Shop Tour!

Ring the Bell

The front door at my business used to have a stained glass transom window above it.  It was lovely, as it faced West and the setting sun would shine in through the glass.  My wife, Kristen made it, back in the "hippie" days and it really gave the front room class.

However, two things conspired to change that.  First of all, the transom was held in place with a chain, which allowed us to open it and let the air in.  One day that chain came loose and the window fell completely open, hitting me on the head.  Of course, I fixed it, but the bump left a mark.

The real reason was that KFC built a "restaurant" across the street, some 30 years ago, and connected their sewer line to the main line which runs directly in front of my shop.  Before KFC, my business was the first building on the end of the line, and there were no problems.  As soon as KFC began to operate, I found large quantities of "effluent" bubbling up out of my front toilet.  In fact the front room, which was full of antique furniture, had 6" of standing sewage when I arrived the next day.

Of course, KFC denied any involvement, and the city inspector accused me of putting "something" down the toilet, threatening to shut me down.  My damage claims were denied, and I had to clean up the mess.  The only good news was that KFC quietly relocated their drain to the larger commercial sewer directly in front of their store, instead of the smaller residential line in front of mine.

The city inspector determined that, since the sewer line had a very shallow slope, and that the front toilet was on a slab at ground level, it was easier for overflow to come out the toilet instead of lifting the manhole cover.  That was the news that signaled the end of the stained glass transom.

At that time there was news that a contractor in Los Angeles had laid a new basketball court improperly, and it had buckled severely and needed to be replaced.  This floor was made of 3/4" T/G hard maple, and finished with all the basketball lines and such.  The contractor had taken a saw and simply cut the floor into 12' x 8' chunks and piled them outside.  They were free for the taking.

Several of us guys (the ones with trucks) drove up there in a caravan and loaded up as much flooring as we could lift.  I remember my truck sitting on the axle, as I drove home with my headlights pointing to the sky.

Soon, I had a beautiful new hardwood floor in the front room, which raised the floor (and the toilet) over 6" (more than enough to solve the overflow problem).  The result was that I now hit my head on the transom window, which needed to be removed.  That meant I had to build a new front door, which ended up nearly 8 feet tall.

3815 Utah Street

That was over 35 years ago, and I still miss the light coming through the window.

The rest of the building has been changed and adapted to my uses over the years.  Thanks to Asa, at Fine Woodworking, I can invite you to take a tour.  This link will take you to a short presentation.

3815 Utah Street Shop Tour

I hope you enjoy it, and if you are ever in San Diego, please ring the bell and visit.

Chicago Kitchen Job

Some time back we received a call from a designer who wanted us to supply marquetry surfaces for a kitchen remodel in Chicago.  Although this is not our normal market or business, we agreed to make the panels and began designing some classical motifs which we thought would work.

There were many cabinet doors and some large panels which were made from cherry, and we asked that they be sent to us so we could apply the marquetry here.

When they arrived, we were surprised to see that they were already finished.  They had a deep cherry stain with a blue cast, probably due to the synthetic finish which was used.  Our challenge was to match the finish of the cherry on the marquetry panels which we were making.

Normally, we build our panels face down on Kraft paper, and then use cold water to remove the paper after the panels are in place.  However, the only way we could match the cherry color was by using water based dyes.  Therefore, we had to find a way to assemble the panels to avoid any water cleanup.  If we used water, the cherry dye would migrate into our marquetry, which included lots of lighter woods, and we wanted to keep it clean.

Therefore, we experimented with clear sticky shelf paper, purchased at the local Home Depot.  It had a slight tack, and we thought we could use it to hold the designs (face down, of course) while we did our glue up.

It worked fairly well.  We had some issues that needed to be worked out.  But it worked.

Here is a VIDEO of Patrice and I applying Old Brown Glue to one of the marquetry panels and placing it in the press.  We did this operation each time for each door and panel.  It worked fine and we were able to remove the tape and shelf paper without using any water from the surface.

When the panels arrived from Chicago, they were in a beautiful plywood shipping crate, which was as strong as any shipping crate I have ever seen.  We placed the doors and panels back into the same crate and shipped them back to Chicago for the client.  We received a call after a few days and it was the client, who said, "I have some good news and some bad news."

It seems that the good news was that the marquetry was perfect and just what they wanted.  The bad news was that the crate was smashed in shipping and all the doors had to be remade.  Only the marquetry center panels survived.

Shipping companies always seem to amaze me with their creativity.

Manual Press Operation

I first built my manual press nearly 40 years ago, and it has occupied a place in my work shop continuously since then.  Some times it just sits there and takes up space.  Other times it is full for days on end and makes me money.  I have posted images of this press before and you can use the search box to find more.

The press is made of 4 x 5" maple beams, 60" long, with 5 Jorgensen 12" veneer press screws per arm. I had a pipe shop supply threaded 3/4" pipes for each end, and I can remove the top cap to lift the upper arm off for some jobs.  I also have other pipes which are longer (32", 48", 60") and I can substitute these pipes to lift the upper arm as high as needed to clear certain projects, like cabinets.

However, since the press screws have only a 12" thread, the effective clamping distance of the screw is about 6" or so, and the upper arm needs to be relatively close to the work to operate properly.

I also have lots of different sizes aluminum sheets which I use for heating the glue.  The actual bed of the press is two sheets of 3/4" plywood, and I place the aluminum on top of that.  To use the press, I pull out the aluminum and prop it up on one end, with a kerosene heater under it.  Using scrap sheets of plywood around the edges, I can create a heat box to trap the heat under the aluminum.  With this method I can heat the press quite rapidly.  When it is ready, I just slide the aluminum back into the press, add some newspaper and place my veneer project face down on the heated caul, making sure the newspaper is in place.

You only glue your project to the aluminum once to learn the importance of two sheets of paper.

To demonstrate how this press can be adapted to certain projects, here is a short video.  This shows Patrice and I working together to press the top of a French Art Deco desk.  This desk is veneered in palm wood which is difficult to work with.  It had dried out and become delaminated over time.  We used a method to rehydrate the animal glue, which involves adding water to the surface of the veneer, waiting a short time, and then adding liquid protein glue (Old Brown Glue) over the entire surface, working it into the cracks and under the veneer as much as possible.

The desk is then placed face side down on the heated press, with paper between the top and the aluminum.  Since it was too large to slide under the clamps, we removed the top arm and replaced it after the desk was in place.  The video shows us reattaching the top arm and then tightening the press clamps in sequence.

We speeded up the video at the end, just to show the process in a short time.  We wish we could work that fast...

(Please excuse my French at the end of the video.)