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Kale Vogt
June 5, 2024
I’m coming off the heels of a weekend spent in Berea, Kentucky.
I like to think of Berea as an alternative reality based in the foothills of Appalachia. There, craftspeople are respected and people from seemingly every walk of life are able to agree on a shared love for the trades and traditional folk art.
I was told by a local student I met there that just days prior they helped fell trees from the forest via horses to use as lumber for chairmaking. They also told me that the basket weavers who attend Berea College like to “live in the woods.” A major generalization? Possibly. But my eyes widened when I heard that.
Chris, Lucy and I were there for the “Backwoods Chairmakers” gathering held at Berea College. I really hadn’t a clue what to expect heading into that Sunday, but it turned out to be one of the most cup filling experiences I’ve encountered in a while.
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The well-organized event was as wholesome as they come. At times it felt like a Lost Art Press reunion. I joined a group of past LAP students as they circled around at one point and chatted about all things chairmaking.
I mean it when I say that the day flew by. I didn’t get to spend much time with Chris because I was bopping between presentations throughout the day. My job was to document video the event for future blog and social media posts. “Work.” Every now and then I would pop a squat during a presentation that really grabbed my attention.
What really warmed my heart were the amount of young and queer people I met in the trade. I connected with total strangers and people who I had only seen on social media. For the first time, I really saw myself in the world of woodworking.
I drove home that evening beaming. I think its hard to articulate the feeling of having discovered your community and support system. But when you know, you know.
Christopher Schwarz
June 3, 2024
Kale and I finished up our first video together on Friday. The good news is that Kale has a good eye and edited the video as well as I could. Even better, while we were proofing the construction drawings, Kale found that I had made three errors. It’s unusual for someone at the beginning of the craft to be this detail oriented.
We’ve sold 221 downloads of the “Build a Roman Workbench” video, and it’s good to see that money headed to the bank. We haven’t had any new products since January, which is when we released “Backwoods Chairmakers.”
Having a new book or tool always helps the bottom line in unexpected ways. Yes, people buy the new book, but many customers also take the opportunity to pick up other books or tools they have been meaning to buy. Or they stock up on glue.
So the math might look like this: The new product generates $27,000 during the first four days of sales, but total sales in the stores? About $54,000.
It goes without saying (or apparently not) that the new product can’t be a POS. So please don’t think that I’m saying “new, new, new.” That’s not enough. It has to be good. And new helps.
The video hasn’t been the only thing on our plates. It’s been a busy seven days.
Yesterday, Kale and I attended the “Backwoods Chairmakers” event we helped put on with Berea Student Craft and Andy Glenn. Both Kale and were pulled in such different directions, that we haven’t talked much about it. I did find out that Kale is keen on soft maple as we were looking at some of the 40-odd chairs in the gallery that was part of the event.
I do know that Kale got to meet a lot of young chairmakers at the event, which is exactly why I asked them to come.
Tomorrow Kale and I are headed to C.R. Muterspaw to get some lumber. Kale’s been dying to get to the lumberyard. So I guess I’ll find out why that is on the drive to Xenia tomorrow morning.
Woodworking Shows: The Good & the ….
On the drive home from the Berea chairmaker’s event, I wasn’t exhausted. I was, weirdly, almost refreshed.
This is what you should feel after a woodworking event. Unfortunately, not all shows and get-togethers are like this. I don’t attend the commercial wood shows anymore. I don’t need any more router bits that fell off a truck, magic rags or overpriced candied nuts.
I sound like an old crank, I know, but these shows have outlived their usefulness in a digital era. Thousands of people used to attend these shows to see tools and machinery in person, or talk to fellow woodworkers. Or learn about new tools or jigs.
The internet killed this business, or at least hobbled it.
Except when it comes to Iowa.
The Handworks woodworking show, put on by our friends at Benchcrafted, is a show that we look forward to attending. Attendance is free. Fees for the vendors (us) are almost too reasonable. And you don’t have to jostle for attention against the Sham-Wow guy.
We hope there’s another one in the future. (We have no information.)
We also love the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool events. These are free. There are no high-pressure tactics to buy stuff. And you can learn a lot. We hope there are more of these. (Again, we have no inside information.)
These and the grassroots shows put on by clubs are the ones we prefer. That’s because I already have a magic rag, and it is covered in oil and lives in metal box on my bench.
I loved this entry. Thanks.
I can't imagine what it's like to be in a setting where no one is like me, but many people live large parts of their lives that way. Especially in woodworking. I went to the nearby Fine Woodworking event in Connecticut last month, and 95% of the people there looked like my long-lost twin brothers.
It's exciting to see some diversity in our ranks. It can only make the craft better.