Sweepstakes Winner

Last fall, we announced our $15,000 “All-Star Workshop Giveaway” sponsored by Franklin Adhesives, Porter-Cable, Delta Machinery and Lee Valley Tools. That’s our publisher, Steve Shanesy, in the picture below, along with some of the prizes. We received thousands of entries and shortly after the Feb. 28 deadline, the winner was selected by random drawing.

Steve picked up the phone and placed a call to Mike Titsworth of Michigan. Mike’s wife took the call and thought Steve was trying to sell her a subscription. She was a bit skeptical to say the least, but eventually Mike got on the phone and received the good news. “I didn’t really remember what I had entered,” said Mike, “all I did was click the mouse.” The good news took a while to sink in, but when the truckload of tools from Delta and Porter-Cable arrived it became real.

Mike retired last July from a career as a machine repairman in the automotive industry. He’s been setting up a shop in his garage, and had recently purchased a contractor’s saw. Mike’s son is also a woodworker, and had talked his dad into putting the new saw at his place, where he is working on building kitchen cabinets. When Mike got the news of his prize, which includes a new Delta Unisaw, he called his son to let him know he wasn’t in any hurry to get the contractor’s saw back. When the son saw all the new tools in his dad’s garage he was speechless. “He just looks and shakes his head,” Mike said.

We’ve had the Lee Valley Tools portion of the prize in our shop for several months; we brought it in before the contest was announced to photograph the prizes. Because we’re only a few hours away from Michigan, we asked Mike if he would like to come and pick it up, rather than have us ship it by truck. He called his brother who lives nearby and is also a woodworker, and said “Road Trip!”

Late last week Mike and his brother arrived at our offices and shop here in Cincinnati. In the picture above, Steve and Mike take a break from loading some of the winnings. I may not have gone to journalism school, but I have learned to pick up the camera and act busy when there’s a truck to be loaded. Back home in Michigan, Mike is busy unpacking and setting up his new tools. “I really appreciate all the tools, most of all the hand tools, and I’m looking forward to building my skills with them,” Mike said. “But first I think I’m going to have to build a new shop building. It all fits where I am now, but I’m limited to working on stuff about two feet long.”

Our congratulations to Mike, and to all of the monthly winners along the way. If you didn’t win, try your luck in our latest sweepstakes.

– Bob Lang