DOC Shop Crawl - November 2009

[Bas]

I can't believe there is no posting yet on the DOC shop crawl! Bunch o'slackers.

I really enjoyed the DOC crawl. The weather was great, and each shop had something unique.

• Bob's shop was a model in efficient storage, and his lathe with tool stand took center stage.
• Dan's shop was the poster child for shop-in-reorg, I loved the layout graph you made so we could all brainstorm. And the tiled table you made looked even better in person than from your pictures.
• George ("Father of Froglips") showed off some amazing bowls, and the custom designed lathe was _very_ impressive. We even got a demo with George hogging off some wood.
• David built a very slick mechanized adjustable height assembly table with torsion box top. We then got a tour of some absolutely gorgeous furniture - the new dining room table, the bed featured in last year's calendar, the coffee table and TV stand. Each piece features like 6,000 angles tapered sliding wedged pinned variable spaced bridled dovetails.
• John shared with us his woodworking journey on adopting only hand tools. His roubo bench, steam box and spring pole lathes were very impressive, and his humor and modesty had us all entertained. And more wood was hogged off, this time off a mahogany bed post
• Finally, we went to Amy's shop. If you've seen Travis' shop, it's kind of like that, but organized :mrgreen:. Amy has a SERIOUS wood fetish. I think she already has more lumber she can use up in a lifetime. She showed some fantastic work-in-progress, with banding on the legs, dovetails, etc. She's been hanging around David too much, obviously.

The food was excellent, the company was fantastic, and the turnout was better than I had expected - this is definitely a "growing" thing. I also got rid of two boxes of drawer slides and some odds-and-ends, and Brian delivered a slew of the dado stacks. Thanks again Brian. Definitely worthy of the Surpise Santa award.

Finally, I want to thank all the hosts for opening their shops and letting two dozen people or so trample through. And of course, Mr Froglips himself, for all his organization. :kermit:

I'll post pictures tomorrow. Been a long day.

 

[ScottM]

I had such a great time. Lots of wonderful shops and great company. I could not think of a better way to spend a day. Not only did the hosts open up their shops but they also opened up their homes to show us amazing examples of fine woodworking.

Froglips...Thanks

 

[woodArtz]

Thanks to everyone! It was a great day of woodworker fellowship. If you've never been to a shop crawl... these things are a blast from start to finish. The new ideas, the humor, the workmanship or workwomenship, the tips, the layouts, the food, the drive through the NC countryside, the U-turns, the humor :wink_smil, the wood, the tools, the pictures, all make for a very memorable day. NC Woodworker at it's finest!

 

[Bas]

For some reason, my video of Bob's turning didn't come through. Here's John demonstrating the Frankenpole lathe:

[youtube]IoxdmXYHiNg[/youtube]

and George demonstrating the Frankensandbag lathe:

[youtube]QTNOmRvHzhc[/youtube]

Next year, I'll see if I can bring a real video camera.

 

[Trent Mason]

Wow! Cool! :eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

 

[froglips]

Just a quick note, pictures have started to roll in (or load up as we say in computerland)!

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?cat=1775

Lots of great stuff to come!

Jim

 

[Douglas Robinson]

I have posted a lot of pics in the gallery.

 

[peteb301]

BAS - Excellent review !!!
MANY, MANY thanks to Jim - froglips for the many hours in communicating, setup and guidance for this excellent crawl. Fantastic job !!!!
Also Thanks to all the folks that opened thier shops and homes to us crawlers. GREAT to meet so many North Carolina Woodworker'ers for many parts of this great state.
Thanks also to Dennis - Gotchas6 for the name tags - Made it easier in putting names to faces.
And lastly, thanks to bluthart for the excellent deal on the Sapele. I planed one piece this AM and its great , lots of color and grain.

 

[Gotcha6]

Ed and I agree it was a great day. :thumbs_up We were so excited and conversant going home we forgot to watch our route and ended up with a 'navigational alteration' going back through Sanford, Carthage, and Albemarle instead of Asheboro & Mount Pleasant as we planned.:BangHead::BangHead: We didn't care.
Thanks to all the hosts for their forbearance, Jim for excelling at the title of 'Cat Herder' and to the members who participated. I'm uploading more pics as I post.
Ed, I hope I didn't keep ya out too late. Vicki might not let ya go with me anymore if I did. :gar-La;
Bas, your accent isn't quite as obvious on the website. :gar-Bi
Jim, help your dad stay busy. That's the key to avoiding senility, I believe.
Doug, good luck with the biking.:thumbs_up
Amy, don't worry. If anything ever happens to your husband (God forbid), there's plenty of guys here that'll be knockin' on ya door. :gar-Bi

 

[Trent Mason]

Just checked out the photo gallery for the Shop Crawl and man, I WISH I could've been there. Looks like it was such a great time. Really impressive shops and work. :thumbs_up:thumbs_up The demo concept is really cool to me to. Don't get me wrong, I like checking out people's shops and talking tools, but it's really cool to learn something about the use of a tool/technique. Super cool idea. :thumbs_up:thumbs_up Lastly, I'd like to say that when I grow up, I want a shop like Amy's.

