I am pretty pleased with the results.

My Sapele side table – Blue ribbon

My Walnut and Maple Jewelry box – Blue ribbon

Small cutting board/Trivet – red ribbon

Purple Heart and Maple Bread Board – Blue ribbon

I don’t have pictures of these yet…post follow up this weekend.
Sample Cabinet – Blue ribbon
Plant Stand – Honorable mention

The Honorable mention needs a little explanation. I had an old newel post left over from when I had the house built as well as some pieces left from my Thorsten side table project. So being a practical kind of guy, I made something out of it. There was a category at the fair for recycled material, so I entered it there. I forgot to include a note of where the materials came from so when it was judged, they left me a kind note.” Beautiful entry, but perhaps it belongs in the woodworking category” Oh well.

Some of the projects are in my projects, a few are not. I will upload pictures when I pick up the entries on Sunday. right now they are on display at the fair under a clear plastic sheet that doesn’t photograph well.

Highest on my priority list was to get my battery issue for my Makita 18v Li solved. 3 of the 4 batteries have for it have gone bad, in less than 20 charges. I dropped by the booth yesterday and spoke with the district manager and he asked that I bring them in so they could test and replace them if needed. Got this done right away. Nice guys and eager to get this taken care of for me.

Second on my list was to order a set of lathe tools to use with my new lathe. I stopped by the Lee Valley booth but they were swamped so I decided to go back later.

The highest priority of the day was to meet up with Karson. He was unable to make it to the show yesterday due to a car problem. We meet up fairly early and made a lap around the show. There were good vendors …but missing this year was Leigh Nelson and Ridgid. There was a good number of people in attendance but it did seem lighter than last year, unlike the Baltimore show which seemed to be better attended this year. I did get to look at the new Delta Table Saw… Very Nice.

Karson and I headed over to Chuck Bender’s booth. He had promised Karson could cut some dovetails and we headed over to take him up on this. We watched as Chuck knocked out a sample pretty quickly. And then Karson started. Here are a few pictures of the event and link to more.

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After wards, Karson and I did a little more shopping and pick up some minor shop tools. Shortly after Karson left to head back to the house, I received a call from Meilie (MMH) and she said they were on their way. I decided to wait and meet up with her and her husband. I the mean time, I headed back and spent some more time with Chuck, admiring his work and just chatting. Meilie and her husband arrived and they had brought with them a couple of her canes. They were even more beautiful in person than what she has posted on her site. Very beautiful grain and outstanding work.

We managed to talk Chuck into demonstrating a half blind dovetail. Again, he made the process look so easy. So easy, I even gave it a try. I had not cut a dovetail by hand in over 3 years, and even then it turned out less and desirable. That’s the reason I use a Liegh Jig. (this had turned into a running joke between Chuck and I.) BTW Chuck, I got home and went to find my bag of finger set up blocks….couldn’t find them so you would have won dovetail cutting contest. I didn’t get any pictures of my self cutting the dovetails but lets just say, I need more practice….a lot more.

Over all, I had a great time. It was good to get away from the desk and out of the house for a few days. Especially when you can meet up with friends and just relax. I want to especially thank Chuck, we spent a lot of time just chatting. I really admire his work and his skills. I took up a lot of his time and probably overstayed my welcome a bit. If you ever have the opportunity to meet and speak with him do so. He even has a few more slots open for class he is asked Glen Huey to teach this summer, making the tea table that was featured in Popular Woodworking.

Let me know if you are planning on attending and we can set up a general meet up. I have talked with Karson and he may be attending. I would also like to talk with you about a Lumberjocks get together this summer. I am open to ideas and locations.

I met up with Karson at the Baltimore Woodworking Show earlier today and I mentioned to him I would like to see a Mid-Atlantic LumberJocks Picnic or party this year. He thought it would be a great idea.

I would like to get a feel of how many of LumberJocks in the Mid-Atlantic area would be interested in meeting this year. I am thinking late June as a time line. Between the time school let out and the July 4th holiday. We thought that the Baltimore/Washington area would be pretty central and have easy highway access. If you are interested, please contact me.

We are also looking for a host site. If you are willing to put up with a number of “Wild and Crazy” Woodworkers, I promise we will be well behaved….for the most part :-) Please let me know if you are interested. I would like to see a couple of us take up the planning so the Host doesn’t feel responsible for everything.

I would also like to extend an invitation to all other LumberJocks across the country. You are also welcome. Who knows, we may even make this LumberJocks very first Convention! Wouldn’t that be a blast!

It all starts by posting a response to this blog so we can get some idea of how many of you out there are interested.

This series of photos are after the glue up and with one coat of Karson’s Oil/Poly blend recipe. It is still just a bit on the damp side. The top is not attached at this point. I will probably give it one more coat of the oil/poly blend then give it 3 or 4 coats of shellac and rub it out. I want to be able to repair the finish if something happens with out having to strip it.

This is the top after glue up and some light scraping.

This another photos of the top, different angle.

This is the table in a dry fit. Pardon the messy shop. I wanted to build today, not clean.

Shot of the end apron.

This shot shows the curves of the apron a little better.

Please pardon the messy shop and my poor photography. I am not using my tripod.

Trays in the box

Trays removed

Trays made of Wenge and Ambrosia Maple.

Bottom of the trays, showing off the Ambrosia Maple.

Please pardon the photography…I’m not great at it. Should have used a tripod.

The box is made with Lacewood, with Padauk and Wenge stripes and accents. The box does not have a finish on it yet (just FYI, I am planning on using a gloss poly and then rubbing out back down to a semi-gloss.)

Here is what I currently have in stock.

