Join the MWA at WIA

If you’ve heard me talk about WIA or FWWLive or any other woodworking conference on the Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast, you’ve heard me say over and over how the best part of the conferences is the community of fellow woodworkers who you meet and socialize with over the event. Evening is a prime time for this to happen.

We work wood and eat German food (and we're loud).

The Modern Woodworkers Association has setup and is helping promote meetups every night of the conference. All are free to enter (you pay for your own food & drink) and all will be attended by fellow woodworkers.

Thursday:  MWA Meetup at Keystone

Beginning at 7:00 pm, we’ll be hanging out in the upstairs bar room at the Keystone Bar & Grill. It’s a quick walk from the convention center and most of the hotels. Meeting at the Keystone on the opening night of registration has become a tradition for WIA and we hope you’ll join us. Many fellow MWA members, woodworking bloggers and other WIA attendees will be there. If you’re going to to the Roubo Book Release, don’t worry. You can join us at Keystone afterwards. All are welcome.

Friday:  Hofbrauhaus

The Hofbrauhaus excursion on Friday night is another WIA tradition. It’s less organized than the meetups at Keystone, in that we don’t reserve a private room. We just jump on the trolley and head to Hofbrauhaus. It’s a fun night of great beer, great food, great company and loud music. If you’re going to the official WIA Banquet, please join us at Hofbrauhaus afterwards. We usually stay late. If you’re looking to meet us at Hofbrauhaus, there’s no telling exactly where we’ll be, though in past years we’ve started the evening at the outside bar area and then moved to one of the many long tables. Just listen for Tom Iovino and you’ll be sure to find us. All are welcome.

Saturday:  WoodTalk Meetup at Keystone

The WoodTalk guys have setup their own Meetup at the Keystone on Saturday night. It begins at 6:30. Since it was organized by and features Marc, Matt & Shannon, you should expect that this will be the smoothest running event of the weekend. Still, it’s going to be an absolute blast and all should come. I know we’re going to try to represent the MWA there in force.

Afterwards:

Just about every night some folks will stop by the Behle St Cafe before heading back to their rooms. If it’s late, but you’re still looking to hang out with woodworkers, joint us there. All are welcome.

Venue Information

Keystone Bar & Grill

313 Greenup St

Covington, KY

Hofbrauhaus Newport

200 East 3rd St

Newport, KY 41071

Take the SouthBank Shuttle (trolley) to the stop between Monmouth St & Saratoga St (it doesn’t have stop names)

Behle St Cafe

50 East Rivercenter  Blvd

Covington, KY 41011

Across the street from the convention center in the same building as the Embassy Suites





Catch the Hybrid Woodworker And Score A Guild Subscription

Anyone who's followed my blog knows that I think the Wood Whisperer Guild is a great group to belong to. The projects and instruction are top notch. The process of building along with a community puts it over the top.

As he does here with Tom, Marc will teach you to use a
power grinder and a hand broom.

+Marc Spagnuolo,  the Wood Whisperer himself, has just wrapped up his first book to be published by a major publishing house, Hybrid Woodworking. In Marc's words:

The primary focus of the book is incorporating hand tools into a power tool shop. Many of us have a desire to work with hand tools, but with a shop full of power tools you might not know where to begin. My goal is to incorporate very specific hand tools that enhance, not replace, our existing power tools. The concept of hybrid woodworking isn’t exactly new, but I hope my approach to the topic will inspire you to be open-minded about your tool choices and perhaps we can close the gap that exists between Neanderthals and Normites

As I'd never give up my table saw or my rasp I think the book will be an interesting take on the woodworking process with an eye towards efficiency rather than a particular methodology.

We'll be talking with Marc in episode #35 of the +Modern Woodworkers Association podcast, which will record tonight, July 31, 2013.  If you have a chance, post any questions you'd like us to ask Marc in the comments below. We'll work to post the podcast as soon as we can so you can learn more about the book.

Any questions? Ask us, we'll ask Marc.

If you like what your hear (or you're familiar with Marc and already know it'll be worth a read) you can pre-order the book here. Through August 15 each pre-order comes with a 3 month Guild subscription or 3 month extension to existing members. It's a great opportunity to try out the guild and see what the fuss is about.