Our recent live event “shootouts” have been pretty popular. Folks seem to love watching the editors duke it out with one another. Our first, a Surface Prep Shootout, pitted Editor Asa Christiana against Mike Pekovich in a contest to see whose method–Asa’s sanding or Mike’s handplaning–could deliver a super-smooth finish the fastest. And recently, Mike was back again, this time taking on associate editor Matt Kenney in a smackdown, trash-talkin’ event (OK, maybe it wasn’t that harsh) to see who could turn out a tenon the fastest.

Despite the success we’ve had with the format, we felt it was time to take things to the next level. So we’ve begun construction on a mudroom set that will host a Buildoff event between Fine Woodworking author Tony O’Malley and Fine Homebuilding author Gary Streigler. The Buildoff will focus on how each author would approach the task of constructing a mudroom built-in.

Join us live from the set on Feb. 17!

On Wednesday, Feb. 17, viewers can tune in for a live video chat from the set of the Buildoff with Streigler and O’Malley, as well as a few of the editors from each of the magazines. We’ll be chatting over lunch about the different approaches to building between trim carpenters and fine woodworkers. And, we’ll be taking your questions. Later on, we’ll be releasing the final Buildoff as a joint FHB/FWW video series.

Below, you can catch a glimpse of the set going up, and listen to the sweet saw stylings of FHB senior editor Chuck Bickford.