3rd Annual Home Depot St.Catharines Woodworking Show

This year's show was again a huge success! The show which is growing in popularity as Niagara's only woodworking show is free to attend and full of education and entertainment. Wood chips and sawdust could be found in all areas of the store as demonstrations of the latest and greatest tools and products were on display. The sounds of tiny hammers pounding like woodpeckers could be heard throughout the store as the Kid's Workshop was a popular spot where children were introduced to the craft of woodworking. You will see in one of the photos below that after the Kid's Workshop one small boy felt it necessary to read up on some magazines and plan out his next project. The weather that day was far from ideal but didn't dampen the spirits of those that attended. The woodworking competition brought artisans together from age 19 to 89. The quality of projects was outstanding this year as the five judges inspected and deliberated for over an hour. Once the ribbons were placed on the winning projects I heard of no complaints so kudos to the judges on their selections. For this year's competition woodworkers were competing for a purse of nearly $2000 in prizes.

I would like to thank all the companies that supplied prizes for the show:

-Ridgid -Ryobi -Milwaukee -Delta Machinery -Porter Cable -Black & Decker -Dewalt -Gorilla Glue -Irwin -Footprint -Picquic -Dremel -Husky -Stanley Bostitch -Norton -LePage -Elmer's -Varathane -Minwax -Watco -Weldbond -Campbell Hausfeld -Freud -Makita -Bosch -Skil -McCordick Safety -Purdy -Bennett -Paslode -Canadian Woodworking Magazine

With the success of last year's show, the focus for this year was on promotion and advertising and I would like to thank all the companies that helped to advertise this show:

-The St.Catharines Standard -Canadian Woodworking Magazine -TVCogeco -CHCH TV Hamilton -The Wood Shed -Niagara Financial Partners -McQueen's Custom Cuts -Niagara Woodworking Club -Niagara Wood Carvers Association -Ridgeway-Crystal Beach Secondary School -Niagara This Week -Facebook -Kijiji -Lumberjocks.com

I would like to thank Ridgeway-Crystal Beach Secondary School who had there Broadcast Bus there along with a film crew that conducted interviews and shot some great footage of the show. The students will be editing the raw foortage and delivering a DVD of the days event. I look forward to having it playing at the store. Besides the film crew I took some of my own pictures and put together some pics of the day. Here are some photos from the show and photos of the winners with their winning projects:

And the winners were......

FIRST PRIZE

Small Category Large Category

SECOND PRIZE

THIRD PRIZE

DOOR PRIZE

(drawn from the names of those that did not place)

For photos of all the projects entered into the competition please click on the following link:

http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/nn251/biff_kpv/?action=view&current=23bf4511.pbw

So as you can see the show was a success. The buzz around the show at the end was wait until next year which is the best compliment because that means people had a great time and are looking forward to an even bigger show next year!

The Vacuum Gouge

Have you ever thought that turning wood is a messy job?

As you turn wood the chips fly at you.....

If the wood is green, you get sprayed with water from the wood.....

You can not wear a shirt or apron with pockets for they get full of chips and dust.....

Well let me tell you.............

NO MORE!!!!

The Vacuum Gouge eliminates all these problems. You will not have to sharpen your gouge as often as there is a sharp edge 360 degrees around the tip so just give a little turn a VOILA the gouge is sharp again. I was introduced to this tool about a month or so ago and could not believe how simple an idea it is.

www.cleanturntools.net

I used this tool for the turnings on the tall sack back rocking chair and was impressed at how clean the area was after all that turning.

So take it from me this is a definite keeper and something every spindle turner should have!

I might show a video of how easy it is to use this tool this weekend if I figure out how to do that.

My Day at W.E.Saunders

This past week I went to a one day training session at W.E. Saunders or W.E.S. Distributors in Delhi. This training was all about wood finishing using spray equipment, dyes, laquers, tints and sealers. I tell you my head was spinning from all the information. The class was taught by two instructors George Saunders who is the owner and his lead tech Tim and let me tell you these guys know and love their business! The passion these two expressed was contageous and they were very skill at conveying what they know. If you ever get a chance to visit and get into this class the money was very well spent and the drive was quite nice also.

Please visit: http://www.wesdist.com/

Some Previous Projects....

Here is a small collection of previous projects that I have made. I will continually add to this as time goes by and as I am able to scan in photos of projects before I had a digital camera. Enjoy!

Tall Sack Back Windsor Rocking Chair

Oak Toilet Paper Holder

Maple Phone Table

Football Chair (Re-upholstery)

Repair and Refinish of Oak Office Chair

Replacing broken strecher of a chairLittle Cows made from scraps of oak

Pine Bookcase
Wooden Business Card Holder

Cherry and Bird's Eye Maple Jewellery Box

Oak six panel mirror

Repair of Low back windsor chair

Set of oak living room tables

Comb Back Windsor Chair

Award Winning Sack Back Windsor Chair

Pair of Pine Keepsake chests

Aspen Rocking Horse

An oak quilt rack

Small reindeer

A Home Depot special coat rack

Three small rocking horses, four small rocking chairs and two small chairs

A folding step stool and seat made of pine

Walnut and maple trivet set

An alder chest

Sleeping bears on a fence

Sewing Chest -- open

Sewing Chest -- closed

Maple hall table with a dovetailed maple and walnut mug rack on top

Award Winning Parsons Coffee Table made from one 3/4x4x8 sheet of spruce plywood

Dogs and critters

Coffee shop sign

Slipper chair

Wing back chair with queen anne legs

Grape leaf wine glass holder that sits atop the bottle of wine

Oak wine shelf

Poplar candlestick holder