There have been a bunch of folks who have had a major influence on Tom’s Workbench over the past five years. I wanted to take the time to recognize a few of the folks with which the blog would have never happened.
Today, I send a shout-out to Jim Heavey, Contributing Craftsman at Wood Magazine.
If there was an all-around nice guy award for woodworkers, I would nominate Jim. I first had the opportunity to meet him at the Woodworking Show here in Tampa a few years back. He was demonstrating some very classy-looking and labor-saving ways of embellishing projects – real rocket science stuff for me. I must have annoyed the crap out of everyone at the booth that day, asking about a thousand questions about the process, but Jim took the time to answer each of them clearly and with a great sense of humor.
After his presentation, we had a chance to catch up, and I offered to do a woodworking spotlight on him. During the e-mails back and forth, I made the causal offer for him to come over the house the next year for some home cooking on the road. He accepted, and the following year, he had his first taste of my jambalaya. I think he’s hooked!
Jim still takes the time to answer all of my inane questions. When I was looking to design a push stick to hold pieces vertically against my router table, Jim was full of intelligent, useful suggestions that made the design safer and easier to use.
Even today, we still ask about each other and our families, and I look forward to his return every spring to the Florida State Fairgrounds to catch up with my good friend.
BTW – today is post number 992
I met Jim at the Woodworking Show in Tampa this year, and he is every bit as nice and knowledgeable as billed.
Answered every question and was very pleasant.
You can tell Jim really knows his stuff.
That is a great thingamajig (not sure what to call it) that Jim made in the photo. I love the way he butterflied the white in the center of the right side and dark on the left. On tapered pieces, too. I also really like the through mortises on the drawer runners that match the lower. What a well thought out piece.
Jim A.