Harrogate

[p111dom]

Humm. Just got back and a little dissapointed. Went for some Ashley Iles Mk2 chisels and to check out the new Veritas dovetail saw. On the Iles stand there's only some to view not for sale. They say they've completely sold their stocks for both UK and US markets. Classic Hand Tools also didn't have the saw. Got what I thought was a good deal on a new Freud blade for the table saw, 40t 250mm for £22. Also got a Veritas marking gauge for £10 which was pretty good. Other than than losts of small demos within the seperate stands but no set asside demo area like they have at the SECC show. Spoke to Nick Gibbs who had a stand there. Must be costing him a pretty penny so hope he makes the outlay back. Took up a slight problem with Festool and got no where :roll: . Coolest things there, a guy selling a kit to draw straight lines freehand. Sounds weird but it worked really well. I was tempted but at £20 a little pricey for something of a gimmick. I was also in the marked for a Jet bobbin sander but they wern't there. Saw a cheap Woodstar bobbin sander that I hadn't seen before. No tilt and very loud when compared to the SIP but comes with 6 bobbins. It's totally enclosed so extraction should be better and at £99 seemed like a good deal. I'm ashamed to say that brand snobbery was the only thing that stopped me from buying it. I'll look for reviews but it's probably the closest replacement for the well respected Delta BOSS sander which I really liked. Cast iron top and plastic base. Getting there and back parking wise wasn't too bad compared to what I've heard and it was free which beats the extortionate £5 or so they charge in Glasgow. It is a bit of a walk though. Other than that it was pretty much like every other woodworking show I've been to. Turning, turning, turning and more turning. It still won't put me off attending the show in March at the SECC. I just hope there's a little more variety and a bit more space afforded for propper structured demos of both skills and machinery.

 

[Doug B]

Have to agree with you Dom.
I to was after the new Veritas dovetail saw, i was told they were promised 8, but they hadn`t turned up. Can`t believe they thought they`d only sell 8 at a 3 day show.
I also wanted some Bessy clamps, & even though it was the first day of the show they had neither the 300mm or 400mm size of the clamps i wanted.
Having said that i enjoyed the show, some seated areas for demonstrating would have been nice as per the midland show.
I got a bargain on an invertor from Transwave, the guy was very knowledgable & helpful. Also got a making knife & burnisher from crown tools, both for £11 which was cheaper than buying one of either from anyone else i saw.

 

[p111dom]

I looked at the crown stuff but hadn't heard of them. Looked at one of their dovetail saws at £27 but compared to the PAX one near the Sorby stand it looked a bit ropey. Also considered thier flush trimming saw. The veritas one I have is just about shot. The deals on the bessey stand weren't that brilliant and when I buy some it usually ammounts to a few hunderd £ and the vat decrease on monday will do about the same discount as they were offering. Interestingly I saw all the Crown stuff at John Boddys just after the show. The flush trim saw was £7 at the show and £8.50 ish at the shop so I think the discount was reasonable in retrospect. I also wanted a marking knife but forgot about that one too. :roll: The Festool guy says all their prices are going up across their range by 10% from December. So much for deflation! I also looked at the Leigh M&T jig but that's gone up from £450 inc vat the last time I saw it to £599. :shock: I Also got a good demo of vacuum pressing with a new framed set up but at £2k thats obviously too much for the hobbyist. However their starting set was about £450 which again seems like a lot. After all it's just a compressor with the pipe connected to the inlet. I wonder if I could modify connectoers to do the same with my compressor. I've heard of people using those vacuum storage bags for this but seeing the propper ones in the flesh has highlighted just how much thicker the real deal ones are. At £75 for a 4 foot square bag it's tempting to try the compressor adjustment and have a go. After all, once the air is out the compressor is redundant. The only other thing I was after was push block and again, I couldn't find any.

