A little background information for you…..

The Jack Daniels World BBQ Invitational, a.k.a. ”The Jack”, is considered the World Series of competitive BBQ-ing. This year there were 60 teams from across the U.S. and 21 international teams competing for the title of World Champ. Only the best of the best get invited to the grandaddy of all BBQ cookoffs, and this was Chad’s rookie year at ”The Jack”. In order to be eligible for ”The Jack” you have to win a Kansas City BBQ Society sanctioned event during the year. Chad became eligible by winning events in Illinois and Indiana earlier this Summer. Once BBQ season is over the name of each winner is thrown into a different hat for every state that they won in. In this case Chad’s name was in two hats, one for Illinois and one for Indiana. Chad’s odds were slim in the Illinois hat because there were eight other names in it besides his. The Indiana hat, on the other hand, only had two names in it. We all held our breath and crossed our fingers, and next thing you know Chad’s name pops out of the Indiana hat!

He had told us all year that he was going to win ”The Jack”, but we never thought it would actually happen in his first attempt. There are pros out there that have cooked in ”The Jack” for years and never been able to walk away with the big trophy. What chance could Chad, a one man team, really have of winning in his first year against so many giants of the competitive BBQ world? Apparently there was a very good chance!

Once the cooking was done, and all of the meat was turned in for judging, it became a waiting game for the 81 team field. There are four categories judged in these BBQ competitions: Chicken, Ribs, Pulled Pork and Brisket. Each category is judged and ranked using a point system, and the team with the most overall points is named Grand Champion. They started announcing the awards… 1st place Chicken… Moonswiners! 2nd place Ribs… Moonswiners! 1st place Brisket… Moonswiners! The pork didn’t do as well, but with finishes that high in the other three categories, there was little doubt who would be crowned champ… you guessed it… MOONSWINERS!

Here is Chad (right) standing next to his buddy, and winner of “The Jack” in 2006, as well as his enormous trophy and the jugs he received for the individual categories.

Even though I never thought it would really happen, I am more than happy to build a trophy display stand for the best BBQ cook in the WORLD! The trophy body is made from white oak whishkey barrel staves, so the display case will also be white oak. Chad asked that the stand be a corner style piece with a two tier design. The top tier will be reserved for the trophy while the lower tier will hold the three jugs. I showed him the design, and he was more than pleased with it.

After grabbing a couple 4’x8’ sheets of white oak plywood from my local lumberyard I’m ready for a long weekend of woodworking. I’ll keep everyone updated on the progress! Thanks for reading!

I wish I had some wonderful story to give you about my great grandfather using these planes, but all I know is that they were his old wooden tool chest that I found recently in my mother’s garage. He passed away when I was very young so I never really got a chance to know him, but I like to think that he created a lot of great things with these planes. Hopefully I can clean them up and restore them to a usable state so that I can create a lot more great things with them.

I mentioned in David’s thread that I had a couple of Bedrock planes, but I was mistaken. Only one of four is a Bedrock. I’m not sure what the others are since I’m not familiar at all with planes, but I’m hoping someone can help me with some identifications.

The first four pictures are of the Bedrock plane. This plane is in the best shape out of the four. It seems that all of the pieces are there, but the handles are cracked and beaten up.

This next plane has more damage than the Bedrock. All of the pieces are there, but the handles are cracked on this one also. There is a large piece broken off of one side. The front of the plane has an “05” on it which leads me to believe it may be a Stanley No. 5. I’m not sure about that, but it’s my best guess.

This next little plane had no names or numbers on it so your guess is as good as mine. This one seems to be missing several pieces.

This final plane is some kind of oddball. I’ve never seen another one like it, but maybe one of you guys can identify it.

I hope some of you plane experts out there can help me identify what I have here. Like I said before, I’d like to restore these to working order. I’m not interested in selling them, so the “value” to be will never have a dollar sign behind it. I just hope I can learn to use them and create something that would have made my great grandfather proud.

A couple weeks ago I emailed the editor of the newsletter some information on LJ and the Thorsen Table Challenge, and I encouraged him to inform other club members about what they’re missing out on. Due to scheduling conflicts I am unable to attend the monthly meetings so I enlisted his help to spread the word. I thought he may check out the site and mention it at the meeting, but he went a step further. I opened up the newsletter, and guess what I saw. I saw a nice little blurb about Lumberjocks and the Thorsen Table Challenge right there in black and white. What that means is that every member of the Club, around 200 craftsmen, will now know about the site and the challenge.

