Hey! Suit! Put down the the blackberry, leave the platinum card in your pants, and for god’s sake wash off that damn body spray – you’re makin me squint. This ain’t no cocktail party, son. This place is diffrent
– Dem Brickton Chowles.
This weekend, I’m dragging my travel bench and spy case down to Popular Woodworking Magazine in Cincinnati for a Lie-Nielsen hand-tool event. If you’re within 4 states, you should be there too.
Need some incentive? Well, in addition to the Lie-Nielsen crew, the Pop Wood staff, and your humble narrator – both Dave Jeske of Blue Spruce Toolworks and Czeck Edge’s Bob Zajicek are setting up some of the nicest handtools available today. Plus, everyone’s favorite aesthetic anarchist, temporal anomaly, and all-around woodworking euphemism Chris Schwarz is bringing Lost Art Press out in public, and apparently selling off more of his personal tools. Come early if you want some – that’s a recipe for a WHO concert in my book.
Then there’s the furniture. Chuck Bender of the Acanthus Workshop and NOBSWW will be there – check out Chuck’s portfolio (the online version is about 5% of what’s in his hard-copy) if you want to be blinded by overexposure to awesome. Plus – if we’re lucky, the Ohio River Valley chapter of SAPFM will be in attendance as well. I’ve got to say, the folks from this group who showed up last year were awe-inspiring.
And if all that weren’t enough, everyone’s favorite woodworking pirate Deneb Puchalski will be demonstrating just about anything anyone could want to with handtools. Don’t forget to ask him what he’s got in his custom fanny pack (it’s just so darn convenient!)
In all seriousness, these shows are an amazing resource for the handtool community, and there’s nothing like a hard sell anywhere in sight. Buy stuff, don’t buy stuff; hang out for an hour or all weekend. Me? I’m bringing my wallet just in case – but it’s totally optional. The focus is on education and community.
These events are just one of the reasons that Lie-Nielsen gets nothing but my unbridled admiration. I think this is one of the smartest-run, and (yeah – I’ll say it) honorable companies I’ve ever seen. No matter how you slice it, Thomas Lie-Nielsen obviously cares about this stuff – and he’s found a way to blow his marketing dollars that makes sense for his company AND is a remarkable service to the handtool community as a whole.
As a jaded, hyper-cynical alumni of the marketing world, I have to say that this sort of approach
is rare. Really rare.
Still skeptical about a ‘business’ caring? Consider this: Lie-Nielsen keeps inviting me and all these other small companies – all their competitors, in other words – to ride along on their coattails at these shows all over the country. We’re treated like ‘family’ and they thank us for coming and taking advantage of their hospitality. In return, they ask for: you guessed it. Nothing.
So next time someone tells you it’s not possible to make good products in the US anymore, and that you can’t run a profitable business with solid ethics and a sense of community – bring ‘em to one of these events. Cause the heyday of america is alive and well, and spends its days in Warren, Maine. And this weekend, it’s coming to Cincinnati.
See you there.
Bobs Your Uncle says
That Dem Brickton guy is better than the Liquid Gold guy and the Most Interesting Man in the World combined!
Peter Follansbee says
Raney
I really want to thank you for your writing on this post – it’s very well said…I agree wholeheartedly. At least your tools are nice, look at mine – some are made of firewood! & still they let me in.
hope to see you at an LN gig sometime this year. Wish I could make it this weekend. but it’s a bit of a haul…
PF
raney says
@Bobs Your Uncle
Hi ‘Bob’
Yeah – he certainly gets around, doesn’t he?
And so quotable!
raney says
@Peter Follansbee
Thanks Peter. Hopefully we’ll bump into each other at some point this year, but if not I at least have the new book to comfort me. I’m actually headed out to the deck with it right now…
Konrad says
Great post Raney. I feel exactly the same way. I am going to be at a LN handtool show this weekend as well. Thomas Lie-Nielsen has been incredibly generous over the years as has the rest of the staff and show staff. The toolmaking community is pretty amazing.
Cheers,
Konrad
Dave from IN says
Raney,
Thanks for bringing your planes to the LN event this weekend! Definitely a fun chance to
play with other people’s toys and to meet some great people.
David
Gregory Ice says
Raney: Good speaking with you Saturday in Chicago. Glad you made the trip to our neck of the woods! Upon my return from the tool event, I spent ten minutes telling my wife how much I enjoyed pushing your un-handled coffin over that piece of birdseye. She just stared back at me (knowing what I was getting at) and asked me how much the thing costs. I replied that it’s impossible to put a price on buttery-smooth wood. Well done, sir. (I dig your site here, btw).