 

[nelsone]

It was a great time indeed! I was quite impressed with all of the shops. The lathes, (all of them) were impressive.

George's bowl lathe.... well, all i can say is he has a special son to make that for him!!!

John's shop was way cool. I don't think I have the patience to go completely neander, but I can respect those that do!

Bob, you are waaaay too organized!

Dan, your shop isn't too different from mine (works in progress!), but you certainly have the capability and ability to do some great work! I really liked that tile top table!

David, you're lift table is great!!! Very ingenious! The projects you have made were great online, but are much better in person! You are quite a craftsman.

Amy, well like I said, I'm a wee bit jealous. Great shop you have put together and excellent craftsmanship on that sideboard! Can't wait to see the finished project. That top will be spectacular!

Mr. Cat Herder (Jim) did a great job!

Like Dennis said, we had quite a conversation on the way home. We were having so much fun we decided to take a longer route to discuss it further!:wink_smil (No worries Dennis, Vickie was fine!)

I'll look forward to attending the next one!

 

[froglips]

I'm so happy to hear how much fun everyone had!

Got a bunch of post-crawl things to work on before I write a heartfelt thanks.

We are up to 109 pictures, and tonight I'm picking up a dvd full of even more!!!

The Gallery is here: http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?cat=1775

Stay tuned.......

Jim

 

[froglips]

Ok, I got my ducks (and cats) all in a row, now I can sit back and say WOW! This Crawl couldn't have been better if I planned it myself....... :gar-Bi

Let me lead in by saying thank you to the wonderful Shop Hosts. Bob (and Jackie), Dan, George, David, John and Amy.

I had the pleasure of working with all the Hosts during the planning. As you'd suspect, there was quite a bit of back and forth getting ready. They were so patient with me and always excited. It made my job fun.

Dennis volunteered to continue his wonderful name tag tradition. For those who got them, hang onto them. They are coveted badges of Shop Crawl honor. Dennis also was one of our lead "Designated Photographers". He took many of the Shop Host and Group shots.

While talking shutter bugs, Ed, Dan and Pete all were part of the Paparazzi pool, thanks!

Thanks to Scott Miller for pulling together the NCWWer hats and bumper stickers. We presented each Shop Host with a hat as a thank you.

Herding cats into cars is a tough job, but Chad did a great job. This crawl had the best vehicular occupancy rate we've had to date!

I want to pay special thanks to Bob and his wife Jackie. In addition to being Shop Hosts, they also helped with the Breakfast. This included extra tables, tents, tablecloths and more. I really appreciate the extra effort they put forth.

Ending the crawl is also a big job. In addition to hosting her amazing shop, she also hosted the Lumber Run, Trunk Sale and Dinner and of course, the Last Shop Beer tradition. I wonder if at some point she dreaded seeing my email.... "What's he gonna add this time!". I thank you for being such a joy to work with!

We had wood. Lots of great wood! Thanks to Brian for his great selection and those dado blade sets. Big thanks goes to Scott Smith for his trailer-o-wood. You know you are in the right place when people crawl over your wood stash with flashlights!!

The Trunk Sale was fun. Some folks got some great deals and unloaded some stuff too!

As promised, we had $11 extra in the Breakfast cash box, so I donated it to the NCWWer.

We've got more pictures in the Gallery, now mostly sorted and titled. We also have tweaked the Slideshow so it no longer has all the extraneous stuff, just the picture show.

If you are interested in a DOC Shop Crawl 2009 Souvenir Ruler, the order form is up and I'll post an announcement shortly.

Lastly and not leastly, thanks to everyone who attended (who we affectionately refer to as Crawlers). It was wonderful to see so many old friends and make new ones.

It can't be said enough, this is a great bunch of people. The excitement and the reverence shown at each shop speaks volumes about you.

So, who's ready for the first Crawl of 2010!!!!

Sincerely,
Jim

 

[Bryan S]

It looks like there was a great time had by all. There was sure no lack of pics, I need an afternoon to go through them. :icon_thum