I've been watching "Cool Tools" on the D.I.Y. Network quite a bit lately. I'm not sure what that says about my changing tastes in TV, that I'd sooner watch a show about hardware than MTV's spring break, but that's a discussion for another blog.
I've always loved gadgets, and as I gradually learn the fine art of home improvement, "Cool Tools" is becoming increasingly addictive. So when my dad, who's way past addicted when it comes to building stuff from dead trees, suggested we check out this weekend's woodworking show at State Fair, I was more than willing to join him.
As we continue to build a rec room in my basement, my woodworking skills have matured to the point where I know how to use a pneumatic framing nailer. But at this show, I realized there's much more I don't know than what I do.
My dad, however, was like a kid in a candy store. The scene looked a lot like State Fair's exposition hall, except instead of crappy "as seen on TV" junk, venders instead hawked router bits, dovetail devices, clamping tools and various other power tools I barely understand.
I just spent the afternoon browsing and learning while my dad explained why a certain hand tool was "the Cadillac of planers." He only dropped $100 on that custom dovetailer and a few clamps, well under his budget for the afternoon. I got my money's worth in father-son bonding.
Maybe someday I'll possess a quarter of my dad's woodworking wherewithal. Or maybe not. But as $6 shows at State Fair show go, this is one I'll gladly return to next year.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
