LN in Oakland...Who's going?

[Eric Hartunian]

Just wondering if any of you are going to the tool show in Oakland this weekend. I'll be there Sat.

Eric

[Jim Koepke]

Just wondering if any of you are going to the tool show in Oakland this weekend. I'll be there Sat.

Eric

My wife and I are planing on going, have not decided if we will take BART or drive. That is not the best of neighborhoods.

I am considering a Hock blade for my 4-1/2 and maybe a 2 inch to try in all my 4s and 5s.

jim

[Jason Beam]

Boy - i'm smart - i completely missed this one!

Count at least 5 of us sacramentan's in!

[ralph cox]

The question is;what kind of assault can my sensibilities,as well as my anemic discretionary income withstand. I'm not good at slapping myself on the wrist at the fiee market. I have at least stopped going to the botique FM on the first sunday of the month at the old Alameda Navy Air Station(from which departed both Amelia Eherhart and Jimmy Doolittle into the history books and too which arrived the first CP\UP trans continental RR route);Sorry,I digress It's the history buff and sense of (nearby) place.
Alameda Island is also the location of Japan Woodworker also a LN outlet, I do business there but only as a satisfied customer(disclaimer)! Sure I'll be there,Though it looks as if we'll be bucking wind and rain ,I hope to find some LNA2 "iron" for my 605C and type 11 #51\2C,and perhaps Hock HC's for my Stanley and MF #4s.I'll test drive whatever I can and maybe bring SWIMBO to slap my wrist;no I won't,I won't; though I love her dearly she's another kind of artist and things get lost in translation. By the way there is an excellent mirco-brewery,within about a mile in downtown Oakland The Pacific Coast Brewery in the restored part of old Oakland two blocks from
downtown BART. Good ale and good pub grub and another disclaimer from a satisfied customer.
Cheers ralph,

[Jim Koepke]

By the way there is an excellent mirco-brewery,within about a mile in downtown Oakland The Pacific Coast Brewery in the restored part of old Oakland two blocks from
downtown BART.

Pacific Coast Brewery, they have about 30 taps featuring their own brews and those of other breweries.

From 12th Street Bart, at the 11th Street end go out on the right side (west side). Walk past the Marriot, cross 10th Street and go to the right. Take a short cut through the parking lot, out the drive way and you are at Washington Street. Just to your left is the door to the pub.

One of my favorite watering holes also.

jim

[Jim Meier]

as a newbie with only a smattering of tools and projects under my belt, what could I expect at this show? I'm all tied up on Saturday with the wife, but she would probably be OK with the trip from Sac on Sunday...

Thanks

[Jim Koepke]

as a newbie with only a smattering of tools and projects under my belt, what could I expect at this show? I'm all tied up on Saturday with the wife, but she would probably be OK with the trip from Sac on Sunday...

I will try to post a description of the happenings. If my camera comes along, some pictures too.

jim

[Wilbur Pan]

as a newbie with only a smattering of tools and projects under my belt, what could I expect at this show?

I was at the Lie-Nielsen event in Philadelphia. Bring a napkin to catch all the drool that you will be generating. It's a good way to try out all their tools.

But the best thing about the Lie-Nielsen show is the demonstrations that were being given. The tips that I picked up just by watching, asking questions, and trying them out were priceless.

[Narayan Nayar]

I'll be there today, unfortunately only in the morning.

[gary Zimmel]

For those of you lucky Creekers that are able to attend,Take a couple of extra credit cards......

[Eric Hartunian]

I really enjoyed it. Trying all the tools was a treat. I highly recommend going to one of these shows if they come to your town.
Remember,
"thou shalt not use thy credit card at LN shows..."

Eric

[Mark Singer]

I Went to the Costa Mesa show and it was very nice, A lot of experienced guys were there, Ron Hock, Tom LN, Boggs, it was a lot of fun

[Jim Koepke]

as a newbie with only a smattering of tools and projects under my belt, what could I expect at this show? I'm all tied up on Saturday with the wife, but she would probably be OK with the trip from Sac on Sunday...

It would be worth going.
I was able to try a few planes with Ron Hock's blades in them and bought a few for my planes.

This and trying out a Bridge City Shoulder plane would definitely be worth it for a newbie if only to find out what a plane can do and how it can feel. The BC Shoulder was taking shavings as thin as any I have ever taken. The amazing part is when it is pushed across the work piece, it feels like you do not have the blade engaged with the wood This was going with the grain. You can go Sunday 10:00-5:00 and try them yourself.

