We may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations.
Chris Wong, Time Warp Tools
What really stood out for me at our annual woodworking conference last month were all the new faces and ideas. Part of that was the new location – Winston-Salem, N.C. – and part of it was the fact that woodworking is growing!
Here’s a blog round-up of my impressions from the trip, with an emphasis on the new stuff. Please add your own impressions and links in the comments section.
New Toolmakers
I hadn’t seen Texas Heritage Woodworks before. Check out Jason’s posts about the conference, where he demonstrated some of the company’s latest bench hardware and other great products.
Around that same corner of the show, there were some “new to me” people. Claire Minihan was at WIA 2013, but I somehow missed seeing her travishers. Pretty cool!
Anne Briggs, aka “Anne of All Trades,” was also hanging out in that area. She’s not a toolmaker, but she does some terrific stuff in social media and generations-old woodworking knowledge.
I finally got to meet Chris Wong of Time Warp Tool Works, and tried out one of his moulding planes. Very fun! Chris also writes the blog Flair Woodworks, where you can read his own round-up of the conference.
New Speaker
Congratulations to Wilbur Pan on his first time presenting at WIA. I saw his talk on Japanese saws. Wilbur did a great job of emphasizing the similarities – not the differences – between Western and Eastern tools. If you haven’t seen Wilbur’s blog, which always features good imagery and interesting ideas, start with his WIA 2014 posts.
New Jolt of Energy – YouTubers
Steve Ramsey of Woodworking for Mere Mortals was there. As far as I know, this was Steve’s first WIA conference. Watch his video about the experience. Thanks for being there!
I also came across this blog when I was searching for related posts – another YouTube guy, Steve Carmichael, who seems to be doing a great job. Thanks for the shout-out, Steve!
New Human Beings – the Kiddos
A couple bloggers in our network wrote about bringing their kids to the conference. It was a kid-friendly show, and we were glad to be a source of entertainment for the next generation! Links:
http://midnightwoodworking.com/2014/09/14/woodworking-in-america-weekend-2014/
And, Some of the Veterans
No WIA blog post would be complete without a mention of our veteran attendees and members of the greater PW family. I’ll give special mention to the folks who wrote follow-up posts (or videos or podcasts):
Matt Vanderlist – http://mattsbasementworkshop.com/woodworkinginamerica2014picturealbum/
Tom Iovino – http://tomsworkbench.com/2014/09/15/it-was-so-social/
The MWA crew – http://www.modernwoodworkersassociation.com/ (WIA podcast coming soon, I’m told.)
David Picciuto – http://drunkenwoodworker.com/weekly-woodworking-wrap-review-37
Mary May – http://www.marymaycarving.com/blog/2014/09/15/settling-back-wia/
Thanks again to everyone who attended!
–Dan Farnbach
p.s. – Did you miss out on the big show this year? Buy a copy of our “WIA Value Pack,” which features a lot of the presenters from the conference, and is the next best thing! Stay tuned to your e-mail inbox for an announcement of the pack’s availability in our store.
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
I am a North Carolina Woodworker. We had so much fun! It was a privilege to be there!