There are times when I think the National Hardware Show is actually better than the AWFS show, mostly because it's held every year, and it's bigger and more encompassing.
Sure, it doesn't cover woodworking per se, but it sure does have something for everyone.
The rules were switched up a bit this year - absolutely no pictures were allowed, so my photos here will be a little lacking. But when this scene greets you as you're ready to enter, you know something big is about to happen.
This year's show featured two HUGE rooms of vendors, showing off their latest and greatest products. Especially interesting were all of the booths promoting newly invented items, where you could actually meet the inventors and get samples of their wares.
I thought it was very smart that you could go to the Match Me booth and have your NHS experience tailored to exactly what you wanted to see... if plumbing was your specialty, you could have your day mapped out, to include all of the plumbing vendors. Smart.
Outside, there were outdoor entertaining items,
from grills to coolers,
hammocks to tiny homes.
Once inside the main hall, I had an agenda to follow....navigating the crowds was a little tricky!
The Wooster booth was packed with just about very paint brush and painting accessory you could imagine.
An interesting trend was material management - there were tons of dollies, roller carts, plywood and drywall carts, casters and more.
Viva el carro!
This may sound dorky, but I've been looking to find a screw vendor to supply the shop with square drive screws. My old local vendor went out of business, and the backup supplier I've used has raised their prices so high it's just not possible to keep using them. I managed to find a supplier that might be a great fit, and these samples will probably seal the deal, if they work out.
Somehow - I missed my meet and greet opportunity with Martha!
Another item on my agenda was a swamp cooler for the shop. The fellows at Portacool made me an awesome offer, and we wheeled out this Cyclone unit
and this beast...
should be pretty easy to cool the shop this summer!
One of the best connections I made at the show was meeting the people from the Jorgensen/Pony clamp company. They've been MIA for a while, but are regrouping and coming out with their new and improved product line. We had a nice conversation about the world of clamps, and I encouraged them to re-examin this discontinued bench hold-down clamp.
It's the old 1623 model, and we use the heck out of these!
They even hooked me up with some swag... sweet. With a little luck, we'll be testing some of their new products at the shop soon.
How big was this show? Here are some exhausted attendees, napping outside one of the exits.
After the show, it's always nice to head to Grimaldi's for a slice and a beer. What a terrific day!
1 comment:
Have you ever looked at or used Quick Screws? They had a booth set up at AWFS last year. I was just out in the shop this morning thinking I need to get another jar of screws. Crap, that store is gone.
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