Denver woodworking show this weekend - any LJs attending?

I’ll be there – IF – Raton pass isn’t closed by snow / ice. Am from Albuquerque, and will be driving up I-25, at
least I kinda hope, maybe, by chance. Have to wait and see the 19th.

-- *Arachnoleptic*: The frantic dance performed just after you've accidently walked through a spider web.

50/50 chance I’ll be there. Not sure what day yet, either :-)

Trying to coordinate a few different schedules …. it’s like herding cats !

Never been, before. Looks like a nice list of companies will be there, too !

-- -- Neil

I should be there Friday. Work Sat and Sun. They have some discount coupons for admission and stuff..

-- Karen - a little bit of stupid goes a long way

One of the great things is that Denver (Lakewood actually) has a retail store for Tool King. They always have an annual tent sale with great bargains at their superstore – 11111 W 6th Ave, Lakewood, CO 80215

When I have been there in the past, it was much like a black friday sale. Got my 892 PC router for 89dollars. I expected when I arrived on Sunday with their ad it would be sold out, but I asked if there were any left and they said 142, how many would I like?? But also they have Sawstop demos, large machinery and food, as well as being a Rockler store.

-- "_If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves_." Edison

So are anymore jocks going?...seems like ther would be more than 4 in the immediate area.

-- "_If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves_." Edison

It looks like a small representation of LJs for the show…

KayBee, thanks for the heads up about the coupons. I’ll have to print them out.

Well, I think it’s suffering from “it’s not as good as it used to be” in a lot of peoples mind. Also, we have Tool King, Tool Zone, Rockler and Woodcraft all in the metro area. Almost spoiled with choices. Still, they have enough great deals that make it worth while going.

-- Karen - a little bit of stupid goes a long way

I will be there on Friday. Even though we have a lot of choices, I always see something at the show that I have to have. Cook Woods is there again and they have some amazing woods.

-- Jean, Colorado, find time to make some dust!

I made it to the WW show on Sunday. Since I haven’t been to one before, I wasn’t sure what to expect, other than temptations to buy lots of tools.

I can say that I really enjoyed it. One cashier said that it was very busy on Fri/Sat, so it was probably good to be there on Sunday. I don’t like fighting crowds to browse stuff.

I planned to watch a variety of sessions on inlays, bands saws, routers, etc. I ended up mostly sitting in on Graham Blackburn’s sessions about hand planes, and sharpening. I learned a lot. He caveat: “This is what works for me. I’m not saying you can’t do the same job with all of those fancy jigs/tools you can buy.” I like that he has effective techniques that don’t require $500 of tools to make your tools ready to use.

Probably the best thing that came of the show was unplanned. I went to talk to Blackburn after a session and another attendee had been there the day before when he was talking about the old wooden molding planes, and how they are used. This guy had one at home and still wasn’t clear on how it was used, so he came back and brought the plane with him. Blackburn took the plane, gave the iron a quick sharpening, then proceeded to bead the edge of a board to show how it works. He was very knowledgeable about the plane’s use and origin, and very willing to share. The best part for me: I have a tool chest that has been in my family for about 7 generations. It has at least 5 of these types of planes in it and I’ve never known how to really use them. Now I do!

I pulled the planes out of the chest last night and most of them are in usable shape. I am already working on some gifts for Christmas for my family members. I think I will find a way to incorporate some details that can be done with these planes to add a bit of a historical touch to them.

Overall, I think the show was well worth it. I’ve been considering a dovetail saw that is better than my gent’s saw. I was able to test drive a couple saws at the Lee Valley booth. It was great to get my hands on them before buying. She didn’t know it at the time, but my wife bought me a veritas 20 tpi dovetail saw for Christmas! :)

I ended up missing it : ( I always enjoyed the try before you buy tools. Glad you had fun and got a head start on Christmas shopping, lol!

-- Karen - a little bit of stupid goes a long way

Darn, I missed it. Would of really like to attend. I’m near Sedalia.

I hate it that the coffee lounge has closed. I was at the show all day on saturday doing turning demos for the delta guys, I would have loved to see and say hi to some other lumberjocks. We need a new forum to post things like this. Hope you all had a great time and if your around come and see me at the Red Rocks show on Dec. 11th.

-- Roper - Master of sawdust-www.coloradocustomworks.com

I just stumbled on this post, anyways I made it to the show Denver WW Show on Saturday from 10am til 5pm. Overall it was a great time, many great speakers, lots of product demos and technique demonstrations going on. As usual there were tonnes of great show specials. I did run into Roper on the Lathe and had a chance to say hello.

Roper, lets find a way to better coordinate the Colorado woodworkers.. an idea is for us to create a forum post “Front Range/Colorado Area Woodworkers”.. and have the Colorado folks or whoever is interested “watch” that post.. this way we can just post events to a single place and everyone will automatically be emailed the message.

-- Scott, Colorado

I love that idea Scott, it would be a lot easier for all the woodworkers in Colorado to know what events and get togethers we are having here in Colorado. When are you thinking of doing another Colorado woodworkers meeting?, let me know.

Roper

-- Roper - Master of sawdust-www.coloradocustomworks.com