Glen-Drake Toolworks also had a good demo of his hammers and Wild West Saw. The saw is not on the web site yet. He Also had a free video about the products with some of his tips on using them. His laying out of dovetails is a lot easier. That is where I put my foot in my mouth. There was a nice set of feeler gauges in a heavy brass housing. Foolish me, asked aloud what a woodworker would do with a such a nice set of feeler gauges. That lead into the demo of cutting dovetails with his method using the two handled Wild West Saw. The pieces are offset and their Kerf Starter is used like a marking knife to mark out the pins. He does not lay out the side lines on the tails, just the top and shoulder. The tails are used to mark the pins. His comments on measured perfect fits is that they don't. He uses a .006" clearance to get a precise fit by using a feeler blade .003" thicker than the saw blade. When marking the pins, the tail is first offset by the feeler blade one way, then the other. Then he saws. The saw is interesting in it self as the saw has a short section of no teeth to start, then fine teeth to coarse teeth back to fine teeth and then again to no teeth. The back of the saw splits to a Y in a horizontal plane with the blade vertical. There is a handle on either side. The middle is open so you can see the back of the blade in relation to the line. Of course, his marking method can be used with other saws, but something tells me his saw will be popular. The blade is changeable. It is held into the brass back by screws.

Got to shake hands and talk to Tom Lie-Nielsen, very easy going and nice person. He has a look on his face like he is in a pleasant dream. I got the feeling that he is awed by the people who like his products as much as they are in awe of him.

Talked with Ron Hock for a bit. The blades I bought from him are the high carbon steel. He says he feels they get sharper than the harder blades.

jtk

[Narayan Nayar]

Nice show in a great place. I've got several friends who are regulars at the Crucible, and though Burning Man isn't my thing, so much fun stuff is wheeled out of the Crucible around Burning Man time that it's hard not to have an intense fondness for the place and the people who keep it going.

Before leaving the house, I printed out my LN order using their website, so I just handed it over to the nice lady working the LN area and watched the money drain from my account (at 10% discount and no shipping or tax, though, so less money than would drain otherwise). More stuff than I feel comfortable mentioning in public, but I tend to only order at events or shows, so the list gets pretty long...

I watched a little bit of an inlay demo which was absolutely fascinating, but I'm at least a few years away from incorporating that into my work. Mr. Latta was working fast and kept issuing the disclaimer that the work he was doing wasn't as accurate as it would normally be, which I almost always interpret to mean, "your best work will never be as good as the stuff I do with 15 people crowded over my bench" :). Even the low end of the quality scale is a level of craftsmanship which I definitely hope to reach some day.

The big draw for me, though, was being able to see the Bridge City stuff in person, particularly the HP-6 v2 plane, which I've been eyeing for months but really wanted to see up close before committing. They have a 20% off thing going on at the event, so one of those, a few profiles, and a 2" saddle square are headed my way. John Economaki seems like a really interesting fellow, though he was a bit swamped by visitors and had a hard time keeping up. Most booths had 2 people working so one person could be demoing/talking and another could be taking orders. That would probably be a good thing for John to keep in mind going forward. I certainly don't mind waiting--in fact I really like watching the demos and hearing the questions, as he's really good at "working the table" and has so much to say about every product, but I suspect the real reason he's there--to move product--would really be helped by another pair of hands. I ended up just filling out the form and asking him to have someone call me this week to actually take the order--not out of frustration, but out of concern that doing grunt work like taking credit card information was actually keeping him from talking to a full crowd of very interested people, some of whom also had order forms in hand!

The Glen-Drake folks had interesting things to show as well. I have a Tite Mark III already but was pretty interested in their hammers, which were a pleasure to pick up in person. I don't know what the lead time is on those, but I have a chisel hammer and a mini hammer on order now. They were giving away free DVDs--that and a temporary Lie-Nielsen tatoo are the only things I actually walked away with.

I got to see Chris Schwarz struggle admirably with the student bench he was given, which was both sad and amusingly ironic to everyone standing around. It was good to see him again--I met Chris and Tom Lie-Nielsen last year at the MASW and Chris and I have corresponded pretty regularly since. I'll be taking his weeklong sawing class this July up in Portland which I'm really looking forward to. Hopefully my back holds out until then (MRI this week--wish me luck).

I checked out the other booths as well--Hock tools and of course, the lunch booth :), but didn't take my camera out of the bag the whole time, as the lighting conditions were, well, industrial.

Anyway, there's my report. Definitely worth braving the hurricane-strength winds we're having today. Though Chris won't be there, Deneb will be giving a demo at some point, and his are always inspiring, at least to me.

[Jim Koepke]

They were giving away free DVDs--that and a temporary Lie-Nielsen tatoo are the only things I actually walked away with.

They must have run out of the ruler/depth gauge LN was giving away. Ron Hock gave me a few of the balsa wood air planes with my order. My grand son had a lot of fun with one of them. I had to keep trimming the wings as he broke a tip off now and then.

