The Abraham boys and their posse are at it again and Handworks 2026 is barreling down the pike. It will be Friday and Saturday of Labor Day weekend, in the lovely village of Amana, Iowa. I’ll be there again close to dead center of the Festhalle, hawking my wares such as they are. Polissoirs, beeswax and shellac wax, videos, and original c. 1765 Roubo prints, etc.
The Festhalle from Handworks 2013
It’s the most amazing tool festival of hand woodworking you will even encounter with visitors and makers from around the globe if the tradition holds.
I’m already ramping up my truckload of stuff to take with me, at the moment creating a pile on and under a workbench I will be taking and making wax processing part of almost every day from now on.
This just might be my last long road trip other than family priorities. We just don’t have the oomph for drives like that anymore.
We recently traveled north to Butler PA for the 2026 edition of the Plane Wellness shindig. What ensued was a terrific weekend of handtool woodworking fellowship. In a way it was a smaller scale version of Handworks and a good tune-up for getting my brain and inventory set up for that venture.
My first impression of the attendees is that they were younger and more beginner-ish than other tool events I have attended, and that is a good thing.
A true delight was spending time with both old friends and new.
I was presenting on historic finishing, which drew an enthusiastic audience, and I was doing demos at my table throughout.
Keep an eye on their web site to put next year’s event in Washington PA on your calendar.
Last year when prepping for the Labor Day weekend 18th Century Trades Fair down at Fair Lawn Farm I included a stripped-down Nicholson workbench. As useful as the bench is for demonstrating and didactic exposition, it needed to be stripped down further.
What I’m subtracting is two feet from the length of the original 8-foot bench; one-half foot from one end, a-foot-and-a-half from the other. There are a couple reasons, not the least is being an 8-foot bench is a little bit much for this 70-year-old to rassle solo. Also, the larger bench took up too much space in my work area at the Fair. I also will refrain from bringing a large display table for my pile of joinery samples. Absolutely no one took a look at them so out they go, at least for this event.
The Nicholson bench has many benefits to providing a heritage work station, including simple and fast making (I can make one in less than a day), in addition to ease of both assembly and disassembly. In this case It was a piece of cake to disassemble one end of the bench and cut off 18-inches and move those legs two feet.
At the other end I just marked off six inches and sawed it off.
In the end I had the same bench, only two feet shorter.
But, I’m not just subtracting. This year I will be adding a leg vise to the workbench along with a Moxon vise.
Stay tuned
Again this year I will be one of the hands-on demonstrators at the 18th Century Trades Fair down in center county. The number of confirmed craftsmen is around 35, working in a magnificent Highland County setting. If you are so inclined it would be a grand day to spend with the family.
Despite having done this twice before I’ve still got a lot to do to get ready.
Stay tuned.
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