Dewalt Top 17 Voting is open - need some support

[BloomingtonMike]

Hi guys. I am the guy who typed up a TS55 and Dewalt tracksaw review for you last month. Many know that I got the tracksaw in a contest - well part of that contest was to build a project and compete against the other 16 contestants. The public then votes their favorite. I submitted as my project idea a 3-piece play kitchen for my daughter.

The voting has started.

My project is here:
Mike Heidrick's Top 17 Contest Play Kitchen.

If you like the play kitchen and can appreciate a WW project for a kid I sure could use your vote. I worked pretty hard on this - during the weekends and at night as I have a full time 60+ hour regular job like many others here.

Some contestants are playing up their professional years of experience and their other projects in the news papers and online - some feel they have this all bagged up.

That really makes me want to show a hobbyist can perform just as well.

Sure could use some FOG support.
Please and thankyou.

You can vote 3X a day per dewalt account from now till 12/14/2008. Signing in does not send spam and you will not be bothered by Dewalt.

Again, thanks.

Mikie

 

[jaegerhund]

Great job Mike ---- and as we say around here:  Sha little girl (cute kid) --- looks like you have her vote.

Justin

 

[mastercabman]

... as I have a full time 60+ hour regular job like many others here.

I must be doing something wrong!    I only get 40 hours!!!!

 

[BloomingtonMike]

Working 60 and getting paid 40. It all pays the same.

Thanks for the help.

 

[robtonya]

I give you a nod. I had to, your daughter has a nicer kitchen than me. I have always wanted to do a project like that, and donate it to a daycare, or a children service center.

 

[BloomingtonMike]

Maybe thats a reason to do a second set! Hmm. Good idea.

 

[BloomingtonMike]

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanks for helping me vote over the next couple of weeks.

Mike

 

[tallgrass]

great work. i love your process.

 

[toolbee]

Mike, Congratulations on you selection and build. I looked at all the projects and have to say yours has the cutest kid video as well as a great play kitchen for her. From a sentimental point I want to vote for your project, but in reality there were much nicer and complex projects which showcased the craftsmanship and talents of their builders.

The Fireplace surround with storage crafted by Doc Holiday and donated to the Bullock Hope House for cancer treatment children and families also was my sentimental favorite. Two entries which I feel stand above the others as far as craftsmanship and skill are the Entertainment Center built by Kostas and my favorite is the stairs built by Stan Foster. His craftsmanship and skill shown in his project summary and final product is truly a work of art.

 

[BloomingtonMike]

The beauty of this contest is I get to compete with professionals of superb talent. Stans work is awesome. Please vote for whowever you believe is the best candidate by all means.

I am just looking for people to know my project is out there, that the contest is going on, that not everyone in it is a full time professional, and that hobbyists (like many here) are being represented at that level. Many people here also know what it takes to put in a 12 hour day at a job and then come home and spend 6-8 more in the shop.

I consider Stan an online friend and a great competitor.

Some of the other competitors feel they have already won. I am trying to make the win count for what people truely want to vote for. Stan and I are in a small towns compared to many in the competition. It is going to take all we have.

 

[greygoose]

Mike,
Nice job on the play set, I'm sure your daughter will enjoy it for years.

However, I take exception to your blog.  I looked at all of the entries and quite frankly there are much better projects than yours.  Some of those guys do it for a living, and I'll bet work just as many hours as you do.
It sound to me like your upset that the professional woodworkers submitted a real project and you truly know that your project comes in short. 

Is this contest being judged on the finished product? or just how many votes you can rally?
A couple of the guys never finished, but they are still getting votes?  What does that say the real winner at the end?

Like i said, you did a nice job, but it really isn't the best and if you were to win at the end it just says to me, the whole contest was a joke!

I'm sure your a nice guy but, honestly there is much better work than yours.

MKM

 

[robtonya]

Well, I give you three more votes today after reading "others" comment on how there was far better projects on there. Kinda funny that that was there first post on here was to slam you.

 

[nickao]

Mike,
Nice job on the play set, I'm sure your daughter will enjoy it for years.

