Denver 4 – The Big Shoot Day

Today was it – the reason for 28000km of travel and over 52 or so hours door to door. It was the big shoot day.

We started pretty early – a bit earlier than first planned so I could get a little more time into the preparation.  Had a Macca breakfast on the way.  Even Maccas is different – as well as muffins, you can get your toppings on some form of biscuit.  Passed a ‘medicinal’ marijuana dispensary on the way as well (without stopping obviously)

First 1/2 of the morning was shooting B-roll of me putting the Torque through its paces, and then the man himself, Grundy, and I shot the primary conversations.  It went to my mind, really well, and I had an absolute blast being involved.

Team setting up for a scene

Grundy keeping his energy levels up (his unique 'dance' style)

Grundy and Stu - Twins - Only their mother can tell them apart

I did see snow, just not much of the falling variety

Ruger Super Blackhawk chambered for .44 Magnum

We shot so many different takes, angles etc, that I can’t remember every specific one, but the machine got a good workout, routing, surfacing, pin routing, drilling, ripsawing etc.

After lunch, there was a bit of product shot, and then the Torque Workcentre was finished.  It headed out back to Kent’s truck he’d driven up from Texas (11 hour drive) with a trailer (a full blown trailer, not a typical 6×4 open one!) to take back to Texas what is now his Torque Workcentre.  He’s going to be the first US-based dealer, so if you are interested in getting a Torque in the US, he’ll be the one to talk to.  Hopefully I can get more details to post about his business (he is also a Festool dealer).

Following that, I watched the rest of the filming, and that is really interesting to see, and be involved in.  All up, there was about 10 hours to the actual day, before we headed off to a pub to wish Darin a “Happy Birthday Mate”.

I’ve really enjoyed being involved with the whole process, and will definitely be watching future episodes of Cool Tools with a broader understanding and perspective of what happens in the background to bring one of these things to the air, and the people behind it (and in front of course!)  Possibly August for the first screening of this episode?

Downtrack, it will end up being downloadable from www.diynetwork.com/cooltools

So a massive thanks to everyone – Torque Workcentres for sending me over here, Community Woodworking, Cool Tools for having me on the show, Darin and Dave, all the crew, Grundy for not making me look too bad the hospitality of people here, my family for putting up with me jetsetting around the place.

I’m now also an honorary lifetime member of “Community Woodworking“. As Grundy would say “Nice” (with a knowing nod of the head, and glint of comic amusement in his eye)

Tomorrow is another huge day, starting with meeting up with a regular site reader who is kindly giving me a lift to Rockler, then the airport.  And in that, we are seeing Rockler of course too.  Going to be a good day, just hope the airports are kind.