Polthaus Workshop: Talent Show

Last weekend (January 6-8) at the Maryland State Fairgrounds there was a Bridal Expo!! But the entry fee was $15. So, I went next door to "The Woodworking Shows" expo where the entrance fee was only $12 and with my handy dandy $2 off coupon I snuck in for a mere $10..."winner, winner, chicken dinner."

Due to some family stuff on Saturday I couldn't make it to the show until Sunday, but fortunately all the vendors were still there. I was a little disappointed, however, because I missed Tommy MacDonald's seminar which was on Saturday, but I did get to catch several other great seminars throughout the day on Sunday.

The venue was slightly smaller than I had expected, but, it was chock full of great vendors, presentations, displays and demonstrations. I was also really happy to see a lot of local groups, clubs, schools and businesses in the mix. Sometimes when you go to a venue like this one, it consists of a lot of big name tool manufacturers and only one or two local guys, but this show had a bunch of businesses from in and around the Maryland area which was great to see!

It seems like an obvious formula that more traveling expos should follow:
Local Guys / (Vendors + Demonstrators) + Big Vendors With New Stuff + Famous Names Giving Seminars = Me Happy To Give You My $10 For Entrance!

I have all of these photos and more that I took at the show on a slideshow at Flikr here:
Polthaus Workshop Flikr

Once I parked my car and started walking down to the show, I could hear the WoodMizer guys firing up their demonstration machines so I stopped over to take a look. As always with these demos, I immediately tried to figure out which kidney I like the least because I NEED one of these machines! They also had an edger demo set up inside for edging flitches in the field, what a great idea!

WoodMizer

WoodMizer wasn't the only show on the road here with respect to raw lumber milling. There were several other independent makers at the show, and one of the better looking machines, at least in my opinion (and very affordable), was the one below from Lumber Smith which is out of Virginia.

Lumber Smith Portable Sawmill

Upon entering, the vendor space the first booth was the "Lee Valley / Veritas" display which immediately wet my appetite for the rest of the show. The vast majority of the other vendors focused on power tools and accessories but I could definitely tell that there is an increasing trend for people to turn back to hand powered tools. There was even an excellent clinic given by Mr. Bob Settich on building a wooden hand plane.

Lee Valley Veritas Booth

Nice Rack!

I had a lovely salad and a large cucumber water for lunch! At least that's what I told my wife when she asked what kind of food they had to offer...

Mr. Settich Giving A Seminar On Building Handplanes

Set For Tommy MacDonald, Star Of APTs "Rough Cut"

There were numerous TV and DVD stars at this show giving presentations on tool use, woodworking tips, process demonstrations and plenty of question and answer sessions. I was really impressed with the amount of information available and the quality of the presentations that were given.