This past Friday, I took off work a little early to do something really enjoyable.

No, I didn’t take off to take in a mid-day Rays game, although a day at the ballpark would have been fun. And, no, I didn’t take off early to hit the beach, although the weather was absolutely gorgeous.

No, I took off early to head up to the Infinity Cutting Tools open house. That’s right, they opened the doors and invited everyone to come on over to check out the deals and get their hands on the tools.

David Venditto offered a great spread of food, reps from the companies Infinity carries were on hand, and even Andy Gibson, a big-time hand tool enthusiast, was showing off some of his decidedly less than modern tools.

Oh, Andy’s tool chest is certainly something to drool over.

The real fun happened when Ben Farrell of Nova Teknatool brought out his lathe and started doing some demonstrations. Boy, was he a busy guy, helping people come out to turn their first bowls.

Ben is a skilled turner, and he was getting total noobs out to do some turning. For instance, Jessica Venditto, David’s sister, did her first bowl, and she wasn’t ashamed to show it off…

Now, silly me, I didn’t get any shots of myself doing the deed, but I did end up turning a bowl out of a very Florida wood – grapefruit. Yes, citrus trees are pretty cool to work with, and this little bowl is a honey.

That actually ended up being the second bowl I turned. The first one? Well, it looks like this…

I guess that’s why folks are so adamant that you wear a face shield when you turn…

All in all, it was a pretty cool day, and it was fun to be a part of it.