However, I take exception to your blog.  I looked at all of the entries and quite frankly there are much better projects than yours.  Some of those guys do it for a living, and I'll bet work just as many hours as you do.
It sound to me like your upset that the professional woodworkers submitted a real project and you truly know that your project comes in short. 

Is this contest being judged on the finished product? or just how many votes you can rally?
A couple of the guys never finished, but they are still getting votes?  What does that say the real winner at the end?

Like i said, you did a nice job, but it really isn't the best and if you were to win at the end it just says to me, the whole contest was a joke!

I'm sure your a nice guy but, honestly there is much better work than yours.

MKM

You said it! Some of those guys are professionals! The contest is on the most popular project NOT the best project and who are you to judge which is the best?  You can choose the one you like best but you have no idea whose is judged to be the best. That will be determined by votes.

If Mike wins it is not a joke because people voted it as the most popular, not the most difficult to make or the best overall finish project.  It is a popularity contest or they would not let people vote everyday. They would limit the votes to one vote per person period and they do not. Just like American idol rules sometimes the bettter singer is not the most popular and most voted for. They have a reason to run the contest like this.

The entire reason it is set up like this is so the pros do not get an advantage or at the very least it help the non pro have a chance. How the heck else could a non pro even have a chance at all. You are excluding people form the very start the way you are thinking, not fair and not the point of this contest.

It is your favorite project, period, that does not mean peoples favorite is necessarily the best woodworking.

So please do not say it is a joke because you do not understand the rules.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Very nice project, Mike, and very nicely done.  I have no doubt that many wives wish for a real kitchen or other furniture and cabinetry items done as well as the play kitchen you designed and built for your daughter.  I hope she gets many years of enjoyment playing with it, and that it becomes a sacred hand-me-down within your family.

P.S.  Awesome shop.  It appears that you have everything needed to be a full time pro!

Dave R.

 

[valerko]

Exactly my thoughts.
Great shop,with many "toys" some "pros" don't have. ;D ;D

Good like,nice work

 

[woodtradesman]

You'd be surprised what those pro's can make with their deprived set of tools.

the play kitchen is quite nice and some what cute but of all the projects my vote went to the guy doing the stairs.

 

[Sparky977]

Great project Mike!  I have a 16 month old daughter who also likes to open and shut drawers and doors, putting things in and taking them out.    I may have to rip off your ideas at some point.  Hope you don't mind. 

Oh, and I guess I would be considered one of those "Professionals" and I am very jealous of some of the tools in your shop!  Your clamp rack and the Sawstop specifically.

 

[toolbee]

I entered the DeWalt contest and was not chosen to the elite 17, but follow it with interest. I am bewhildered and confused with the way it is playing out. Is anyone looking at the projects? Mike, I like your project but in my opinion it does not stack up against the rest in performance or quality. How you received as many votes is a mystery but you did. Did everyone look at the project of Doc Holiday, quality work and a cause.  Did anyone look at the trusses built with perfection?
Mike, you are an accomplished carpenter and looking at your other work you are very skilled, but for this competition if you win it is rigged. My goal is not offend you, but hopefully have each and every vote be for the competition of Best Finish Carpenter. There are some good ones out there!

 

[BloomingtonMike]

You guys do not know how much the kind comments mean to me. 

Every one of the top 17 competitors are awesome! Most of the final entrys are just plain awesome. I have said that 100% since the beginning.

Thanks for the support if you voted for me and like my project.

Feel free to vote how you see fit by all means. Please. That is why there are 17 to choose from!

 

[greygoose]

Mike,

Nice work on the play set, your dauhgter's a cutie.

I'm just trying to understand this.  The plans for play set you entered were never going to be "built-in cabinetry"?  But you entered them anyway in the "Built-in cabinetry" catagory? That just sound like you misled DeWalt with your entry description with the assumption that these were "built-in Cabinets".

Your Right it is an oversight on DeWalts part for allowing you to be chosen as a contestant. But that does not change the fact that you did not comply with the rules of the contest.

you wrote this:

"Some contestants are playing up their professional years of experience and their other projects in the news papers and online - some feel they have this all bagged up."  That really makes me want to show a hobbyist can perform just as well.

It does'nt seam like your playing up your playset to compete in the "Built-in Cabintry" catagory?