NEW THIS YEAR!

To make you a more skilled tool user, we held "Hand Tool Olympics" at the 2009 Woodworking in America Hand Tools & Techniques Conference. During these friendly competitions, you were able to show off your skills in a variety of hand-tool basics. Here is a list of the six individual events:

• One Meter Dash – rip a 36" piece of 1 x 12 stock using a handsaw

• Shooting Sports – use a jointer plane to straighten and square the edge created during the One Meter Dash

• Crosscut Extravaganza – crosscut a piece of 1 x 12 lumber

• Brace Yourself For a Hole in One – bore a 3/4" hole in a plank using a brace and bit setup

• Pins First or Tails First – complete a three-pin dovetail joint on a 1x4 using hand tools

If you needed a coach, Mike Siemsen and fellow members of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers were on-hand to give you special instruction. And if you want to study up on some of the techniques you'll need for future Olympics events, head over to Mike Siemsen's blog for videos and photos of each event.

The Grand-prize winner received FREE admission to a future Woodworking in America Conference. The "medalists" in each category won one of the tools used for that event. Plus, randomly selected individuals were also awarded prizes just for participating. We also gave away DVDs, CDs, books and magazines to participants throughout the two days of competition. We hope you didn't miss out!