people from many different forums!
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns13.jpg">
Here is the traditional group shot. It never gets everyone, since some people are here on Friday only, and some come and leave early or late, but we had about 50 people in this one.
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns14.jpg">
This group of amphibians did not want to get out to eat, much less get their picture taken with a bunch of old people. My own daughter is here, accompanied by Jim Becker's daughters, Ron Sardo's daughter, and Lee Schierer's grandchildren.
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns18.jpg">
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns19.jpg">
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns20.jpg">
Everywhere you looked people were sharpening plane irons. You wouldn't see this many people sharpening implements in one place outside a camp of soldiers preparing battle! It was a battle in a way, but it was a fun one, and no one got hurt, unless then sharpened their fingers by mistake, or touched an iron the wrong way. The plane contest was a big event, and lots of people really enjoyed participating.
We did get some turning done too. There were four lathes running, usually three at a time during the weekend. There wasn't any room for more with all the flat stuff going on, but hey, we are inclusive here!
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns02.jpg">
Here we have Harvey Bernstein and Andy Blackwell on the Poolewood.
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns07.jpg">
And here is Ellis Walentine really on the Poolewood!
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns01.jpg">
Joe Fisher (center) is helping Mark Pruitt to abysserate his wife Susan. She has got it bad, let me tell you.
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns16.jpg">
Anthony Yakonick also gave Big Blue a workout.
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns03.jpg">
The Vega got a real workout this weekend, although I did not get as many pictures of people on it. The shop was fairly stuffed with people both turning and planing the board for the contest - not to mention those checking out the show and tell table!
Again it was a great time, and if you were not here, you missed it, as my daughters like to say. But, there is always next year. Watch for the announcements.
Bill
Another Five Barns picnic has come and gone, and we are recuperating from all the activity. This one was a little more hectic since we had a week of Bible School in front of it and I had to preach in church the day after, but it was a lot of fun for us, as it always has been in the past.
The crowd was a little bit smaller than the last one. We figure somewhere around 80 people showed up. There were a few last minute cancellations and a few people that did not show, I think mainly because of the weather. There were dire forecasts of heavy rain, and people reported torrential downpours as close as 10 miles away, but it was sunny and breezy with low humidity (relatively speaking) for most of Saturday. We did have some heavy rain and lightning on Friday and Saturday nights, but the main part of the picnic was rain free.
The big event for this year was the planing contest, with some very nice planes donated by some very nice people. Lee Schierer gets the credit for a lot of work organizing that event. We also had demonstrations on turning, marquetry, plane iron sharpening (lots of that going on!) and handsaw sharpening. There were also mini demos of hand plane techniques going on all over the place.
Many cold drinks were consumed, and there were tons of good food to be had from all over the place. We had people showing up from as far south as Texas, as far north as Toronto, from Minnesota in the west and New Jersey in the east! Once the tools were put away for the evening, many of us settled in to quaff some ale and solve all sorts of problems. It was very nice sitting in the shop watching the electrical storm with the big doors open while drinking some beer. One clap of thunder arrived simultaneously with the bolt of lightning, making that the most spectacular part of the evening. We ran around unplugging machines as quickly as possible after that one.
I am posting some pictures here for your viewing pleasure. If you do not recognize some people or their names, remember that many lurkers show up for this thing, and we are multicultural here - we invite people from many different forums!
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns13.jpg">
Here is the traditional group shot. It never gets everyone, since some people are here on Friday only, and some come and leave early or late, but we had about 50 people in this one.
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns14.jpg">
This group of amphibians did not want to get out to eat, much less get their picture taken with a bunch of old people. My own daughter is here, accompanied by Jim Becker's daughters, Ron Sardo's daughter, and Lee Schierer's grandchildren.
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns18.jpg">
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns19.jpg">
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns20.jpg">
Everywhere you looked people were sharpening plane irons. You wouldn't see this many people sharpening implements in one place outside a camp of soldiers preparing battle! It was a battle in a way, but it was a fun one, and no one got hurt, unless then sharpened their fingers by mistake, or touched an iron the wrong way. The plane contest was a big event, and lots of people really enjoyed participating.
We did get some turning done too. There were four lathes running, usually three at a time during the weekend. There wasn't any room for more with all the flat stuff going on, but hey, we are inclusive here!
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns02.jpg">
Here we have Harvey Bernstein and Andy Blackwell on the Poolewood.
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns07.jpg">
And here is Ellis Walentine really on the Poolewood!
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns01.jpg">
Joe Fisher (center) is helping Mark Pruitt to abysserate his wife Susan. She has got it bad, let me tell you.
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns16.jpg">
Anthony Yakonick also gave Big Blue a workout.
<img src="http://www.wonderfulwood.com/fivebarns/bgfivebarns03.jpg">
The Vega got a real workout this weekend, although I did not get as many pictures of people on it. The shop was fairly stuffed with people both turning and planing the board for the contest - not to mention those checking out the show and tell table!
Again it was a great time, and if you were not here, you missed it, as my daughters like to say. But, there is always next year. Watch for the announcements.
Bill