As a few other people have said already, we had a great time at the Michigan LumberJocks Picnic a few days ago.
SteveMI brought some of the projects he had been doing on his CNC router. It was really interesting to me that he used tinted stains instead of paint.
He also made each one of us a commemorative plaque for the event on his CNC router.
He even brought some tumbling block designs he was working on and showed us all the jig he made to create them. 
JockMike2 brought some turnings he had done and Rustic also brought some plans to share and some of his projects.
JockMike2 also brought a big tub of scraps for everyone to pick through. We were originally sort of glancing through it but eventually BillyJ and Tearen stopped pretending and just dumped the bucket out. That made it much easier to get at the goodies.
Tearen brought a bunch of wood and veneers for us to share and it was much appreciated.
After eating the good food we headed over to Raven Farm to check out the operation there.
Kelvin was a great host and tour guide and even risked the anger of his wife by taking us in the house to show us all the wood in there.
He had a 20”, 10 HP jointer with a spiral cutter head that he picked up on EBay for about $2,500. Pretty sweet deal. 
He also had a few little logs lying around that I’m sure he will make into firewood or something eventually.
That 465 painted on the log is the approximate number of board feet in that log.
I picked up a few small pieces of lumber from him and he has really good prices. I got some curly Ash which I challenge you to find at the big orange store.
It was a really great time and I’m looking forward to the next one.
-- Kyle Shipp, http://battleshipp.blogspot.com
7 comments so far
SteveMI
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227 posts in 194 days
posted 32 days ago
My take away from this was that the LJ community is an incredible thing. It didn’t take but a second after showing up to just start talking and discussing. There was even LJ lingo; when I dumped the tumbling blocks on the table there was instant recognition of Degoose.
I think we all envied the mill owner, Kelvin. He kept us entranced talking about all things wood for quite a while and really gave an insight to the life of a micro mill operator. He definetely is living a dream.
Everyone was willing to share any experience and extras they had. Michigan in late October can be any kind of weather, but we had the best imaginable for our picnic.
And the LJ support team of wives, there are no finer.
Steve.
Rustic
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1257 posts in 496 days
posted 32 days ago
You said it best steve and in review the pic in my blog that is you standing next to Kyle
-- There is no such thing as a mistake. Its called a design modification Rick Kruse, Grand Rapids, MI
scrappy
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1667 posts in 330 days
posted 32 days ago
Great to hear everyone had a fantastic time. Allways nice to hear of LJ’s getting together.
Can’t wait for the Southwest US/Arizona picnic on Nov 7th.
Looking forward to meeting everyone there.
Thanks for sharing.
Scrappy
-- Scrap Wood's the best...the projects are smaller, and so is the mess!
a1Jim
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17163 posts in 476 days
posted 32 days ago
Glad it was fun for every one
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture ,maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com
Rustic
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1257 posts in 496 days
posted 32 days ago
My bad stevemi Ilooked at the pic one more time and it is not you
-- There is no such thing as a mistake. Its called a design modification Rick Kruse, Grand Rapids, MI
MsDebbieP
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14188 posts in 1060 days
posted 31 days ago
awesome; awesome; awesome.
-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
BillyJ
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62 posts in 102 days
posted 30 days ago
Great pics – thanks for posting them. Looking forward to meeting up again.
-- There is no such thing as a mistake in woodworking. Eventually, every scrap will become small enough to become starter wood in your fire pit.