Did anyone go to this, 2016 or prior years?   I don't recall much discussion on WOOD Forums prior to Aug 30.  I had thought about doing it some time, but with the move this year, that was not a good choice.   Feedback?   Value?

 

Guess I should say I went to Woodworking in America a couple of years ago and was unimpressed.   It's a lot closer (12 miles at the time).

Edited September 13, 20169 yr by kmealy

I have always wanted to go to it - bit of a trip for me here on the west coast. I would like to hear what the others have to say that have gone to it.

I'm of the thought, that if any woodworking show or demo is within 12 miles of my home, what are you waiting for! Heck ya! Go! Sounds fun to me. 

Seems to me like Matt went to one a couple of years back.

I have attended the Woodworking Shows for the past five years and find it very interesting and informative. The closest to me is West Springfield, MA a 200 mi round trip but well worth it. The bandsaw demo by Alex Snodgrass from Carter Products is worth the trip.

I use to go to the one when they had it in Fort Worth which was a 260 mile round trip but then they moved it to Dallas and I decided it wasn't worth the extra 60 miles back and forth through all those mountains.

  I think we went five years but don't know who the sponsors were. Could have been a group from China.

 

Wife use to hunt deer in those mountains all the time.

 

It cost more to park than a ticket to get in.

8 hours ago, kmealy said:

 

Did anyone go to this, 2016 or prior years?   I don't recall much discussion on WOOD Forums prior to Aug 30.  I had thought about doing it some time, but with the move this year, that was not a good choice.   Feedback?   Value?

 

 

5 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis, Jr said:

Seems to me like Matt went to one a couple of years back.

Keith, Fred is correct...in fact I believe Matt was there this year too but not as a participant...on behalf of Wood. Before the lights went out at the Wood forum, there were a couple of guys there that posted who had attended. Unfortunately can't recall whom. You might PM Matt for his take.

Keith, as I recall from the WOOD forum discussions, the fellows who went felt that they got good value for their money.

I have gone to the Woodworking Show at the state fairgrounds(Voinovich Building) when I lived near Columbus. Weekend with Wood is not like that show, as I understand. Not as commercially oriented.

I am considering visiting WIA in Covington, Ky., on Friday as it's only about 60 miles away, but my schedule is getting tighter by the minute at this point. I expect to be a trade show, primarily.

 

Dave

 

The Woodworking Shows, IMO, are basically a sales show, with enough little presentations to draw people.   I remember when these shows (and my woodworking career) started about 30 years ago.   They were so full, it was hard to move, even on Friday.  Now, often an hour or two before closing, they are nearly empty.  There are a few regular vendors representing the name-brand iron, but often it's more of the Veg-a-Matic geegaws.  Of course, this was before internet shopping, Rockler and Woodcraft were few and far between, and at least in my area, any of the big-box home centers.  So your choices were Sears and if you were lucky some industrial suppliers or regional lumberyard/hardware stores.

 

WIA has a sales area (can get admission to this by itself), but also has a lot of classes.   To the best of my knowledge, they are all lecture-style, nothing hands on and rarely even demos.

I attended WWW in Des Moines the past two years and am already making plans for the 2017 event.  This event is nothing like the traveling Woodworking Shows which are all about selling products.  Although there have been two or three vendors at the WWW event to demo their products, it's really all about the education.  WWW is held at the Wood Magazine headquarters and they have a number of "class rooms" setup for the instructors,  Each person signs up for which sessions they want to attend and there is quite an array of topics.  The instructors are great.  Jim Heavey, George Vondriska, Mark Adams, John Olsen (Wood staff) and a slew of others.  In addition, you will get a tour of the Wood Magazine shop where all the items that appear in the magazine are built and get to see the items up close.  More than happy to answer any questions you may have.  -Wil

I saw the Snodgrass YouTube video and learned a lot.  I wonder how many of the other presentations might be available on line?  Seems to save on gas.

1 hour ago, Wil said:

 More than happy to answer any questions you may have.  -Wil

What are class sizes and are any of them "hands-on"?

The class size varied quite a bit based on the subject matter and the topic.  I didn't do a head count, but would guess my smallest class was around 10 and the larger was close to 25 or so (a Mark Adams workshop).  Each classroom did have a video person assigned that worked a camera to display close up shots/video of what was going on.   Nothing was hands-on for the participants.  The instructor did live demos of what was being presented.  

For the 2016 session we did do a charity build on Friday night that was hands-on and fun.  All those that wanted to participate were split into teams of 4-5 and were given all the materials and tools to build the book nooks that were on recent cover of Wood.  These were then donated to an Iowa literacy group (sorry, don't remember the name).  Wood provided food, drink and all the tools and once the event was over the tools were raffled off to the participants (everyone walked away with a tool; I got a Rigid rechargeable drill).    

On Saturday evening they loaded us up on buses and took us over to Acme Tools there in Des Moines.  Once there, they provided food and drink and had special offers on tools along with a couple demos.  Dinner provided at a tool store?  Don't get much better....