JimB1 Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 Not sure how many of you were able to get to the woodworking show in Somerset NJ over the weekend so I figured I'd start a thread to see what the people that did go thought about it... My impression was that it was far better then last years. I sat in on several of the seminars (Bandsaw Clinic, Logs to Lumber and Build Better Furniture) Talked to a lot of people and got a lot of tips and tricks (mainly around hand tool refurbishment and sharpening because that's what I am interested in at the moment ) and saw some really great product demos (Grripper, Little RIPPER, Veritas MK II sharpening system, etc). I also got my WW II blade sharpened for free so that was worth the price of admission. And, unlike last year, there were some real show prices on things which was a nice change from last year. The only think I can complain about is that there weren't really many demos by the big players (DeWalt, Delta, Porter Cable, Bosch). I mean they were represented and were selling stuff though AW Mayer and there were a couple of things being shown but AW Mayer was also handling the SawStop demos at their booth so they didn't demo the Unisaw. They showed the Porter Cable router with the dovetail jig so they didn't show the DeWalt routers, etc. Basically because they all used the same vendor to display, they didn't get to really show off their products, just what AW Meyer wanted to push. SawStop, Festool and Stanley had sections in AW Mayer that they sent their own people to staff from what I saw so they had better demos but for others who just had AW Meyer represent, just weren't really demoing as much as selling. Which is OK I guess but I would have liked to see more tools in use and less in boxes... Other then that, it was a pretty good show. I think the power tool maker I was most impressed with was Felder/Hammer. I think from what I saw, their tolerances, fit and finish, and overall usability were better then either Delta or SawStop and I think I really could get used to a sliding table on a saw. For accessories, the Little Ripper by Stockroom Supply was pretty sweet. Like a little sawmill for your bandsaw. The lumber companies there has some really nice and unusual pieces for sale as well for decent prices, I just have no place to put a lot of extra wood that I'm not immediately using at the moment I ordered a set of the new Stanley Bailey Chisels, picked up some of the new painters pyramids that you can screw down to a board, bought some waterstones and other shop supplies and pretty much had fun roaming the aisles and chatting with folks. Anyone else get to go? Let me know what you thought of it... Thanks -Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomP Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 Jim, My wife and I were there on Saturday. It was my first woodworking show. I thought it was very good. Next time I am going to bring home a lot of clamps. I saw some good prices. I did buy one thing. I have been looking to buy a dovetail jig. Going around I found a good buy from Peachtree. He threw in the CD, the block that holds the jig that is also set up to hold the track kit that he also threw in and then took another $20 off. Now I can go dovetail crazy. Next year i can go with a list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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