The judging for this competition actually began over a month ago when each judge received a massive packet of projects to review and rate. This was the first round of judging to decide which pieces make it into the actual competition in Las Vegas. This process, no kidding, took me three days! I could have devoted even more time if I had it to spare. At the competition itself, the judging was a full-day event. Over 40 projects were on display and it was our job to rate them on various attributes and in several categories. It was a challenge to say the least. All I could do was try to be as fair and consistent as possible.

I wasn’t able to get video of the projects but I did take a number of photos. What follows are some of the pieces I had an opportunity to photograph. This is by no means meant to represent my “critique” of each piece. I’m only bringing your attention to projects and details I thought you’d be interested in seeing.

Padauk and Ash Table Tennis Table – Although the title reminds me of “The Department of Redundancy Department”, the table itself was quite awesome. This was easily the largest project in the competition and with its loud contrasts, you just have to stop and take a gander. Everything was made from wood, including the weaved net and the mechanism that holds it in place. One thing I was quite impressed with was the lack of red staining. Whenever you put an oily pigmented wood like padauk next to a lighter colored wood like ash, you have to be VERY careful about your smoothing and finishing methods. Most standard practices will result in red color bleeding into the lighter colored wood. So kudos to this student on their finishing technique! As you can see, we couldn’t resist testing out the table. That’s David Wade of Sam Maloof Woodworking pretending to help me ruin the table by actually using it. As if judging this competition wasn’t enough, I got to goof around with one of the guys responsible for carrying on Maloof’s legendary work! Pinch me!

The Katana Bench – If you can believe it, the inspiration for this piece apparently came from a birdcage! A casual observer may pass by this bench and think, “a board with some sticks glued into it…meh…”. But upon closer inspection, you’ll notice this is a stunning and masterfully-crafted sitting bench. I could just stare at the back for hours, being drawn in by the asymmetrical shape and the carved crest rail. Most times, I find asymmetry unsettling. But in this piece, it feels balanced and just works for me. Now the big question is, how does it feel? With only four skinny back rails, I didn’t expect much. But after sitting in it, I was amazed at how well the pieces cradled my back. A lot of time must have been put into achieving just the right contour and shape for each back rail. Either that or they just got real lucky!

Evolving Shelf – This unique shelf system consists of numerous hinged “fingers” that are all connected to one another. As you pull one finger down, the adjacent fingers soon follow and you get the awesome wave you see in the picture. The fingers are connected to small rods that provide a spring-like resistance, so when there is nothing on the shelf, it snaps back up into the vertical position. Pretty darn clever and one heck of a conversation piece!

Computer Chair – This chair was under the Production/Contract category and was made with sheetgoods and knock-down hardware. Frankly, I rarely find chairs like this interesting or comfortable. I am happy to say in this case, the chair looked good and was a pleasure to sit in. It certainly wasn’t the most comfy chair to ever grace my cheeks, but it was much more than I expected from something that can be batched out by a CNC machine. Care was obviously taken to create a very nice grain pattern which helps the piece not look so “cookie cutter”.

Table for Dali – During the judging, I was sending out pictures over Twitter. Without a doubt, this table received the most attention and its pretty obvious why. This tribute to Salvador Dali truly lives up to its name. Lots of folks inquired about how you might make something like this and believe it or not, its a lot like making an end grain cutting board. Imagine making two boards where in several places, a cluster of 4 squares extends up and connects to the other board. Essentially, its like making a double decker cutting board. The pieces that represent the drips can be made in the same way, only they terminate and don’t connect to the other board. And given the consistency and perfect cylindrical shape, I’m guessing the drips were all pre-turned on the lathe. So that’s the “easy” part. Where the skill and artistry comes in is the carving, shaping, and blending. Making this piece look smooth, silky and “melty” must have taken a lot of time and attention. You think its hard to smooth a flat end grain cutting board? Try something like this! A very cool project!

