The Open Day

There is another tomorrow (Saturday), so if you missed out today and are in the area (city, state), then it isn’t too late!

There was certainly a good turnout of people, and the atmosphere was much more relaxed than any wood show.  Plenty of things to see, and be tempted by too.  I left with a couple of different pen mechanisms – try my hand at a wooden pen that isn’t a slimline!

Got to see the brand new Incra 1000HD Mitre Gauge for the first time, and a whole stack more besides.

Got to run into a number of readers of this blog too, so gidday to all those I met (and to any I missed!)

Finally got a sausage after all the other woodworkers kept scoffing them (and the great BBQ fire which resulted in fire extinguisher powder covering a good portion of the entrance, and the breaking out of the electric frypans for the remaining bangers!)

Tools, Tools and more Tools (and a few people!)

Turning Demonstration

Picked up even more hints about turning, and part duplication. You can never see too many expert presentations.

UBeaut

Neil Ellis (in black) bestowing more great finishing wisdom.

PWS

Professional Woodworkers Supplies, with a large range of all things Incra, Woodpeckers, Wixey, and the rest.

Carrolls

A large range of products (with a significant emphasis on turning), bought along by Carroll’s Woodcraft Supplies

Smile!

A rather shy Michelle from Woodworking Warehouse, and I didn’t get introduced to the bloke next to her!  Think he was demonstrating something there, which is a shame – always looking for stuff to show you on here 🙂

Tormek’s importers were there as well, sharpening away.

So all up a good day’s visit and worth a gander (and a shop) if you have half a mind to.

May you live in interesting times

At the Open Day today (separate post to come, with photos), I heard that yet another Managing Director of an Australian tool company had moved on, which would make at least 4, if not 5 that I’ve heard about directly in the past 12 months.

It made me really wonder (and given the recent news highlighting CEO’s of Australian companies in general), just how often this normally happens, and if my recent(ish) contacts made that have since changed is the norm, or just the current state of play.

To quote Terry Prachett: “May you live in interesting times”, which is a saying (and regarded as a curse) from “Interesting Times” (or was it “The Fifth Elephant”?)

Hmm – total aside.  Whenever I think of that book, I can’t help but remember the last person I knew who was reading it. I headed over to Egypt about 10 years ago to have a look around, and dive in the Red Sea (lots of history under those waves – lots of shipwrecks).  To cut a long story short, a girl on that dive boat (we were living onboard) and her fiance were reading that book, and during one fateful dive, she suffered bends from being taken diving in too rough a condition for a beginner/trainee diver.  A number of us were old hands and were off on a different reef, and got back onboard to find her unconscious and getting CPR. (She’d suffered a brain embolism).  We spent 4 hours in very rough conditions doing 2 person CPR as we tried to get the boat back to port. CPR is not as easy as you’d imagine from the movies and training fwiw, let alone in a high sea state.  There wasn’t a happy ending to the story, but I can’t ever even think of the title of that book (or the movie it was a light parady on) without remembering that day (and evening).