European Woodworking Show

So, the Sunday before week five truly began, my co-student Jane and I went to visit the European Woodworking Show in Essex. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it was, not surprisingly, largely devoted to various companies selling tools, people touting courses of one kind or another, demonstrations and selling of items made from wood. From the "European" moniker I thought it would be bigger, but in the end I was quite glad it wasn't, as we spent a fair amount of time going from room to room (actually, barn to barn) and it was pouring with rain.

I did remember to take my camera, but I did not remember to take spare batteries. So, unfortunately, all I have are two iPhone photographs:



This is Sadatsugu Watanabe, hard at work demonstrating the use of Japanese hand tools. One of the primary differences, as I understand it so far, between European style hand tools and Japanese style hand tools, is that European tools cut on the push stroke (ie when you are pushing the saw/plane/whatever forwards) and Japanese tools cut on the pull (ie when you are pulling it back).



This was a stall selling a lot of wood of various kinds, in the form of blanks for woodturners/carvers. Pretty! It was great to see such a variety in a manageable format.

And then to week five...