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Quick , it is time to make up a quick excuse to your boss to arrange a sham business trip to Cincinnati on June 4-5. On those two days we are going to open wide the doors of our office and shop and host a Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event.
(If you need ideas for how to trick your boss into traveling here, let me know. We have a wide variety of businesses here. Just say “Procter & Gamble,” “Kroger” and “Macy’s.”)
Like the event last year, this one will be large. In addition to the Lie-Nielsen folks (including Thomas Lie-Nielsen himself), we’ll have John Economaki here from Bridge City Toolworks, Kevin Drake from Glen-Drake Toolworks and Andrew Lunn from Eccentric Toolworks. Oh, and how could I forget the most awesome part: members of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM) are giving demonstrations on a wide variety of skills the entire two days.
Last year the SAPFM members demonstrated inlay, carving, design, moulding planes and lots of other stuff.
This year we are doing a couple things a little different. The show will be on Friday (4 p.m. to 9 p.m.) and Saturday (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; no Sunday hours). But the Friday show is going to go later into the evening. We’ll have some dinner food for sale. And I’ll be presenting a seminar at 7 p.m. on workbenches. I’ll be showing my new Roubo workbench plus some very cool workholding devices you haven’t seen yet.
Then, at 8 p.m. we’ll be having a big roundtable question-and-answer session with all the toolmakers. Expect some sparks to fly. Perhaps some leg wrestling and other feats of strength. If you attended last year’s program, you know that things get out of hand when you throw all these people in a room.
Oh, one more thing: All of this is free. Just show up at our offices at 4700 E. Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236 on either (or both) days.
And by the way, lots of attendees brought their families along last year. Cincinnati is a fun town for a weekend getaway. Later in the week I’ll post some of my favorite things to do here and places to eat (do you like goetta? You will).
For more information, visit the Lie-Nielsen web site.
– Christopher Schwarz
Other Good Hand Tool Resources
– John Economaki’s crazy blog at Bridge City (bridgecitytools.com/blog)
– “Handplane Essentials” by Christopher Schwarz
– Andrew Lunn’s blog at Eccentric Toolworks (eccentrictoolworks.blogspot.com)
– “The Complete Illustrated Guide to Sharpening” (Taunton) by Thomas Lie-Nielsen
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The 5th’s my birthday? Is there going to be cake?
Will the demo tools be sold as used? Got cash.
Since I live in Cincinnati about 5 miles from your office, and work for myself, I’m going to need a better excuse than "Procter & Gamble," "Kroger" and "Macy’s".