I was invited by Felder UK to join them in Milton Keynes to test and demonstrate their newly launched Hammer A3 26 Planer Thicknesser, for the UK press launch and for their In House Show open weekend. It was the first time I had been to Felder’s headquarters since I purchased my machines from them in 2005. They had moved since I last visited them, to a great showroom with a demonstration area which they have set up.

The new A3 26 machine is the baby brother to my A3 41 (26, 31, and 41cm is the cutter block length). The new machine has the same fantastic three knife quick change cutter block and gives the same quality of planed finish as mine. It’s as good as any I have ever used including planers costing 5 times the price! The new models also include the well tried and tested dual-lifting planer tables (as used on the larger Felder machines) and they are a delight to use.

I was also demonstrating the C3 31 Combination machine – also of very good quality – along with the N4400 Band Saw which is very familiar, being the newer version of mine. I believe they may make the demonstration area a permanent feature of the set up in their showroom, and let’s hope if they do I will be invited back again!

I managed to chat to quite a few woodworkers at the Show, both professionals and those new to woodwork and machining, and took a couple of bookings for my 2 day wood machining course (which I am considering extending to 3 days to cover the spindle molder in more depth).