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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Indy Woodworking Show

I went down to the Woodworking show going on at the Indiana State Fairgrounds down in Indianapolis today. It was the first time I've attended the event and I was really pleased with the amount of vendors there, the wide array of demonstrations going on, and just all the good people willing stop and take time to answer questions an average Joe such as myself would have.

There were several local interest groups represented as well. The Indiana chapter of the American Association of Woodturners was present and demonstrating the craft. And the gentleman I talked with was very helpful, friendly and informative concerning my questions toward turning, green wood and gouge sharpening techniques. More information from them can be found here:
Central Indiana Chapter of the American Association of Woodturners

My wallet didn't make it away unscathed, even though I'm being very careful of my spending these days due to considerable efforts being placed to becoming debt free in the next few years. Of course I justified the purchased (for tools) as something that would bring me more money than they cost me, so I'll have to get busy in the shop and make sure I hold myself accountable to that train of thought and get myself busy. I've been aching to try my hand at bowl turning to branch out from the pen turning I've been doing for a year & a half roughly, so I have no excused to try now. I have blanks. I have a bowl gouge and scraper. And although I don't have one those cool chuck everyone uses these days, I do have the trusty old turning faceplates for my fully restored 1954 ShopSmith and I'm familiar with the technique of gluing the blanks to screw-block for the turning, So I may be bare-bones on my tooling but I've got the basics, so I have no excuses not to jump in and get my feet wet with this process. I think it's going to be fun!

So I came away from the show a little lighter in the wallet, but with a rewarding feeling, from not only the things I acquired, but the people I met and friends I bumped into. It's going on again tomorrow and I encourage all interested parites to go!
3/23/2010 - edited to correct a misspelling I noticed

Saturday, January 16, 2010

International Association of Pen Turners

I attended a meeting of the local Indiana chapter of the I.A.P. A great bunch of guys with a wealth of knowledge to share. Hopefully I can meet up with them more in the future and share more knowledge and experiences. See some of the stuff they do at IAP website

Saturday, January 9, 2010

New Items for the New Year

I'm doing some homework and gathering ideas for the new year.

I expect to add lots of new and exciting pens to the line up, but I'm also looking in to branching out in to new areas of wood turning: Bowls, plates, vases and other vessels, who knows! Anyone have something in particular they'd like to see?

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A Comparison

A Comparison
Various Pen styles and their comparitive sizes