Lie-Nielsen Show in Charleston with Roy Underhill –
Charleston, S.C., is my favorite city, and so it pains me that I’m not going to be able to attend the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event there next month. My liver and cholesterol, however, are well-pleased by this unfortunate turn of events.
This year, the Lie-Nielsen staff has arranged a pre-show event to visit Drayton Hall, which offers a period rush like no other place I’ve been. It’s an 18th-century plantation that is unrestored. No modernization. No electricity. No horrible 1970s “reconstructions.”
I’ve been to Drayton many times (once during a hurricane), and never get tired of it as a woodworker. Every plaster and wooden detail has been left alone for you to discover, even the marks on a door frame that record the heights of the family’s children.
I wish I had more inspiring words other than: You need to see this. It will open your eyes to the 18th-century way of making things.
To add even more fun to the mix, Roy Underhill will be on hand during the tour to offer commentary and interpretation.
The special tour is 11 a.m. Thursday April 9. Call 1-800-327-2520 to reserve your place at $32 per person.
Then the whole crew will head to the American College of the Building Arts for a presentation by Roy Underhill and dinner at the Craftsman Tap House. In my mind, it’s a perfect day.
Oh, and there’s two more days of a Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event at the American College of the Building Arts on April 10-11. And it’s all in the most gorgeous city in the world with amazing food and great, great architecture.
Sigh.
Maybe next year.
Read more details on the Lie-Nielsen site here. And hoist a few beers for me at the Craftsman Tap House.
— Christopher Schwarz
