Perth Woodshow

[Driver]

Went to the Show today and met up with Derek, Pete J and Craig (forunna). We had a bit of lunch and a yarn. Very pleasant.

The Show itself was a bit of a curate's egg - good in parts.

The good bits:

- Terry Gordon. Stopped and had a chat with him. Good bloke. I've already got a couple of his planes so I'm a fan. I bought a superb Adria tenon saw from him. Not cheap but very good gear.

- The Hand Tools Preservation Society stand. A real mixture of gear. I bought a very nice little Stanley brace. It's got a short-throw crank. I'll give it a bit of a clean up and I reckon it'll be a treat to use. I also bought an old Stanley #4. I've got a new version of this plane that I've tuned, fettled and re-fitted with new handles and irons so I don't really need another #4 but this one was obviously looking for a good home so it would have been less than kind not to bring it back to my place.

-Carba-Tec and Timbecon had a raft of gear at Show-discounted prices. Could have spent a lot of money but I resisted manfully. Bought a Veritas striking knife.

- Some very well conceived and beautifully executed work. There was a really well designed, superbly made wine storage cupboard. A very elegant chair that made me envious of the skill it displayed. A couple of the items in the Women in Woodworking (don't think I got the name quite right ) were also really well done.

The not so good bits:

- Loads of really crappy tools. Even Bunnies wouldn't sell some of this rubbish.

- Some of the woodwork on show was disappointing. Poorly made and unimaginative.

- Some of the woodwork on show was just cr@p. Pretentious, self-consciously smart@rse designs.

On the whole, however, the Show was well worth a visit. It's good to see woodwork well supported.

Now I've got to actually make something with my new tools!

Col

[leighd]

i saw some of the furniture there aswell and i liked some of the cabinets but then i looked behind them and some just stapled a piece of stained ply on the back.

[forunna]

Ive finaly put some faces to some names.
Gday again Col. Pete and Derek.
I was a bit overwhelmed by all the powertools. Actually seeing them working and the various Jigs benig used. Those thicknessers can be bloody noisy.
I loved the carving, I might actually get interested in that eventually.
I want a bandsaw, a drill press, a bench saw, a heap of jigs .......
I think I could get to like planes too. I had no idea of the variety in sizes and designs and Im sure I'm going to win one. )
I got a kick out of the model boats too.

[vsquizz]

Yep, Good onya guys. I went yesterday and low and behold, today I blew the a*se out of the drive in my cordless drill . Murphy's a Pr*ck. Raced over to a mates place and gave him a pile of cash this evening with instructions to get me something decent when he's at the show tomorrow. Could have done without that seeing as I have 42 metres of fence to tech screw next week.:mad:

Wonder what I'll end up with???

BTW it was a GMC
Serves me right for buying cheap crap .

Cheers from the cordless drill lotto

[Turbulance]

What about your 2 year warranty? Didn't keep your receipt did you?

[vsquizz]

Paul, the bloody warranty expired about 3 weeks ago, just after I was telling everybody how well it was doing for a $100 drill/driver. I guess I gave it the Bill Lawry.

[derekcohen]

The Perth Woodworking Show ... a bit of a let down this year for me. Not really sure why. There were a few highlights. Met up with Colin Webb (Driver), Peter (McHugh) and Craig (Forunna). See the picture below.

One highlight for me was chatting with Terry Gordon (of HNT Gordon planes). He is also now selling Adria saws, which I had a chance to try. Very nice indeed. If I did not already have the LN Independence dovetail saw, I'd buy the Adria version like a shot. Later that afternoon I sharpened up a couple of blades on a newly-acquired-at-Show-waterstone (inspired by Terry, I just had to see if I could also slice end grain on my shooting board with the Try Plane. By George I could!).

By and large I found the Show to be the same old same old. Ho Hum ... Nothing very inspiring. Only exception was the Hand Tools Preservation Society display of vintage planes. Just superb! However I cannot say the same for the vintage tools on sale. More like a garage sale of second raters. Col did, however, manage to find a couple of good purchases, including a 5" throw Stanley brace that I would have bought had I seen it first. Damn his eyes!

