I've mentioned several times that I really like Phil Weber's work. And I'm lucky enough to know him a little bit.
He's retired now (to Malaysia!) and, just before he left, he called me, among other woodworkers, to ask if I might want to buy some of the wood he's collected over the years.
Sure!
I drove out to Effort, PA and there was Phil, in the midst of cleaning out his house and shop. He had spalted maple, lots of ebony, and other interesting woods (spalted walnut?). And the prices were great.
He asked if I had a booth.
"I do. It's not great but it works okay."
A thought crossed his face.
I had seen his booth several times. It's is beautiful, and beautifully made. As a matter of fact, Phil won an award for best booth design at the American Crafts Council Show. It's far nicer than the one that I had been using.
The next day I rented a small cargo trailer to tow with my SUV. Drove back out to Effort, packed Phil's booth into the trailer and drove home.
As you can see from the photo above there are two columns that flank the front of the booth, and in those columns are 4 "cubby" spaces, each of which is lit from above. These spaces (and what's in them) are the highlight of the booth. But there was one problem: I had no boxes that would fit into these spaces.
One of the unmistakeable characteristics of Phil's boxes is that many of them are quite small, often only 2 or 3 inches on a side. So there's no wonder that these cubbies would be small. Phil's boxes would fit perfectly.