Curly Maple
Lace wood
a very little bit of Sapele
Walnut
Wenge
Ambrosia Maple
Cherry

I’m not quite sure what I am going to do with this one yet. I may sell it or keep it for myself (that was my original intention.)

IF you don’t vote, don’t complain.

This messages in no way endorses any particular candidate or party
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I made myself a promise that I would get a new table saw this year. My craftsman contractors saw was at the limit of what I wanted it to do. It would do fine on regular ¾” stock but started to give me fits when I went to cut thicker stock. So Long Story short, (I know, too late) I offered to sell the saw to my brother, and with out giving me a chance to change my mind, he accepted. His benchtop saw was not what he expected and wasn’t happy with it. Whew…thought I was going to have to post it to Craigslist.

Well my brother Adrian (for those who don’t know, he is “lazyfiremaninTN”) was due in Friday evening, but I had already made arrangements to meet Karson and Chis that day at the Woodworking Show in Chantilly, VA. I thought I knew what I wanted when I got there. I knew Steel City was having a sale on the 6” para. Jointer. So that was on my list. I was really looking at getting a Grizzly 10” cabinet saw but I was going to consider a Steel City if they had the new Granite Top to look at.

I was correct on the Jointer, I picked it up for $499 with the built in base and they even promised to send me an extra set of knives in the deal.

As we were walking around I stopped and looked at the Delta Unisaws. The rep (who we will call Tom) was showing me what they had on sales…3 hp 10” cabinet saw, with mobile base, 30 Biesemyer Fence, extension table w/legs and a $200 credit towards any other Delta, PorterCable or DeWalt tools, all for $1314.00. It was too good to be true…I looked at Karson and he smiled and gave a nod. Just then, Tom started to look something up. Opps, he made a mistake. The $1314 price was for the same package but with either the T-2 or the Unifence. The Biesemyer was a $140 extra. I shot him a look that must have scared him because he backtracked and said he would honor what he had originally quoted. Not one to just jump on something, I told him I had to think about it. He whipped out a card and wrote his name “Tom” on it and said his price was good for today only. I said that was resonable and I would be back soon. As Karson, Chris and I walked away, I asked Karson what he thought. He thought it was too good to pass up and that I would be happy with the Delta, not many people he knew that had one complained about it.

We walked around for a while, stopped to see the General tool rep. I liked him but just could pony up for the extra money. I will end up probably getting the Excaliber guard/dust collector arm.

Back to the story, I decided to go ahead and get the saw and headed back to the Delta booth. Low and behold, Tom was busy. Every time I tried to get in his line of sight much less get his attension, he would get busy with someone else. So I left and came back a few times. Finally, I think he got the hint that I was ready and he was going to have to live up to his end. He started writing up the deal and I told him that I was interested in some PorterCable sanders. He told me to go pick them out and I headed that way. I had been thinking about a 6” right angle ROS for some time, they had one left. I didn’t see anything else that I needed (too cheap to spend any more money) so I went and got a 5”343 model. Sanders for me are sort of like clamps, never have too many. I enjoy being able to set them up with different grits and just go from one sander to the next. Who knows, may even sell it, haven’t decided yet.

I told the lady who rang up the sale that I would be picking them up on Sat. It was suppose to rain and I would need a lot of help unloading.

Adrian arrived that night and I told him what I had done…stupid me, I didn’t tell the wife. He almost blew it.

Back to the story, We (Adrian, myself our wives, kids and even the neighbor.) Arrived on Sat and meet up with Chris again. We started walking past the Delta booth and I, as casually as I could, dropped the bomb that I went ahead and bought a new table saw and Jointer. Now, bear in mind, that I have been saving for this for about 2 years. I keep a “rat hole” fund for my tools, when I go to the ATM I would take out an extra $20 and put in a bank evelope in my desk. I would also stash a lot of the money I make on the side as well. I had about $2100 in there. That ment that the money I had spent didn’t impact the budget and my hobbie/retirement was paying its own way. She took it pretty well….well sorta, I now have a much bigger to do list now.

We got home and started unloading the tools. Boy are they heavy! It took two fat guys and two teenagers to get the saw off the truck without dropping it.

Assembly went pretty well with the jointer except for one bolt. Its behind the dust chute and towards the front of the cabinet. I couldn’t reach it very well. Thank God for kids, Adrian’s son, Ian was able to reach it pretty well. I had managed to get it started and about half way on, he came in to the rescue and finished taking it off! I chuckeled at him and he managed to get the bolt back on and tightened down. 3

I was a bit concerned when we opend the table saw box the next morning and didn’t immediately see the instruction book. I quickly found it as I was taking shipping material off the saw. It was inside the cabinet, actually a pretty good place for it. Everything went pretty smoothly except when we went to install the fence system. It hadn’t occurred to me that the fence would come with mounting bolts for every saw on the planet. We went though the instructions several times and finally came to that realization.

After we had all the assembly done, we fired up the jointer, and the lights dimmed. I think I will need some extra ciruts. I knew that before, just putting it off. The jointer worked like a champ! I love it. Its very easy to adjust, cuts as clean as any bladed jointer I’ve ever used. We tested a piece of red oak on it and it didn’t bat an eye so to speak.

The table saw is great as well. What a diffence it makes. I have a Ridgid Carbide blade on it and it cuts like a dream. Its actually a lot quieter than the contractors saw I gave up. Karson was right, no complaints. If ever given the opportunity, I would highly recommend the upgrade from contractor to cabinet saw. And with the new dust collector I got at Christmas, my shop is already a lot cleaner. I still have years of dust to get out of the corners but I’m getting that little by little.