Industrial Woodworking Expo: Is drooling normal?

[Peter Quinn]

I went to the New England industrial wood working expo today. I left drool puddles at Felder, Mini Max, Rojek, Asturo, Weinig, Schmidt, Timesaver and many other booths. Sorry Don if i may have drooled on your Hammer J/P combo.

Lots of cool machines, tons of great info, and I scored a ridge carbide blade at the reasonable price of $85. Does everyone stand slack jaw and silly at these shows, or do I have a problem? Glad they only have this one every two years or my window shopping tool addiction might intensify.

[Jim Becker]

Peter, I really enjoy the industrial/pro shows as they are more no-nonsense and have a lot of interesting things to look at and learn about. Even if one isn't contemplating purchase, it's really a great time to fondle great machinery. And yes, you can still sometimes score a nice deal on some accessories with less distraction from folks hawking brooms and other dreck...

[Don Abele]

Peter, I was wondering what those marks were on the table!!! I didn't show up until about 2:00 pm today because I had to wait until after the show closed at 4:00 to pick it up (I didn't actually get out of there until 6:30).

I just posted a thread about unloading the Hammer about 20 minutes ago. Any serious gloating will have to wait until tomorrow when I can get out there and set it up.

As for the show, I was quiet impressed as well. Especially at the FIVE full-table CNC machines - those things were HUGE. I finally got to watch a SawStop in action. The brake firing is fairly loud but EXTREMELY quick. So much so, you really don't have time to flinch from the noise.

Other than the Hammer, I picked up some knives for my Shop Fox molder. Don't remember the booth, but they had a bunch of knives that were ordered and never paid for. Each set was listed for $50...I waited until just before 4:00 and offered him $25 for each set...he said, you're stealing from me, and promptly took my money!!! I wound up with some clamshell casing (2-1/2 and 3-1/2), a 3" chair rail, a 3" beading/fluting, and a 3" fancy casing.

All-in-all it was a nice show. The two hour drive down sucked (especially since I was driving the truck and diesel up here is now up to $4.79). But the Hammer and those knives made up for it.

Be well,

Doc