blair

Belt Sander Racing Fun at the AWFS Fair in Las Vegas

Aug 092007
 

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers (AWFS) fair in Las Vegas. It was a great show with lots of new products that you’ll be seeing soon at Highland Woodworking.

The highlight of the weekend were the belt sander races on Friday afternoon.

People have been racing belt sanders for many years (you can find dozens of belt sander racing videos on YouTube.) The oldest racing organization is the New England Belt Sander Racing Association (NEBSRA.)
Now, Accuride is sponsoring the Belt Sander Racing Association (BSRA.)

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I took some video at the races, but it turns out I’m not a very good cameraman and I was a bit too far away. You can see some of the better shots I got at the bottom, but I found this first video on YouTube. It is much better quality than my video and covers the most amazing run of the afternoon from a great perspective.

There was an enormous crowd on hand for the racing. So many people, in fact, that one of the exhibitors re-scheduled their press conference because everyone was at the belt sander races.

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Here’s my video.

Blair

Update on new Leigh products!

Aug 042007
 

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I know that many of you are anxiously waiting for us to ship your new Leigh VRS or Super jig. Originally, they were scheduled to arrive in mid- to late-July. Unfortunately, Leigh has had some delays. Here is the latest from Matt at Leigh Industries.

Dear Blair,

As you are all aware, and us more particularly with all the calls we get, the interest in the new Super Jigs and VRS is tremendous. Having been manufacturing for 25 years we thought we had anticipated all the delays in introducing these new products, from problems with tooling to errors in tolerances; save for one….summer shut downs. Rightly or wrongly, to this day there are many companies that still close there doors for a couple of weeks in the summer. With parts ordered long ago, and final approvals of samples done, the proverbial supplier’s voice says “we are sorry but we are closed for our summer shut down”. We all need holidays, but couldn’t they have waited until after they made and shipped our parts?

The good news is that the last items to finish these products will be in our warehouse on the 24th of August, yes this year. Therefore we will start shipping to dealers on the 27th. As we have a lot of pent up demand we hope to have all current orders out the door before month end.

Regards

Matt

Given that Leigh is about 2900 miles away from here, we should have our shipment around September 5th. When it arrives, we will process it as quickly as possible and ship all of our outstanding Leigh orders the same day. We apologize for the delay.
Blair

Great New Fein MultiMaster Prices!

Jul 252007
 

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One of the big announcements at the AWFS show last week was Fein’s introduction of a new improved line of MultiMaster tools. The new MultiMasters won’t be here for a couple of weeks, but Fein has reduced the prices of the original MultiMasters effective immediately.

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The single-speed “Start” model has dropped from $199.99 to $149.99.

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The variable-speed “RS” model has dropped from $279.99 to $219.99.

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The variable-speed “XL” kit has dropped from $359.99 to $299.99.

Quantities for all three models are limited, but we will try to keep them available as long as Fein has them in stock.

Blair

Georgia Association of Woodturner’s Meeting July 2007

Jul 192007
 

The Georgia Association of Woodturner’s meets in our Seminar Room tonight at 6:30pm. They are open to visitors, so come by and check it out. Don Geiger will be demonstrating.

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Don Geiger was born in Gainesville, Florida in 1953 and currently resides on ten acres near Newberry, Florida. He has been woodworking most of his life and started woodturning in 1999. He openly admits that woodturning is now his passion.
Don usually turns wood that is obtained locally and doesn’t have to pay for it. He and fellow woodturning buddies help each other harvest wood from trees that are already down and would otherwise be burned or put into a land fill. He and his buddies are frequently asked: “What type of wood did you turn that piece out of?” The reply is usually, “Free!” He has turned numerous natural edge bowls, smooth edge bowls, lidded vessels, hollow forms, and Ikebana vases.

Our store is open until 8:00pm on Thursdays so you can do some shopping, too.

Blair

Happy 4th!

Jul 042007
 

Happy Fourth of July!!

We are closed for the holiday, and we hope that all of you enjoy your holiday! We’ll be enjoying bbq and fireworks, too!

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Happy Birthday USA!

While we’re all celebrating our national anniversary, check out our Red Hot Specials for the Fourth!

The prices are great, but the quantities are limited. Don’t miss the great deals on All-in-One Clamps.

Look for great deals on Leigh jigs and a great vintage give-away in the next few days!!!!

Blair