I think the Glen-Drake folks will mail the free video if you give them a call.
1-800-961-1569

jim

[Jim Koepke]

One thing I forgot:

While talking to Ron Hock about the different blades, he commented that people do not buy his blades. He pointed at the surface of the trial wood people were planing and said, "this is what they are buying."

jim

[Jim Meier]

Thanks for the info, unfortunately, there was to be no leaving Sac today, I guess I'll wait until next year, maybe I'll start a savings fund for the demo day...

[Andy Pedler]

I drove up to Oakland this afternoon to check out the hand tool show. I had no idea what to expect but didn't have anything better to do on a rainy afternoon. In short, I left really happy and learned a lot in just a few hours spent at The Crucible.

About the only thing lacking at the show was light. It was held in an industrial workshop warehouse. While it looked like the woodshop and metal working shops contained in the warehouse were well lit, the exhibition area was fairly dark. Most everyone had clamp lights on stands to illuminate their benches.

I wandered around first to get the lay of the land, and wound up talking to Kevin Drake at the Glenn-Drake Toolworks table for quite a while. No one was there when I walked up, and I told Mr. Drake that I was a hobbyist who had never successfully cut a dovetail joint and didn't have much of any experience, but I like the hobby. He immediately asked if I'd like to learn how to cut one with their new Wild West Saw, and then launched into what amounted to a private lesson for what must have been 30-40 minutes! A couple of other people wandered by while he was showing me how to use the saw, and he answered their questions as well. I was floored that he gave me such one-on-one attention, and I was greatly appreciative. He went through the whole process of cutting the pin, then using their feeler gauge and the proper method of marking the tail. It was an education. I felt really bad that I wasn't in a financial position to buy some of his products on the spot, but I will certainly remember his generosity and when the time comes I'll be placing an order.

After that I watched a demo at the LN stand of how to flatten a bench top. Frankly, I'd love to have a bench that was as flat as what they started with, but by the time they were done it looked incredible. Another great learning experience. I spent a little time then watching one of the LN guys (I'm terrible with names...) do the inlay demo. That was interesting. Not necessarily something I'd venture to try, but it is always fun watching really talented people do their thing.

I noticed that nobody was at the Hock blades table, so I went over and started to talking to Ron Hock. Again I explained that I had no real experience with hand tools, and once again he invited me to try out some of this planes and showed me some proper methods of using a hand plane, how to adjust the blade setting, etc. Once again, it was remarkable to get one-on-one instruction and I learned a lot. I know these guys are selling their stuff so they want to be pleasant, but in both this case and with Mr. Drake it was genuine and they both seemed to really enjoy helping me out. It never felt like a sales pitch, but instead just a couple of guys sharing their knowledge of the craft.

Finally I talked to one of the LN sales people and he let me try out a few of their planes and gave me an overview of their plane families. Someday...:rolleyes:... Once again, very friendly, helpful, and never any sales pressure.

So I left a very satisfied attendee! It was a great afternoon. Thanks to the vendors who spent so much time with those of us who attended. I'll be putting a wishlist together and express my appreciation by placing orders in the future.

Andy - Newark, CA

[Frank Stolten]

I got there early Saturday and access was easy, right off the freeway. Even lucked out and parked next door. The weather was crummy but, hey, it's the rainy season here and after the last 2 years of below normal precipitation the rain is welcome. I'd never been to The Crucible before and was surprised to find a large industrial arts training facility with an extensive range of hands-on classes offered. One room had 5 Oneway lathes along with other woodworking equipment, another had a blacksmith forge setup, another had a machine shop, another had a ceramic kiln while another had a forge where they were demonstrating sand casting. If I didn't live 90 miles away I'd sure consider taking some classes there.

Lie-Nielsen sponsored the event and seemed to have every item in their catalog there, more than I've seen them bring to the ww'ing shows. The event was free as was the lunch. Tom L-N seems to be a friendly, laidback sort greeting folks. Deneb Puchalski did his usual excellent presentation on selecting and using handplanes. He really knows his stuff.

Chris Schwarz, editor of Popular Woodworking and Woodworking magazines was there talking about planes and just about anything hand tool ww'ing related. He brought a bunch of his new book on workbenches which rapidly got snapped up. He also gave an excellent presentation on the citical aspects to consider when planning to build a workbench and emphasized thinking through how you intend to use it and design accordingly. The guy's a real wealth of knowledge.

John Economaki of Bridge City Tools brought his newest tools to demonstrate
and the engineering and build-quality were impressive. Besides being well made they're just darned attractive with an outstanding fit and finish. When I heard he was offering offering a special 20% event discount it took a supreme effort to keep my wallet in my pocket. I knew I'd be dead meat if the little plastic card ever found it's way out.

In all, it was an enjoyable day and I'd highly recommend checking the L-N website for their travel show schedule and attend one of these events if possible.