I learned about the Club at my local Woodcraft store one day when I stopped by for a look around. I spotted a beautiful mahogany board that I just couldn’t live without, but I did not have a truck to take it home in. I asked the fellas at the counter if I could pay for it and pick it up later when I had a truck. I didn’t want to take the chance of someone else grabbing it up. Before they could answer my question the guy standing next to me said “I’ve got a truck. I can take it to your house for you.” I was blown away. We had about a 10 mile drive back to my house so we had plenty of time for conversation. It turned out that he was the president of the Club, and he filled me in on all the benefits of becoming a member. I wish I could attend the monthly meetings and meet more of my fellow members, but I can tell you that the few I have met are outstanding people and craftsmen. I hope some of them decide to join LJ and participate in the challenge. I’m positivle that everyone will give them a great Lumberjocks welcome, as usual.

I’m 29 years old, and I’ve been sitting behind a desk for the past 8 years. I work in the mechanical engineering field where there’s always a deadline looming just around the corner. “Why aren’t you done yet?”, “We need this done yesterday.”, “Can you work some extra hours this week?”. These words are all too common in my line of work. The pain is eased every other Friday when the eagle lands in my mailbox, but is it really worth it? I’m beginning to think it’s not.

A little over a year ago I quit my job at one engineering firm to join another. I’d heard great things about my new employer, and I had several interviews before I accepted their offer. I had grow to hate my job with the previous firm, but I thought “Maybe it’s just the poor atmosphere and low pay. Maybe if I go someplace where the people are easier to work with and the money is better I’ll be happy.” Unfortunately, that has not been the case. Don’t get me wrong. The people here ARE great to work with, and the money IS A LOT better. I have made many friends here, and I have nothing bad to say about any of my fellow employees or my superiors. They really are a great group of people. That being said, “The Business” is still “The Business”. The deadlines still loom, the gray hairs are still popping, and my stress level is as high as ever.

Over the last couple of months, one of the things that has kept me going during the day is Lumberjocks.com. Every so often I’ll log on and check the PULSE and make the occasional comment. It gives me something to look forward to and breaks the monotony of it all. I’ve been inspired by everyone of my fellow jocks, and especially by those who have chosen woodworking as a career. I’m hoping one day I will get up enough courage to break the chains that have me bound to my desk and enjoy the type of freedom that must come with doing something you love. Until that day I’ll continue to do my job well, no matter how much I grow to dispise it, because I take pride in everything that I do. I will not sacrifice the quality of my work just because I’d rather be in the shop. I refuse to feel sorry for myself because I may not be completely happy with some of the career choices I have made. Someday I will join the ranks of those who call the woodshop their office. Let’s just hope it’s sonner that later. Until that day comes, I look forward to you guys keeping me company through each of the long days I’m stuck behind the monitor.

Thanks for lending me your ears. Now…. off to the shop…

I really want my table to have the signature look of a Greene and Greene piece because I’ve never done a G&G project before. I’ve been browsing G&G sites, reading articles about other G&G projects, checking out the G&G shop drawings book every time I stop in to say hello to the boys at Woodcraft, you name it. Because I’m in the mechanical engineering field I work hand in hand with architects on a daily basis, and I’ve gone so far as to have some conversations about the Greene brothers with a few of them. The research has been a wonderful learning experience for me.

The only down side of doing that much research is that I now have all this knowledge of G&G design, but I can only incorporate so much of it into this particular project. Picking and choosing my favorite design features has been a long and ongoing process. The upside… I can see a lot more G&G projects in my future…. but those are in the future. Right now I need to focus on the task at hand and make some decisions.

The first decision that needs to be made is what type of wood I want to use. I’ve seen posts on LJ from other jocks who are also having issues choosing their material so I don’t feel quite as indecisive because I know they share my pain. One thing is for sure… I will be using Walnut for a good portion of my table. I recently purchased some 8/4 stock with the intent of building the table entirely out of Walnut, but I’m now thinking I may want to use two different species for a little more contrast. I’m considering Mahogany as a secondary wood because it’s such a joy to work with and because I think it would really look great with the Walnut, but the same could be said for Cherry… oh… what to do… what to do… I’ll have to take a look at some other projects that have utilized contrasting woods before that final decision can be made. Maybe I’ll find some in the 1000 plus projects we have posted here on LJ.

Well, I’m off to Woodcraft to check out their wood pile, and run some of my ideas by the boys behind the counter. I’ll talk more about ebony pegs, oversized box joints, breadboard ends and who knows what else in my next entry.

Until then…...