10 Reasons to Come to the Lie-Nielsen Event This Weekend

Adam Cherubini at a Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Philadelphia.

This Friday afternoon we throw open our doors to the public for the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event. This free event is free, and it also is free. If you’ve ever wanted to learn about hand tools, sharpening them, and putting them to use, this is a great opportunity.

However, this isn’t just some free show with free admission. We also have a Friday evening program scheduled with some pizza (not free, sorry). There I’ll be showing off my new Roubo-style workbench with a bunch of its accessories, plus I’ll be giving a super-exciting talk on the history of the workbench, with some cool 15th-century illustrations I recently found with the help of some European friends.

And if that doesn’t blow your French ruffles up, then here are 10 other great reasons to make the drive to Cincinnati for this event.

1. If you bring enough money (or mead/wine/brown liquor), you can talk Megan Fitzpatrick into a reprise of her famous workbench-jumping video. I also will be performing this. But I’ll do it for free.

2. I’ll be building some more Moxon-style twin-screw vises on Friday and Saturday. Stop by and give the thread-box a try and see how easy it is to make a super-stable twin-screw you can clamp to the top of your bench.

3. Get Deneb Puchalski of Lie-Nielsen Toolworks to teach you how to deal with difficult grain using a toothing iron. He wrote a great article for our magazine about it, and he’s happy to show you how to do it on nasty boards.

4. Pick the brain of John Economaki, the founder and mad wizard of Bridge City Tool Works. Economaki has one of the most absolutely cracked and creative brains in the business. And he always has something new to show.

5. Get to know Kevin Drake of Glen-Drake Toolworks and have him teach you how to cut dovetails. Drake is a graduate of the College of the Redwoods and has a new dovetail saw to show off (we have two of them right now for testing). Plus, buy an extra Tite-Mark cutting gauge while you are here. I will.

6. The Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM) will be demonstrating cool stuff all weekend. Glen Huey posted a list here. Whether you are into carving, chairmaking or joinery planes, you are going to find something at their booth to interest you. And be sure to join SAPFM while you are here. The organization’s magazine, Period Furniture, alone is worth the nominal fee for joining.

7. Try out the awesome saws from Andrew Lunn at Eccentric Toolworks. Lunn is bringing a panel saw that I am told puts all others to shame.

8. If you know the right places to go, Cincinnati is a foodie paradise. Lots of good stuff to eat and drink here, even if you don’t dig the schnitzel food group. Check out my list of eating places here.

9. And if you don’t want your family to see how much money you are dropping (or how geeky you are for woodworking), send them to one of the city’s many attractions. Megan Fitzpatrick prepared this list.

10. Two words: chin-chillas. (Actually, I ran out of reasons. There will be no chinchillas.)

– Christopher Schwarz