Chet Posted March 5, 2015 Report Share Posted March 5, 2015 I have yet to attend a woodworking show but I am thinking that it is something that would be worth while and fun. In searching on the internet, I have found four different shows. Three of the shows have a single location and one has several shows around the country over the course of the year. International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta which seems to be every other year. Association of Woodworking and Furnishing Suppliers in Las Vegas in July. Woodworking in America in Kansas City Mo. in September The Woodworking Shows which has several shows across the country. This would be the closest on to me. I live in San Jose CA. and the have a show in Sacramento about 3 hours from me. I guess my question is what each of these show are like to attend, if any one has a particular show they like to go to. I don't even know if the one in Las Vegas is open to the hobbyist type woodworker. Are any of these geared toward a particular type of woodworking, whether it is Hand tools, Power tools, Turners or do they all cover most forms of woodworking. Also is there any other shows that are out there that I didn't so up in my search. The four above are the ones I found Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick S Posted March 5, 2015 Report Share Posted March 5, 2015 If your interest is primarily hobby related, I would stick to either the Woodworking Shows or WIA. IWF and AWFS are geared almost exclusively to professional equipment and supplies - very little for the hobbyist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffBranch Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 I went to IWF in Atlanta a few years ago. There were some vendors suited to the hobbiest woodworker: Sawstop, Powermatic/Jet, Lee Valley/Veritas, General, Kreg, a few others, but as Micks says there were a lot of large scale production related equipment manufacturers there. Lots of CNC stuff. It is a monster size show though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick S Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 It's really a shame that IWF and AWFS have moved away from targeting anyone interested in woodworking to just the industrial users. I've attended every IWF since the mid-eighties and quite a few AWFS shows over the years. You have to walk miles to find the things most hobbyists would be interested in. I attended WIA in Winston-Salem last year and really enjoyed the seminars and seeing some of the new tools that Lie Nielsen and Lee Valley had on the horizon, as well as some of the smaller makers like Texas Heritage Woodworks, Hock, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted March 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 I was looking at The Woodworking Show's website last night and for some reason the show in Sacramento (closest one to me) has the fewest number of vendors, just over 30. All of there other shows have 10 to 15 more vendors and their show in Atlanta has twice as many. I guess we don't have enough woodworkers in Northern California to get more vendors. There were a number of seminars that looked interesting. I might consider going to the Southern California or Portland because they are offering more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cancelleri Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 I was looking at The Woodworking Show's website last night and for some reason the show in Sacramento (closest one to me) has the fewest number of vendors, just over 30. All of there other shows have 10 to 15 more vendors and their show in Atlanta has twice as many. I guess we don't have enough woodworkers in Northern California to get more vendors. There were a number of seminars that looked interesting. I might consider going to the Southern California or Portland because they are offering more. You're not allowed to have woodworking in california since everything causes cancer according to all tool packaging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 You're not allowed to have woodworking in california since everything causes cancer according to all tool packaging. This is true. I swear, there is a sign on the wall at the Ventura woodcraft right in front of the wood giving the prop 65 cancer schpeal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted March 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 We have a real Nanny State Government here in California. We are such stupid fools that we have to be told everything through laws... Pay extra for certain size sodas because they think I can't stop my self, what my kids can have in there happy meal if they expect to get a toy with it because I am not smart enough to feed them right ands as stated everything and I mean everything connected to woodworking is cancer causing EVEN my 5 micron Dust collection system and air filter came with those warnings, What? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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