Woodworking Show in Milwaukee

[Joe Scarfo]

Does anyone know if the show in Milwaukee is still on?

With the weather... I didn't know if someone local would have any insight...

I'm in Green Bay and I've been looking forward to this all year and what a bummer to be snowed out...

Snow or not... If I know it's on, I'm driving down.

Thanks
Joe

[James Suzda]

Hi Joe,
I've read on other forums that the people who went on Friday and Saturday were disappointed with this year's show. I guess there are fewer venders and no deals.
I don't know if I would risk my life to drive down in this weather. But, you might find some deals because it is the last day and a lot of these venders don't want to load the stuff back up.
If you do drive down, be extremely careful.

[Joe Scarfo]

James....

Thanks for the advise..

I guess I spent to many years in northern 1/2 of Mich.. a little snow never kept me from going anywhere...

It's the feedback about the lack of vendors which has me changing my mine...

Thanks for the feedback.

Joe

[Joe Scarfo]

well.... I went early this morning... drove down expecting terrible driving conditions... that isn't what happened at all, the roads were clear.

I upgraded the kreg jig and a few other things... it was worth the trip to me even though the number of vendors was much smaller than in the past.

Anyone else go?

Thanks
Joe

[RichMagnone]

I was there today - totally empty. The vendors were EXTEREMELY nice because they didn't have much to do.

The folks at the Freud stand had a great demo of their lock-joint router bit set. Soon thereafter, I wandered over to Woodline and they had the same bits plus one more in a set for less than 1/2 the price of the freud and the freud "peachtree" version.

The Incra stand was excellent as always. I was extremely impressed and ALMOST pulled the trigger on their router package. I have a Woodpecker lift and the Incra version made me want to sell that, sell my Leigh D4 and start over from square one with the Incra set.

Jointech's set up was less impressive than usual. Lee Valley was less impressive than I would have hoped. They have great stuff but were taking orders only. Quite a bummer.

Steel City sold their drill press for $350 at the end of the day which I think was a nice deal.

In all, there was

[Dick Rowe]

I was there Friday and it was REALLY crowded with woodworkers. I tend to go every year, and the number of vendors displaying seems to dwindle a little bit each year, but there is always something interesting to see. What else is there to do in the dead of winter in Wisconsin?

I thought that they could have spread out the vendors more with all the extra space around. It was especially bad at the cashier kiosks when big lines of people waiting to pay for their purchases started to wind through the displays.

With that said, I was on a mission this year .. I need a new planer. I have been doing some internet research (including SMC of course) and had really gotten interested in the Steel City 15" unit.

I was hoping they would be at the show, and they were, and after seeing the unit in person, coupled with the rebate and show discount, I ended up purchasing it.

Should arrive in a few weeks, and I am real excited about adding it to the shop.

[Rob Wright]

I went on Saturday morning. I was also worried about the roads from Madison to Milwaukee, but there wasn't a problem Got there at 10:00 when they opened. The pavement was dry when I left the show at 2:00 all the way to Madison. The last 1/2 mile on the local roads was the worst part with the blowing and drifting.

I agree that there wasn't as many vendors this year than in years past. I was hoping to take home with me a bevel up smoother from LV - - but orders only. I don't see why they can't have a few pallets of their tools with them.

Spoke with the Steel City guys for 1/2 hour. They were really knowledgable and passioante about there tools and features. The new 6-inch Jointer sure was nice and the price was good too, loooooong beds. (wish it were 8-in for that price!) They said that they were going to a fixed pricing system like a few other of the mfgs that I spoke with. There is a distributor in Oconto that said that if it were a non-special order, that they would not charge shipping on top of the list prices - just tax.

Spent a bunch of time at the Fetsool booth drooling over the Domino. That thing is simple to use and I will be saving many pennies to purchase one now that I have bored a mortise and seen it in action! I know that I can do similiar things with router or biscuit joiner, but the speed and precision really seem to win me over, even as a hobbiest.

Rockler had 4-ft T-tracks with 6 knobs and bolts for $10.99 - was a good deal. They also had Jet clamp cabinet packs with 2-24" and 2-40" and blcoks for $90 - they are really nice, and even better for the price.

Overall is was glad I went, but after three years in a row - they need to spread it out - too crowded!

[John Miliunas]

Spoke with the Steel City guys for 1/2 hour. They were really knowledgable and passioante about there tools and features. The new 6-inch Jointer sure was nice and the price was good too, loooooong beds. (wish it were 8-in for that price!) They said that they were going to a fixed pricing system like a few other of the mfgs that I spoke with. There is a distributor in Oconto that said that if it were a non-special order, that they would not charge shipping on top of the list prices - just tax.

Rob, from the FWIW chapter, your local Woodcraft will now be carrying Steel City! Should be seeing quite a few of the products within the next week or two.

[Mike Zozakiewicz]

I went on Friday. Stood in a looong line to get tickets, but the line went pretty fast. If I go on Friday next time I might pop for the online tickets. They were two dollars more I think.

I am working on my router table fence so I picked up the Rockler t-track deal. On Friday it was $9.99. Rockler also had some nice veneers available. Like everyone has said, it was too crowded. Hard to get between some of the booths. I was dissappointed that Lie-Nielson wasn't there. They had some great demos last year.

Mike