Regards from Perth

Derek

Picture: Left to right - Craig, Peter, Col, Derek

[gatiep]

When I left yesterday arvo there was a WANTED poster up by the exit with very similar looking guys on. I'm sure the ransom was a LN plane. Dunno, maybe I got it wrong.

Have a good day guys, guess you have some toys to try out!

[Driver]

. . . today I blew the a*se out of the drive in my cordless drill . Serves me right for buying cheap crap .

Cheers from the cordless drill lotto

Squizzy

If it's of any interest - I called in at Bunnies Balcatta on the way home from the Show yesterday. They were selling 14 volt cordless drills for $16.95. I nearly bought one but I've already got 3 cordless drills so I restrained myself.

Col

[vsquizz]

Col, I truly admire your self restraint but its no more cheapies for this little duck. Have to go daughters 4 th B/day and I'll get shot if I get sprung on the computer.

[smidsy]

I went Friday and I must say that I was rather disapointed. I scored some long driver bits (I could have bought more but I have two complete dewalt sets and only needed the long ones) that were about the only bargain I could see.
I bought a pen mill from the Carbatec stand because I needed one and it was convenient to get it while I was there but from what I could see both Timbecon and Carbatec were selling stuff at shop prices - I know the pen mill I bought was standard catalogue price.

The milling displays outside were interesting but I could have seen them without paying $12.
Cheers
Paul

[rodm]

"but its no more cheapies for this little duck"

Squizzy,

Been down that road and the replacement batteries are $90 each - repacked not genuine.
Might be worth a rethink if you got two years out of a GMC.

[John Saxton]

Got there early Friday to check out the Tool Preservation folk to see what they had on the table,lotsa goodies but kept the Visa constrained.

Mike at MIK relieved me of a few $$$ on some Japanese dovetail chisels and Forward Tools also managed to relieve me of some of my precious earnings on a couple of Mujingfang planes that they had there and which I thought could offer some hand held assistance within my work.

Went Back Saturday moreso for some of the discussions on topics that remain an interest to me and were held in that section well away from the annoyingly loud Triton tool section close to the entrance.
Had a look at some of the furniture on display primarily exhibited by school students amidst some of the better exhibits and admired the effort on both parts, as some of the students I feel also displayed (PERHAPS UNDER BETTER TUTELAGE) a better understanding of wood and it's uses than I did at the same age.

I felt that the wood show whist fuller in content across the medium still fails in allowing an area where tools could be trialled by the purchaser ...perhaps because of insurance limitations on both the exhibitor and organiser that may never occur from now on.
I spoke to a couple of Eastern State folk that I have been on some familiar ground with over the years and they believe it is still worth the effort to have Staff etc over here for the 3 days irrespective of the distance and costs involved to show their wares.

I will go back again next year as always initially on the basis of curiosity with tightly clenched Visa

Cheers

[vsquizz]

Rod, wanna buy a coupla GMC 18v batteries cheeep??

I had a Metabo 9.6v which did 11 years with some 3 years of that as trade (& 1 extra batt). My mate who went (WW show) today rang to tell me he picked me up the Metabo 12v, 2 batt, 1 hr charger, case and a bonus thingy (whatever) all for $259. The math is pretty self explanatory if I get the same run out of this Metabo especially with the 3 year warranty.

I should'nt bag the GMC as it was only something I grabbed at short notice and although gutless it did a lot of work...but its still cheap crap

For What Its Worth: My summary of the above threads WRT to the show was that a lot of sales people could learn from Terry Gordon's example. Whilst I was at the stand he passed the foreplane and shooting board across the bench so I could give it a go (and display my ineptitude). Try before you buy, now thats a unique concept.


Cheers

[stevepay]

I agree that Terry is an excellent presentor, after demonstrating one of his planes for us he asked if anyone wanted to have a go with it or any of his planes. this is the mark of someone who is really confident of his gear and was much appreciated.

I walked away with a new shoulder plane and a beautiful shooting board, I already have a shooting board but his angled one made mine look like firewood.

almost a shame to use it, might scratch it!

great day overall, I highly recommend going on the Friday...took the day off work and had a ball. no pressure and the crowds were smaller than on the weekend.

regards

steve