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A55 Smoothing Plane

PNTC Best of the West show

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PNTC Best of the West show

#1

PNTC Best of the West show

dave j


>I Just attended the Pacific Northwest Tool Collectors "Best of the West" show here in Portland, Oregon. Wow, What fun! It is one of the largest shows on the West Coast and comes around every two years and alternates between Seattle and Portland. The show featured very extensive displays for education on all types of subjects from Yankee tools, crown molding planes, Stanley 113 type study, molding plane boxing, mechanics tools, Planes, Planes and more planes, saws, hammers, logging.....It was pure sensory overload! It started Friday with parking lot sales. Lots of great tools everywhere. A highlight was when Tony Murland kept unwrapping one fine tool after another from his large travel cases. I picked up a nice looking Mathieson molding plane and asked the price, $750, I put it back down :) Educational displays were set up in the afternoon for all to enjoy during the evening appitizers and happy hour. Saturday was the big day with open sales, seminars, a dinner banquet and auction. The open sales were truly a hand tool candy store. If it was ever made it was probably there! I controlled myself and only walked away with a few new toys including a nice molding plane, a couple Japanese chisels, Preston level and one other thing I can't remember! Every year the club enlists the talents of many of it's members to create a special tool to be sold (at a very low cost) to registrants for the event. It is a closely gaurded secret that is unveiled after the dinner hour. This year it was a finely crafted ornemental fish hammer cast from silicone bronze with a cocobolo handle. My scan does not do it justice; it is quite lovely. There were also 9 special ones cast with sterling silver heads and ornately turned handles with ivory inlays. These were auctioned off to help raise funds for the club. Other memebers also donated items to be auctioned for the benefit of the club. The tool auction was great fun but my current financial situation was not as good as others and I didn't walk away with anything.Overall it was a great show, I sold many new tools and a few old ones and met some great new folks. Perhaps others who were there can add to my description of the event. The next one is in 2008 and up in Seattle. I'll be there!

dave


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Re: PNTC Best of the West show

#2

Re: PNTC Best of the West show

dave j


>This is part of a display on crown molding. It shows how a hawk plane and hollows and rounds were used to rough in the molding profile prior to using the full width molding plane. There were about 20-30 3-5 inch wide crown molding planes in the display.


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Re: PNTC Best of the West show

#3

Re: PNTC Best of the West show

dave j


>Some Japanese slicks


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Re: PNTC Best of the West show

#4

Re: PNTC Best of the West show

dave j


>This was from a relly nice display on boxing inserts for molding planes. It showed some transitions from early planes with no boxing to simple boxing to complex boxing. It is amazing how intricate some of it is and how exating the work is to fit it. Perhaps someone could comment on how this was done so accurately and what type of tools it took to do this type of work.


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Re: PNTC Best of the West show

#5

Re: PNTC Best of the West show

dave j


>This is a portion of the main room. My display is in the foreground. Unfortunately this shot doesn't relay the magnitude and quantity of tools available for either looking at or buying.


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Re: PNTC Best of the West show

#6

vendors

david.marcus.brown


>Was MikeW in attendance?

Re: PNTC Best of the West show

#7

Re: PNTC Best of the West show

Mike L (Orange County, CA)


>Thanks for the report and pics Dave.

Regards,

Mike

Re: PNTC Best of the West show

#8

Re: PNTC Best of the West show

dave caudill


>Well as Dave mentioned the Biennial Best In The West was a pretty Darned good event. I live two hours north and drove down Friday morning and arrived at 7. Of course most of the folks were set up and selling by the time I got going. I did a quick look and set up to sell. Did quite well this year as I was liquidating a lot of extra stuff that has been lying around in boxes, stacked in corners or resides under my bed.

Lots of good stuff at the tailgate though. Its always fun to see what folks show up with. And of course as each new person arrived they would be swarmed by those waiting for new stuff. Unlike Patina you didn't have to brave freezing temps or torrential rain as it was a beautiful morning. Lots of big names like Tony Murland and Clarence Blanchard. Others such as Paul Hamler who does the beautiful minature replicas. And Don Rosebrook who wrote both the level book and a book on plow planes. Tom Lamond of spokeshave book fame was ther and had a nice Axe display inside.

Saturday was the big show and sale and as always there was an amazing array of offerings. As I was selling I really held my purchases at bay this year. I figured if I was truly going to downsize buying new with the money I made was not going to accomplish this. I did end up with a couple saws in a trade and one Disston D-95 with the Disstonite handle for $15.

And of course my big purchase was a set of four paring chisels with cocobolo handles from Dave Jeske of Blue Spruce Toolworks. I saw these a few months ago when Dave was first developing them and had forgotten about them until I passed his table Saturday. I did my best to resist but in the end couldn't pass them up. They are gorgeous and Dave did a really nice job with the fit and finish of these tools and his presentation and packaging are very nice. I kept stopping to talk to Dave but he was for the most part fielding questions, selling tools and taking orders for more. Dave's tools were very well received to say the least at the meeting. You all should take a look at his web page at what he has to offer.

And as Dave said the displays were great and numerous. I had the privelage of being one of the three judges who had the difficult task of decding who was to receive awards. There were some absolutely amazing displays. Some that really stood out such as the boxing display. Also great displays of Japanese inklines and british infill planes and hardware houses thath sold all of the top lines of tools. All in all a really nice show and well attended.

If any of you ever have thought about coming to the Pacific Northwest and wanted to do some tool stuff and bring the family this a wonderful place to do it. While you are drooing over old tools you wife and kids can be up on Mount Hood or over at the coast or wine tasing a half hour to the south or sailing, hiling, etc, etc. It is all amazingly diverse and within minutes to an hour away. We'll be doing it again in two years in Seattle so think about it.

Dave

Re: PNTC Best of the West show

#9

Re: vendors

dave caudill


>I don't know MikeW but I believe he is the fellow that makes the handsaws. He was not there. I did buy a couple of saws though. I forgot earlier I got myself a really nice 8 inch backsaw in excahnge for a black composite handled one inch everlasting chisel. Needs a sharpening but otherwise a really nice open handled dovetail saw. Not sure of the maker yet as the etch was kind of light.

Dave

Re: PNTC Best of the West show

#10

WOW, Thanks for sharing...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA


>How does one find out when and where these are? Looks like a lot of fun.

Re: PNTC Best of the West show

#11

Re: WOW, Thanks for sharing...

dave caudill


>You know Scott the PAST meeting is this coming January in SanDiego and is supposed to be a pretty good event. Our next Best in the West will be in the Seattle area. And of course if you google MWTCA you will find the Midwest Tool Collectors meeting schedule which is pretty busy. They put on really good meets.

Dave

Re: PNTC Best of the West show

#12

Re: vendors

mikew


>Hi Dave--nope. I didn't make it.

Mostly due to commitments and being behind, in part due to a sudden need to watch my granddaughter, and in part due to keeping a promise to Alice...

Take care, Mike

p.s... that last bit was simply a fun remark. She understands. But if you want to know, go ask Alice when she's ...

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