This past weekend I was lucky enough to make my choice up to Boston and enjoy Wood Expo 2012. Wood Expo is an event held within the New England Home Show. It aims to connect custom furniture makers with buyers. It also aims to help furniture makers with design critiques, networking and panel discussions.
Im no furniture maker myself (at least not a selling furniture maker), but the custom furniture makers who did attend and display made this a great event for anyone passionate about woodworking. The hall was lined with people as rabid for woodworking as I am.The makers who displayed or demonstrated in one choice or another included (thanks to Nick Roulleau & Steve Branam for their fantastic posts from which I pulled much of this list together):
After Wood Expo was (mostly) done we all headed down the block and had the inaugural meeting of the Boston chapter of the Modern Woodworkers Association. Nick’s done a great job of writing it up here on the Modern Woodworkers Association site.A great time was had by everyone I saw in attendance & Id highly recommend you attend next year. I hear its going to be better than ever.WoodExpo 2012 AlbumBoston MWA Meeting Album
Read More..
Read More..
 |
| The Seaport World Trade Center, Home of WoodExpo. |
 |
| Rob Bois |
 |
| Michael Scott Morton |
 |
| Rusty Burwell |
 |
| Steve Branam |
 |
| Chuck Bender (on right with Mike McCoy & Jim Ashley) |
 |
| Michael McCoy |
 |
| Kevin Mack |
 |
| Megan Caine |
 |
| Tom McLaughlin |
 |
| Glen Guarino (w/ Tom McLoughlin) |
 |
| Terry Moore |
 |
| Quentin Kelley |
 |
| WoodExpo 2012 |
Steve Skillins
Ryan Messier
Freddy Roman
Allan Breed
Ed McCormack
Eli Cleveland
Niels Cosman
Mickey Callahan
Since I wasnt displaying and didnt have to pay attention to potential customers, I had the chance to talk with these guys for most of the afternoon.The conversations were alchoices insightful and ranged from the trivial (touristy lunch locations) to the serious & relevant (Whats the point of he show?, How do you attract custom furniture buyers? How do we reach our designs? Where do you buy wood?) While there was rarely any consensus reached, the depth of conversation clearly demonstrated to me how passionate we all are that woodworking as a career and hobby continue. We all need to thank Tommy MacDonald, Eli Cleveland, Rick Waters, Justin DiPalma, Scott Oja & Neil Lamens putting the show on. |
| The inaugural MWA Greater Boston area meetup. |
The Cold Approaches
For those of you reading along (on Twitter & Google+ more than the blog for this topic) I’m working on a bench. That is . . . I will be working on a bench.
I’ve been obsessing over a bench for a long time and a few conversations with Aaron Marshall at Woodworking In America had my bench build leapfrogging over many open projects to the top of the list. One of the projects it jumped ahead of was the insulating of my shop. That is, it had jumped over the insulating until the cold hit.
While this is going to be a slow process and will delay my bench until January (or longer) it is well worth it and promises to transform the shop into a much nicer place. What, after all, is there not to like about having a warm, well powered shop?What needed project have you been putting off?
 |
| My bench design , as of a year ago (and awesome avitar). |
 |
| In the background you can see my barren walls. |
That cold reality has rearranged my project order once again. The insulating will come before the bench.
Unfortunately, before I can insulate, I must wire. Two and a half years ago, when I started my siding project I ripped out not only the existing insulation, but the wiring too. Since then I’ve been working in a cold shop with one outlet next to the light switch and one behind the miter saw.Today I began by starting my clean up, and oh how much clean up there is to do. In the two hours I worked, I managed to clean the far back corner, behind my shelves. |
| The cleaned corner. |
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)