 

[Doug B]

I was quite impressed with the Crown stuff for the price, though the dovetail saw was a little top heavy with a large brass back.
The marking knife was £4 one tenth of the price of the knife on Classic hand tools stand which looked too pretty to use.
As for the burnisher £7 was plenty IMO for what is a piece of steel set in a handle.,

 

[Ironballs]

Spent quite a bit of time there today, but I was doing my duty on the Leeds College stand for a bit. Pretty similar to last year but there were plenty of deals to be had, CHT had 10% off (which I took advantage of...) and I also got a tenner off a nice plane from the boys over at Clifton - I will of course debut this in the hand tool gloatage section. 35 quid for an 80T 250mm Freud blade is also pretty good value if you ask me.

Had a chat with the chap carving the Chippendale ribband chair, very interesting and some impressive carving too - resisted the temptation to tell him his M&T joints needed tightening up :wink:

The big thing for me this year though was that I was also there representing the college (briefly) and that they were showing the table I had made. I've never displayed a piece before (never had anything worth showing) and the feeling of pride when people come up to admire it and ask you about it is something else. I think I was beaming from ear to ear when folks popped open the drawers to check the workmanship and take photos of the dovetails - would have been an even bigger smile if they hadn't kept opening the drawer that sticks a little

 

[mailee]

Just got back from this and had a pleasant day. Had a quick chat To Nick Gibbs on his stand. I think it was Terry? on the Chestnut stand but he was busy so didn't disturb him. Bought a nice new 12" 24T Freud blade for my table saw for £35 and a set of hinge drills to replace my broken ones. I did find too many stands on turning but not enough of anything else really. Still had a good day there.

 

[p111dom]

I was looking for hinge drills too but couldn't find any.

 

[Nick Gibbs]

Thanks to everyone who came up to say hi at Harrogate. Back home now!!! I was encouraged by the enthusiasm for our new mag, Living Woods. Do email me if you want a free sample.

I had an email today from someone saying that the current issue of British Woodworking has some typos and errors. Many apologies to everyone if that's the case. I will try to resolve that for the next issue. Put them down to growing pains!!! The issue doesn't have as much technical content as I'd normally like, but I hope it raises some topics and is a good read.

Apologies again for the typos.

Cheers

Nick

 

[Rich]

It was a pleasant surprise to get the latest APTC catalogue as well.

Regards,

Rich.

 

[Ironballs]

Was good to see you Nick, though I didn't introduce myself - had a very tolerant but tired other half in tow. Could tell it was getting towards the end of a long day for you when I asked for the latest copy of the mag and if you asked if I was a subscriber

 

[psycho pyro]

Hi all hope you all had a great time at the show.
It wasn't Terry on the stand and were sorry we couldn't talk it was Mark the Chestnut demonstrator, although Mark says Terry may be the younger one but he thinks he's the better looking one!!!
It's OK Terry we all know different. :roll:

 

[p111dom]

Ironballs which table was yours? The semi circular one or the small rectangular one with the sweeping legs?

 

[Ironballs]

Ah, it didn't make it there till Sat and I think you went Friday. It wasn't the semi-circular one (that no one liked from the college!) and it wasn't the beautiful walnut hall/side table. The chap that made it had a very interesting technique for creating the circular hollow on top

 

[p111dom]

I see. I liked the hall table design but really liked the finish on the semi circular one and was wondering what it was.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

... liked the finish on the semi circular one and was wondering what it was.

Pre-catalysed lacquer applied with a spray gun.

If anything the finish might be a bit too thickly applied as pre-catalysed lacquers generally should be approximately 5 mils thick when fully cured. Thicker films than this crack as the film is too brittle to hold together due to differential shrinkage.

This means pre-cats are applied in two coats with each wet coat being between about 5 and 10 mils thick. When all the solvents have evaporated this means the dry film coating is the right ~5 mils thick.

Three coats of pre-catalysed lacquer is generally the limit; four or five coats and you're in trouble unless heavy cutting back is done between coats.