It's an interesting group. They meet in the home of one of their members. The fellow has a well-equipt power-tool workshop. He and his wife were excellent hosts. There were about 35 members in attendance. After a short business session they did show and tell. It apparent that this club is full of woodworkers, not woodtalkers. They also have a couple of club-wide projects making toys as Christmas gifts for two local charities.
Everyone adjourned to the shop when I was to speak. There is an overhead camera and monitors both in front of and behind me. This allowed close-ups of my hands as I worked. After an inspiring introduction by Gary I began my usual introduction to sharpening. I always ask people that attend my sharpening classes and lecture to tell me how long it takes to bring a chisel from flat-out dull to sharp enough to put a finish ready surface on end-grain. Apparently I've been been doing this for a while, one of the attendees spoke up and announced, "You can do it in 8 seconds but you'll tell us it will take you 12."
He was right...on both counts.
I demonstrated many techniques and spoke about steel for about 90 minutes I think. I answered a bunch of questions about hand tool only woodworking and about developing speed in various hand tool tasks. It was great fun. If they weren't 3 hours away I'd attend their meetings regularly. If you are in the Kalamazoo area I will be happy to get contact information for you, just drop me an email.
Bill
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