Anne Boleyn’s Writing Desk – This table is like a master’s class in grain matching! Notice how the grain in the apron runs vertical and travels right through to the table top border? The drawer shares this continuous grain perfectly. Perhaps the biggest surprise that the casual observer might miss is the fact that the legs are also grain matched!
Look closely and you might see that the grain patterns in the legs flow right into the apron and then into the top! Exquisite! Now I know many of you are “hidden drawer” freaks so you’re going to love this. The desk makes use of its empty space with a concealed drawer. Pull the primary drawer out and then use the provided magnet to pull the drawer from it’s pocket. Nice!!

Bombecious – How’s this for a bombe chest? With the bright color of this piece, it reminds me of a closed tulip! Not much to say about it other than “awesome” and “can I have it?”

Houdini – While I was very impressed by all of the furniture on display, there aren’t many pieces that I would actually want to see in my own home. Clearly that’s more a matter of taste than anything else. But this piece really spoke to me and I could easily see it fitting into my home’s decor. Lovely shaped legs with a secondary top suspended by metal rods in the legs. Love it!

As you can see by the length of this article, we can’t cover every piece in the competition. I certainly mean no disrespect to the projects I didn’t feature. These young folks should be proud of their accomplishments. All I can say is there is some serious hardcore young talent out there and its nice to see that many high school and post-secondary woodworking programs are still alive and hopefully well!

This experience was inspirational and challenging to say the least. I’d like to thank the folks at AWFS and the Fresh Wood Competition for giving me this opportunity. Most importantly I’d like to thank the students who poured their hearts and souls into their work and allowed me the privilege of observing it with a critical eye.

So I have a question for you folks. When you see exceptional work by young woodworkers, are you inspired, discouraged, or something else? I would love to get your perspectives on this.

“The 2009 Fresh Wood Student Competition highlights outstanding construction and design achievements by students from the best high school and post-secondary woodworking programs in North America.” That’s according to the AWFS website. But the competition is so much more. There were so many fantastic pieces on display and unfortunately I couldn’t film them all. But I got the vast majority and I hope you enjoy the footage. Some of the talent in this competition is simply mind boggling.

Music courtesy of MusicAlley.com. The first track was Juxtaposition by B.D. Lenz and the second track was Phideauxs Strut by Brian McRae.

AWFS is always a blast, even though this year we could see the effects of the economy in both corporate presence and attendance. But there were still some great products to see. In this video, you’ll see the following demos:
Rockler: Tapering Jig, Box Joint Jig, Bench Cookies
Tenryu: Festool Blades, Silencer series
Kreg: Beaded Faceframe System
DeWalt: New Lithium Ion Battery technology
SawStop: Professional Cabinet Saw
Gorilla Gripper: The Gorilla Gripper

We just got back from another great AWFS Fair in Las Vegas. If you aren’t familiar, AWFS is the Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers and its a show that occurs every other year at the Las Vegas Convention Center. This is just a quick video to give you an idea of what the show is like. Booths and product displays as far as the eye can see and lots of neat stuff to drool over. I even have some footage of the all wood sports car, “The Splinter”, as well as a quick look at the Belt Sander Races. And as if that wasn’t enough, the one and only Matt Vanderlist from Matt’s Basement Workshop makes a guest appearance at the end of the video! Tool demos and the student furniture exhibit will soon follow.

I know we are on our “summer break”, but Matt and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do a Wood Talk Online at AWFS 2009. It was the first time Matt and I met in person and we had an awesome time at the show. In this episode, we give you our initial impressions of the show and a quick rundown on the things we thought were most compelling.

We also live streamed the show and we have the video available below. The internet connection was less than ideal so you’ll find the video a little choppy. But if you ever wanted to see Matt and I in the same place (yikes!!), now you can. If you have trouble viewing the video below, hit the little circular refresh button. And if you still have trouble, make sure you have the latest version of Flash installed for your browser.

Adding to the excitement this year is the appearance of Matt Vanderlist! You guys know him right? My cohort on Wood Talk Online and the shining star and creator of Matt’s Basement Workshop. Matt and I have known each other for about 3 years now and we’ve never met in person. So this should be interesting.

