I spent most of Handworks in my booth. That means I didn't see most of the show, which is a shame, as I'm told it's was really, really fantastic. To be fair, I did get to walk through the tent, which was really nice, and the bathroom, which was essential. But I missed tons. Such is the life of a vendor. We showed a prototype of our treadle lathe for the first time, and if we had some for sale, we would have gone home empty-handed. Alan Dorsey, a Brooklyn-based furniture-maker and turner, came to the show with us to demonstrate the lathe, and we had a continuous stream of testers who gave us such valuable feedback. As it turns out, on Friday the lathe was wobbling a bit. (I had forgotten to check if both folding hinges were tight - one wasn't). And then the treadle drive bar that should have been welded in place but wasn't because we don't have welding equipment here, broke. Fortunately after a panicked call to our most wonderful hosts, Jameel and Father John, a friend of theirs, the most generous and skilled Jason,volunteered to take the two bits back to his shop and weld them together. He did so brilliantly, and the lathe on Saturday worked better than ever. Jason, we are forever in your debt.
Since I don't really get a chance to see the show (even less than last time), the high point is meeting you. I happen to be bad with recall of names and faces, but I really enjoyed meeting and finding out more about the people I spoke with -- and most of all feeling their enthusiasm. Since I barely saw anything, my pictures below are pretty sparse, but the picture above, of Roy Underhill's keynote speech, captures a little of the enthusiasm of the crowd. If you like the picture, or were at the show and can find yourself in the crowd, feel free do download a high res version for printing or screen saving.
Konrad Sauer of Sauer & Steiner, maker of possibly the finest metal planes ever, had the booth to our right Matt Bickford, another in the first rank of modern planemakers, had the booth to the right of us Patrick Leach of the The Superior Works had a booth across the barn from us Alan Dorsey getting ready to demo the lathe for about 7 hours The lathe was pretty much always had a crowd either staring at it or trying it out Roy Underhill testing out the lathe and giving us some really important suggestions
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09/06/2023 Morgan Holt
Joel, thanks for your post, but what did the rest of your booth look like?
09/06/2023 Jesse Griggs
i happened to be at the booth when the lathe broke. I'm so glad you got it fixed! my 2 boys were with me and we managed to sneak a photo with Roy. Great fun watching him try it out and crawl under it trouble shooting! in a previous post, you mentioned the lathe breaks down for storage and occasional use in an apartment. i would love to see a real time video of setup and tear down.
i enjoyed handworks. it was my first one. i have only 2 regrets: 1) i wish I'd brought along my copy of jointer and cabinet maker to get you and Chris to sign it. 2) i didn't get to try the treadle lathe.
09/06/2023 Esther Heller
The rest of the booth spent most of the time crowded by people admiring the lathe but they did have other stuff. I scarfed two books of Joel's from the '80's, make paper models of a steam (breath) engine and a clock....
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i enjoyed handworks. it was my first one. i have only 2 regrets: 1) i wish I'd brought along my copy of jointer and cabinet maker to get you and Chris to sign it. 2) i didn't get to try the treadle lathe.