Thread: Timber and Working With Wood Show - Adelaide

It will be a pleasure. Don't know about lurkers, but unfortunately, as you know, only a handful of SA wwrs is in this forum. As far as I know, though, most of the 300 plus members of Woodgroup SA will be there. As customers.

As I am coincidentally in Adelaide for trade school this fortnight, I will also be attending. A considerabl budget has arisen for tooling too, so I may join the ranks of a customer; the joy is already upon me.

Is there any particular day that has the best turn out? I would like to see the show in it's full glory if i can.

I'll be the long haired git walking around looking at anything with a good deal on it look for an Adelaide Biplanes shirt and possibly a calvin klein beanie.

See you there.

Will try & get there, depends on what the boss wants to do.

Well I just arrived back to my accommodation after a good few hours at the expo. I must say, those events are dangerous, dangerous places for wallets, so many desirable things there to sap you of your savings

However, I enjoyed every cent of the entry fee, and think it was more than worth it. I even walked out with an adj mouth LA Lie Nielson block plane under my arm, among a couple other things (first impressions of plane to come shortly).

The displays were great - the fella with the stubby lathe put on a good show on turning bowl out of Huon Pine; the smell was beautiful. I saw the great work of the Whittling club, marvelous work there guys and gals.

Even saw the forum #1 man himself, showing off some of his great products (sorry Niel, would've bought something but had to refrain after the plane ).

All in all a wonderful day, and a pat on the back to all exhibitors, dealers, attendees and organisers. Well done.

I ended up with a day off yesterday, and wasn't feeling the best, but as I am working all weekend, I took the oppurtunity to head in. I used my voucher from here Was about as big as I had expected it to be. There were a lot of people there.

Spent a while watching Neil Scobie work, was very interesting. Had a mooch around the stalls, wasn't much I hadn't seen before, but I did enjoy the guy who had brought all the Tassie timber. Gave me lots of ideas (gonna need a bandsaw). I was in the market for a router and picked up the Triton at $40 off.

a sad day for woodworkers in adelaide , just one thought on the matter very average,

Well, Friday was daughter's birthday lunch, today was Xmas in July with the club, tomorrow will be WWW Show day. Hoping they have not sold everything and packed already...

Originally Posted by scooner

a sad day for woodworkers in adelaide , just one thought on the matter very average,

Mind elaborating to back that up a bit?

It would be interesting to have the comment explained. As I have stated in another post the Adelaide show was very similar to Melbourne with only a few minor differences and I felt it was a good show. If the Adelaide woodworkers aren't interested in supporting the show then why should the show support Adelaide? Perhaps if you have an issue you should voice your concern as based on the last few shows the organizers seem to listen to feedback with the view of improving the show where possible.

beanersa i agree" not much i hadnt seen before" ,
there is a lot of new stuff out there why wasnt it at the show ??
i use the net quite a lot and was hoping to see some NEW gear , is this not the main reason for the show ,maybe some feedback from previous exhibitors may give us a clue how to improve it ,or what about forum members giving us their thought s on the matter ,
compared to previous shows there seemed to be a lot less exhibitors" why "
i know i have spent my fair share towards the continuation of the show to local and interstate suppliers .
i will keep this years programme and do a comparison on the next show ,
what i would like to see at these shows is more of what people have made ,and how they made them ,we can all stand in a shop and look at machinery ,or read a book ,
a show is a show ,
i dont mean to offend anyone and i know a lot of effort is made to put such shows on but this is just how i feel , regards scooner

Valid points there Scooner. I also noted that there was a lot of retailers compared to demo's and interactive stalls. The lads demonstrating on their lathes attracted quite a crowd when they fired up their machines.

Having the retailers there is not quite like being in a shop though, as there is so much hands on gear. You wouldn't have access to a full arsenal of Veritas and LN hand planes to maul wood with anywhere else. It also provides a place for those of us in remote areas to get a feel for the quality of all those brands of machinery that just isn't stocked anywhere near us.

I will admit there wasn't any tooling that I did not recognise. But experiencing a tool is different to reading about it on the internet.

If there was something I would like to see it would be a gallery of objects made using the very tools they are trying to sell us, made by everyday woodworkers. A sawstop demo would've been great to see as well

As with anything there is room for improvement, and solid feedback is what's needed to move forward I guess.

had fun at the show today & again I spent more than I budgeted for but next time I going with at least a grand to buy some more shed toys.
worked out if i had $6000 to spend my shed would be nearly finished
and thank you to all that were doing the demo's I learnt some new things and got interested in other aspects of woodworking
regards Michael

I spent all day Saturday at the show, and I spent quite a lot on a variety of consumables. I can understand Scooner's point that he didn't find much stuff that was new for him. Fortunately for me there was a lot that was new. Liz Scobie's demonstrations of what you can do with paint on wooden art objects was an eye opener for me and the ideas are going to keep me busy all through the next year. I picked up so many clues from watching Neil Scobie work, and felt really good that I had already absorbed many techniques in my own cabinet and chair building - but the added insight into methods that I picked up were in themselves worth going to the show. And, when I spent a half hour at a demo on finishing with Neil I learned a whole lot of reasons why my finishing has always been a bit sub-standard. And I can't wait to get to use my swansdown mop and EEE on some boxes to finish. I have to say that Saturday was one of those peak days for me. I just hope there was enough commercial support to justify another show next year.

Originally Posted by Fencepost2

I just hope there was enough commercial support to justify another show next year.

That was my prime reason for attending....so I hope that was achieved.