Down on an earlier post you can get the flavor from Gary about his arrival on Friday.......a noticable bent towards Chizz'z hospitality. Also Mike has a post who came to Chisel-dom with his wife and kids, hung out for awhile shooting the board (pun intended) then took off for the pool...we now know who the smartest in the group was. He posted his step stool too.

Having crossed the straits of Gibralta with Gigi, on arrival, Dave and Justin were already chop-choppin, Brian was holding court around Monsier Bombe, and Eli was quietly taking it all in.

Mike Lambert (sp?) a really nice guy who's another casualty who loves this woodworking came in without missing a beat, he said he was from Medford a town about 10 minutes from me and I got excited only to find out there's a Medford Mass.

All the lady's took off with Rachel for Boston and talk'in shop took over, we went over all the Crazy Fed tables there; Justin's, Dave's.(who is one big Canadian), Eli's and T's prototype. It's interesting to see each one have its own character, little flare here, little extra something over there, really neat and yes it would be fun to have all 10 lined up just to see how each of us have attacked ole Craze. Dave's walnut was a nice choice of wood, and he laid-up an unbelieveable fan. Justin's bell flowers have an interesting draw. There's talk of a Fan Competition deadline. At least I better get the top done.

From there we moved to the mini-Bombe, a JD jewelry box creation that when put next to Monsier Bombe....although over-powered, stood its ground. A fitting query into the T-Mac "dimensionality zone"

We had a fuming task on Eli's white oak step stool that was stalled because window cleaner with ammonia would have left a blue hue. Haven't seen the results of the fuming attempt yet, but we do know we had fun. Opening and closing and opening...Bobby Flay would have gone bonkers. The idea of slow cooking a souffle'....was non-existance.

We then got into Monsier Bombe and simply.....it is quite impressive. I know how to evaluate a case and to say anything would indicate amatuer pettiness. The attention to detail on the Bombe is impecable. Grain selection and board placement, balance of the lower to upper, the significance of the brow to the overall shape, shadow lines, stipling, all this in amongst re-thought construction methods....it's a magnificent piece.

The best part was digg'in in and going over the construction. Tommy didn't leave any question unanswered complete with the model joints, prototype carvings, taking off the lapped back panels for clearer views, nothing was off the table. For me the drawer construction was the most intriguing, a newer approach to setting runners, nothing infilled there, drawer side to Bombe shape and a perfect fit. Talk'in the Bombe was high level visualization of the build. You don't appreciate talking in visuals until you realize how few times that opportunity arises.

We had an appreciation presentation by Dave that Chuck and WalnutBeagle instigated. Gift certificates for T-Mac and Eli. Chuck asked me to get video of the presentation, but when I start laughing I loose concentration, I have no idea how it came out yet.

From there the lady's returned, we said our good-byes to Mike who's building a kichen and just took the whole day in. Then headed to Boston for dinner. Rachel arranged a table for us all by ourselves and we got taken care of very nicely.

You would think that our woodworking was over BUT.........after dinner the lady's went back to the Sheraton, and Justin, Dave, Tommy and myself went back to the shop and talked furniture until 12:30am. Drawerings, ideas, Dave sketching, nothing but thinking and talking about furniture.

Time went to fast.

Thanks Chizz!!!!!!!

Mike from Medford