Today is the first day of the North of England Woodworking Show in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. The venue is is easy access but the show is sometimes packed at the entry so be prepared for a bit of an outdoor queuing on arrival.
I recommend visiting this compact show because there is lots to see and people to talk to. I have enjoyed the show each year because of its compactness. You can see a lot in a small space and in general the show is well laid out. Some of my favourite people will be there and usually these are not so much people selling slick equipment and machines or tools but more hard to find stuff like secondhand tools or exotic woods from responsible sources. There are some good tool suppliers there that are knowledgeable about their product line and the show generally guarantees tighter pricing for competitiveness. The bigger names like Axminster set right alongside the little guys and that’s good too. So you can touch and feel planes and chisels you might not ordinarily access on a daily basis and as far as shows go, this is the very best show of its kind in the North of England and compares equal to any show in the whole of Britain.
I will be there for Saturday only this year, but a good day spent in search there will track down anything I need to source and of course I am looking forward to meeting some of you there. I plan on lunch at the cafeteria at 1pm so stop by and say hello. Tony Murland will be there with hundreds of old tools for the secondhand tool aficionados and of course there will be the usual tool sales guys if you want to spend your money on a more extravagant piece of equipment.
Demonstrations are dotted throughout the show and throughout the day. Please take the time to watch some of these and enjoy some quiet conversations with the craftsmen and women.
Support the show if you can. Support the people who have booths there and especially the little guys selling their hand made tools and wood. They put a lot of work and time into getting to market and their future work can depend on our buying their products.