Now if you happen to be at the show this year, we are planning a lunchtime meetup for Friday the 17th at 11am in the main lobby. We can decide at that time where we want to eat. Maybe a big buffet? Matt is bringing his stretchy pants so we are good to go.

We plan on being there for the first three days of the show and our home base will be the Powermatic Booth #5629. So if we aren’t at the booth, we are roaming the floor. But make sure you find us, because Nicole will have lots of goodies (like t-shirts and travel mugs) for Wood Whisperer fans who track us down. And anyone seen wearing a Wood Whisperer or Schwarz t-shirt will be given a free 3-month membership to The Wood Whisperer Guild and we will put you into one of our videos from the show! If you’re already a Guild member we’ll just add 3 months to your membership! Hope to see you there!

Believe it or not, there was more eye candy at AWFS than just tools. In the main hall there was an incredible display of student work. If this is how these kids are starting out, can you imagine the work they will be doing at the peak of their careers. Some of these designs truly inspire me to push the limits of my own designs. I hope you enjoy the tour.

In this part of our AWFS series, we hear from numerous manufacturers about their new and exciting products. If you want to learn more about these companies and the products they offer, check out these links:
WMH Tool Group (Jet/Powermatic)
Leigh Industries Ltd.
SawStop
Tenryu America, Inc.
Steel City Tool Works
Festool

*note- I apologize ahead of time for the sound quality. We did the best we could under the conditions we were presented with. Nicole did a great job keeping my energy level up and encouraging me to get these interviews so we all have her to thank for it. Enjoy!

New Website:

Check out the new website at woodtalkonline.com. Expanded content including an expanded blog with several woodworkers contributing articles regularly. The new content on the site will also be used as general content for the shows!

Giveaways:

The giveaways mentioned in this episode are no longer available.

AWFS:

Marc recently returned from AWFS in Las Vegas… podcasts and videos coming.
Steel City Granite Countertops
The riving knife revolution… new UL mandate (UL 987) requires all new table saws to have riving knives by 2008 with existing products to be converted by 2010.
Interview with David and Victoria Marks
Marc got a chance to talk with Chris Schwarz and Glen Huey of Popular Woodworking.
Marc meets Norm Abram (with Nicole’s help)!

Voicemails:

Kaleo – Tasmania, Australia
I’m doing some schooling at the Australian School of Fine Furniture. I recently had some hands-on time with the Festool Domino, and I also recently watched Marc’s episode 20 on the step stool made with the Domino. I was really wondering how it turned out and how the through tenons turned out. I know the domino is made of compressed beech, and I really wondered how it looked oiled up or just finished if you wedge them.

Barry W. – South Dakota
I have most of my shop on casters, and I just got a 17″ Grizzly Band Saw and 8″ Grizzly Jointer. I wanted to know your thoughts on putting those two big pieces of equipment on caster systems.. what you thought might be done.

E-mails:

Roberto
Hey guys, I came across this video on Youtube. According to the video, this is a new show (Woodworking Together) coming in January 2008, and it’s hosted by a woman. Do you guys think it will be as good as Yankee or Woodworks (or of course Matt’s Basement Workshop or The Wood Whisperer)? I only ask because the majority of woodworkers are men… not sure how many women are really “in to woodworking.”
Note: This video is no longer available.

Josh
My question is about flush-trim router bits. What is the point of having different diameters since the point is to make a flush cut rather than cut a dado or grooves of a certain width? Why would you need a wide bit when you are most likely making a shallow cut, even if you have a large overhang? I understand the different cutting lengths, but the diameters confuse me, and I’d like to keep from having redundancy in my bit collection so I can buy more tools and wood.

Its been a week since the AWSF show in Vegas and I am still hyped up about the experience. Hanging out with the woodworking elite and meeting all the Wood Whisperer fans was incredible. Nicole and I would like to thank everyone who introduced themselves. This video gives you an inside look at AWSF 2007. We have live demonstrations from David Marks, Scott Phillips, and Mike Heavey. I will apologize ahead of time for the audio quality. You would not believe the amount of ambient noise in a place like that! But sometimes words are just not needed. You’ll know what I mean when you see me chatting with the one and only Norm Abram.