This was my 6th year on the trot and I've always found it a useful show. It is definitely aimed at site based construction contractors because D&M Tools in Twickenham that owns and runs the show is basically a dam good tool shop primarily aimed at the trade. Its extended into both the DIY and machinist markets and that makes it useful for workshop based equipment too. The show deals are always worth looking at and I've bought pretty much all my new machines over the years from shows for that reason. Basically anything in the £1000 range which is usually at the low end of the trade range is about £200 off at these shows, often with free delivery on top so they are very worthwhile. Apart from the usual big guns like Makita and Dewalt, there is an ever expanding presence from Festool which is literally bigger every year and of course Record Power which is great for me as I have their lathe and bandsaw so its handy for manufacturer related questions and spares without having to order online.
Apart from that I get to see Nick Gibbs who I chatted to for a long time this year for obvious reasons. And also my golden rule stand....Bessey. Now, if you're like me, you wont be able to resist Bessey clamps. I now have a golden rule which is that I always snap up one of their show only bargains when I go to Kempton Park. The old adage applies ie you cant have enough clamps and I'm taking that at face value. I have all the revo's I need now including some 2m ones which are enormous so I'm now at the gizmo end of the range. There's always something new to tease me.....talk about gorgeous tools....way better than Lie Nielsen in my view
Sorry, clamp therapy should begin soon and I may recover (though its doubtful).
One last thing that impressed me was the trend range of diamond files and of course the erudite Mr James Barry with his carefully placed lace bracelets to prove how "effortlessly cool" he is. I've been carefully ignoring their diamond stuff for a few years now but got sucked in when I overheard the word "bandsaw". Young Mr Barry was waxing lyrical about how his mate Mike Waldt (Taff YouTube wood turner extraordinaire) had resharpened his 4tpi bandsaw teeth with one of their diamond files. Well I've been struggling with a good means of sharpening my bandsaw blades for some time now. So I bought one of the radiused backed/flat 2 sided tapered diamond files. Got home and tried it on my 1" 1.3tpi ripper blade and it wasn't the right size unfortunately. However, I did give my 60 tooth carbide tipped table saw blade a tickle without taking it out the table and I tell you what.....[insert fruit here] good indeed. Its really brought it back from an expensive send off to be sharpened. Well impressed. So I went nuts and did a bunch of my turning tools, chopsaw blade, a couple of router bits and I have to say, nifty little gadget that has now clearly paid for itself with just the two carbide blades I did no longer needing a service because they would have cost more than the £20 file. I'll now look around to see if I can match the gullet size of my favourite Tuffsaw's 1" blade so I can give them a tickle.
Festool didn't have anything new that floated my boat, they devoted a lot of airtime to a new laminate edge bander which I will never use (Doctor Bob might though). I already have a domino so didn't spend any time with that. The other thing they showed was their new multi tool but I have the Fein from yonks ago so also wasn't interested. For roofers and gardeners cutting rough sawn they have this diddy chainsaw mounted in a circular saw housing type arrangement so you can cut 6x6 dead square or bevelled. Nice, really wanted one but couldn't possibly justify it and my sense was no one was remotely interested in it given the total lack of attention it got.
I took a mate who is setting up for the first time and he bought track saw, bandsaw, router for table so some first rate haemorrhaging took place on the finances....excellent
